A message to all colleagues

Dear colleague,

Many of you kindly took the time to share your thoughts in our staff wellbeing surveys in April and June. Thank you for your feedback, which helped shape the support and guidance we’ve put in place since then, some of which is outlined below.

With the advent of a second national lockdown and the Government’s new restrictions, we felt it was really important to check in with you again, to see how you’re managing and to better understand any extra assistance you might need.

You can share your views in our short survey, which should only take about five minutes to complete. It will remain open until 5pm on Wednesday 18 November, and your responses will be anonymous.

We recognise individual experiences can vary significantly, but the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students remains our top priority. With this in mind, we listened to and acted on your previous feedback, sharing guidance and support on the main issues you identified. This included providing:

• details of the extensive safeguarding measures on campus, including a video explaining the science behind them together with staff guidance
• weekly updates on the number of positive covid-19 test results reported to the University by staff and students
• open sessions with our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simone Buitendijk, and other senior leaders to explain the steps taken to welcome back students and deliver a high-quality education
• information about IT systems for those of you working remotely
• opportunities to collect essential equipment from your workspace on campus
• extra teaching support, including resources for online teaching, development sessions and safety guidelines for face-to-face teaching
• extensive health and wellbeing resources, available on the coronavirus website and the Wellbeing, Safety and Health webpages; and
• information on extending the closure period during Christmas 2020 and the New Year to thank you for your continued commitment to the University

We will share a summary of any key themes you raise in this latest survey as soon as possible after it closes, responding in more detail in the coming weeks.
I know this is a difficult time for you all and we very much appreciate your continued dedication and hard work; it has been really good to see how everyone has pulled together to support each other.

The Vice-Chancellor highlighted in her recent blog posts the need to accept we can’t fix everything, with suggestions for how we can try to cope with a highly unpredictable future. So, please keep talking to your line manager about any challenges you’re facing to agree ways forward.

Thank you in advance for your time, and please contact the Wellbeing, Safety and Health team if you have any questions about the survey.

Best wishes,

Francesca Fowler
Director of Human Resources