HAVE YOUR SAY… UCL Staff Survey 31 October – 18 November 2011

Frequently Asked Questions Why are we doing this? How confidential is it? How do staff access it? How can you help? Why? The third UCL staff survey is designed to benchmark developments since the previous survey, celebrating what we do well and to develop ideas for new projects and initiatives, where there is need for development or change. The survey will ask staff their opinion on a broad range of topics which make a difference to all our working lives [my job, how are you managed? pay and benefits, career development, managing your workload, equal opportunities, communication, vision and values and overall perceptions]. It is important that as many staff as possible from across the faculties and corporate departments complete the survey to ensure a robust and representative picture is given. To encourage completion, UCL has agreed to donate £1 for every completed survey to the student hardship fund. Confidentiality We have appointed an independent survey provider to ensure the confidentiality of everyone’s opinions. ORC belongs to the Market Research Society and is bound by their strict Code of Conduct. This means that: The personal details in the questionnaire will not be used to identify how individuals have responded to the survey No-one within the University will ever see the completed questionnaires. Results will not be produced for groups of fewer than 10 respondents. Access: All employees will be sent an email from ORC International on 31 October. This will have a personal link to the survey (through an encrypted URL). Department details will be pre populated, from the email link. Staff without email access will be given a hard copy to complete and a pre paid reply envelope to send directly to ORC International. Let me know if I haven’t already been in touch and you have staff who need hard copies. HoDs input We are aiming for a 50% response rate – 10% more than in 2009. As a key administrative contact, you have the day to day contact with the people completing the surveys and, as such, can influence the response rate for your immediate team or department. It will be really helpful for you to actively encourage staff to complete the survey and assure them that whether what they have to say about UCL is positive or negative, we want to hear it and they will be engaged in developing action plans from it. Ensure staff have time in the day to complete it. We have Faculty champions, nominated by your Deans to support you locally and guidance notes (and champion contact details) on the staff survey web pages. This includes information about activity from the previous survey. Notifications during survey The senior management teams at each faculty / division will receive a weekly email detailing the return rates for their area. Please assure staff that this does not breach anonymity about which individuals in an area have responded, only the overall percentage response rate. Individuals will receive reminder emails from ORC, until they complete the online survey. To avoid unnecessary additional emails, staff should be encouraged to respond promptly!

What happens afterwards? Headlines to SMT in December Full report early in the New Year Full narrative available to all staff Central priorities identified Local action plans to be developed and acted upon What support would you like in terms of follow up action planning?

For more information go to the website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/staff_survey/