A message from Professor Alison Metcalfe (Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing)
Dear colleagues,
Perceptions play an important role in how we experience everyday life events. There are many factors that can positively or negatively influence our wellbeing.
We are interested in gathering your views on what you think may bolster or undermine your wellbeing at work, which can provide useful insights into the health and wellbeing culture of the faculty.
Some concerns have been raised about stressors at work in the faculty and we have therefore decided to run a survey to help us more clearly identify its potential sources. As a faculty leadership team your wellbeing is very important to us and we will take the following actions:
- We will use the Health and Safety Executive’s Stress Indicator Tool (SIT) survey to receive feedback from you about stressors at work. This survey will be timed to be completed by 6 March 2019.
- A steering group will be set up to manage the survey and receive the report based on the findings. This group will be led by Mark Townley and will include representatives from Trade Unions, Senior HR Business Partner, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee and Faculty Leadership Team.
- I will communicate with you to provide an overview of our findings and any action that we plan to take.
- I will personally be responsible for leading any work deemed necessary to address any issues that may be identified through this process.
- I will aim to complete this initial work of the group by 5 April 2019.
The HSE Stress Indicator Tool (SIT) consists of a survey of 46 questions, 35 that ask about six key areas of work that, if not managed properly, are known to be potential causes of stress. The SIT is part of the HSE Stress Management Standards, which is HSE’s risk assessment approach, which is designed to help employers manage the causes of stress in the workplace. It provides a quick and easy way to determine the extent to which work-related stress may be a problem in your area, and any likely root causes.
The survey also includes specific questions about your overall wellbeing at work.
There are also some demographics questions to help us understand the differences between different roles, gender, age and length of service.
The HSE has produced a digital version of the tool that allows the survey to be anonymously accessed and completed online.
How can you contribute?
In completing the survey you will be able to draw on your own detailed knowledge of local and contextual factors which will help us to:
• Identify any potential causes of stress in your work
• Identify any potential local issues
• Receive information on specific areas in which there is a need for action and understand how you can contribute to this work
• Identify areas that impact on your wellbeing at work.
Confidentiality
It is important that you understand that the Health and Safety Executive’s online survey tool allows us to gather completely anonymous responses. Individual respondents cannot be identified.
Timelines
The survey link is below. We would like you to complete the survey by close of play on 6 March 2019. That will then enable us to consider the results alongside other data at the Faculty Leadership meeting planned to take place on 21 March 2019.
We hope that you will engage in this process and help us manage people’s wellbeing more proactively, thus creating the conditions that will enable a thriving community in our Faculty.
Kind regards,
Alison
Professor Alison Metcalfe
Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing
On behalf of the Faculty Leadership Team and staff wellbeing management steering group.
