UCL - London's Global University

This document contains useful information to help you support your team when completing the staff survey. It is important that we all support the survey and encourage the highest response rates possible. Good response rates will mean you get valuable feedback about your Faculty/Division/Department. If you require additional information, please use the following contacts in the first instance:

Staff Survey Faculty Champions

SMT	Prof Stephen	Smith	Ext. 25882 stephen.smith@ucl.ac.uk
CSS	Rex	Knight	Ext. 41650 rex.knight@ucl.ac.uk
Bartlett	Helen	Fisher	Ext. 25594 h.fisher@ucl.ac.uk
Engineering	Chris	Neil	Ext. 33690 c.neil@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Population Health Sciences	Dr Cath	Mercer	Ext. 52072 c.mercer@ucl.ac.uk
Medical Sciences	Sam	Photiades	Ext. 52134 s.photiades@ucl.ac.uk
MAPS	Dr Helen	Wilson	Ext. 31302 helen.wilson@ucl.ac.uk
A&H and SHS	Cathy	Brown	Ext. 31347 cathy.brown@ucl.ac.uk
Laws	Prof James	Penner	Ext. 21451 j.penner@ucl.ac.uk
Life Sciences
Brain Sciences	Geoff	Dunk	Ext. 46938 g.dunk@ucl.ac.uk
VP (International)	Andrew	Pink	Ext. 21050 a.g.pink@ucl.ac.uk

ORC International Helpdesk: Tel: 020 7675 1196
E-mail: UCLhaveyoursay@orcinternational.co.uk

Guidance Notes for Managers / Academic Leaders

These notes are intended to provide extra help and guidance for Managers / Academic Leaders. There is additional information in the main Frequently Asked Questions document on the website so please refer to these in conjunction with this document.

The importance of high response rates
UCL’s Have Your Say survey will only be a success if we ensure the response rates are high enough to allow us to obtain representative data. We are keen to ensure that the results give us a true picture of the opinions of employees across the whole group and therefore enable us to action plan for the future.

As a manager or academic leader, you have the most 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 if you can actively encourage all your direct reports complete their survey. Whether what they have to say about UCL is positive or negative, we do want to hear it.

Please ensure that people are aware that they can complete the survey during their working day. In some circumstances it may be helpful to set up an area for employees to do this away from the distractions of their day job. However it is achieved, it is important for people to be aware that they are not expected to use their own personal time to complete this survey.

For every completed survey we will donate £10 to the student hardship fund.

Who is running the survey?
We have appointed an independent survey provider, ORC International, to ensure the confidentiality of everyone’s opinions.

How confidential is the survey?
ORC International belongs to the Market Research Society and is bound by their strict Code of Conduct (http://www.mrs.org.uk/code.htm). This means that:

The personal details in the questionnaire will not be used to identify how individuals have responded to the survey but to understand any differences across staff groups within the University.
No-one within the University will ever see your completed questionnaire.
Results will not be produced for groups of fewer than 10 respondents.

These rules mean that ORC International cannot share raw data or individual responses with the University. They will only provide the University with anonymised reports. Therefore the University will not be able to view the opinions of individuals or know who has responded.

Will response rates be recorded or measured?
During the survey completion period, weekly reports will be provided by ORC International detailing response rates for each faculty / division / department. 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!

Should my direct reports have a paper or online version of the survey?
Surveys should primarily be accessed online. We have identified discrete areas where computer access is limited. If you feel that a member of your team has the wrong format of survey, please contact Fiona Daffern, HR Policy and Planning on ext 53970 in the first instance.

Who will take part?
Employees who started work with UCL before 1 October have been asked to take part. We thought it unfair to include those who have been with us for less than a month but by the next survey they will have a chance to make their views known.

Only current employees have been invited to take part in the survey, not casual workers, agency workers, Emeritus or other associate persons not directly employed.

What happens about staff who are absent from work due to illness or maternity leave, etc.?
If staff have indicated they are happy to receive contact whilst they are away from UCL please contact such staff to let them know the survey is available for completion. If they cannot access their emails remotely ORC International can send a link to their home email address or a hard copy version can be sent.

What does the survey cover?
We'll be asking for views on a wide range of areas – my job, how you are managed, pay and benefits, career development, managing your workload, equal opportunities, communication, vision and values and overall perceptions. Most questions require a box to be ticked but there will also be the chance at the end to provide extra comments on what you would like to see improve at UCL.

What help is offered by ORC International's helpdesk?
The ORC International helpdesk is there to answer any queries you may have about the survey from specific questions about how to complete it to general questions about the survey and why and how it is being conducted. The helpdesk will try to answer telephone queries immediately, but if they need to get back to you after confirming anything they will get back to you within 24 hours. On receiving an e-mail or voicemail message (the telephone helpline operates between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. GMT) the helpdesk will respond to you within the hour.

The helpdesk can be contacted on 020 7675 1196 or via email UCLhaveyoursay@orcinternational.co.uk