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Introduction

In March 2025, the University will launch the next staff survey, giving University-employed staff an opportunity to help shape the future and continued improvement of our workplace. Your feedback plays a critical role in this – so it’s important that every voice is heard. The survey shows us where our strengths are, and where we need to do more and every level of the institution.

Closer to the time, University employees will receive information about how to take part in the 2025 survey. For now, you can find information below on the progress we are making in MSD on key areas that you told us matter to you.

Improvements since 2021

In 2023 our staff took part in the last iteration of the staff survey and as well as action areas where either staff experience was declining, or different types of staff were having different experiences; we were heartened to see a lot of improvement areas in how our staff experience the workplace.

  • A 10% increase in staff feeling involved in their departmental networking opportunities
  • A 7% increase in satisfaction with departmental communications and their clarity and effectiveness
  • A 6% increase in staff feeling like they can be themselves in the workplace
  • A 6% in staff being actively encouraged to take up career development activities
  • 5% decrease in staff having to work excessive hours
  • A 5% increase in feelings on integration in your departments.

However the data also highlighted several areas where further work was needed

You can find out more about how the University has been responding to the most recent Staff Surveys on the University’s Equality & Diversity Unit (EDU) website (SSO login required). 

Areas for Action

Action have been taken at departmental, divisional and Institutional levels to meet the needs you identified in the 2023 survey - theses action areas include:

Pay and Benefits

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In 2023 survey responses from across the division showed that

  • 37% of staff felt their pay was fair, and 39% were satisfied with the benefits package, a drop of 13% and 10% respectively since 2021
  • The impact of the cost of living crisis varied across different characteristics, in particular by role (academic and research staff were much less satisfied) and by respective grade.

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Pay and conditions review

The University’s Pay & Conditions review in 2023 was informed by a large and diverse cohort of staff, including through focus groups and all staff meetings, as well as responses from the 2023 Staff Survey and external benchmarking.

A major programme of work is now underway on the priorities identified, to improve the quality of work and life, both personally and professionally, for all staff, with many initiatives due to be delivered by the end of this 2024/25 academic year.

Since the announcement of the outcomes of the Review (as of December 2024), the University has implemented:

  • An Oxford University weighting payment for staff in Grades 1-10
  • Amendments to grades 1-3
  • The Associate Professor grade being uplifted by an increment
  • Extending the researcher pay scale in Grades 6-10
  • Enhancing Recognition payments
  • The provision of free mental health training
  • Reimbursement of some immigration fees for international staff

In December 2023, Renu Gupta (Deputy HR Director and Director of Talent) shared an update on the programme and its next steps, in this blog post for the University Bulletin.

You can find out more about action across the total reward offer for University staff, on the Pay & Conditions webpages. Also, see the information about action being taken on workload and wellbeing  in response to survey feedback.

Academic Career and Reward Framework 

The Academic Career and Reward Framework (ACRF) aims to improve the career paths, workload, and reward and recognition of academics. It is being developed through four workstreams:

  • Academic Pathways
  • Workload
  • Reward and Recognition
  • Contracts and Policy.

Workstream 3 is being progressed to deliver rewards that provide clear promotion steps and recognition of teaching alongside research, and improved satisfaction with pay and benefits. A draft framework has been presented with divisions in November 2024 for initial consultation. Next steps in the ACRF timeline include consultation with wider stakeholder groups in 2025, with implementation scheduled for 2026. Further Information can be found on the ACRF website.

Bullying and Harassment

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In 2023 we noted:

  • An increase in staff experiencing bullying and harassment from 10% to 11% and an increase in staff witnessing harassment from 15% to 18%
  • Me majority of these experiences were patronising language, criticism and microaggressions
  • Staff reporting or seeking support for these experiences decreased by 9% points, and the largest reduction was in academic women followed by professional and support men seeking support

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MSD Mediation service

In response to this, and in particular the datapoint showing that staff were not seeking support; MSD has concentrated on the informal resolution route and have developed and recently launched the MSD Mediation service

If you are in conflict at work or in your studies mediation is a confidential, voluntary and informal process that supports you to talk issues through with your colleague(s) and impartial mediators to find a way forward in a collaborative process. Mediation helps people find practical solutions that feel fair to everyone.

The Mediation team has organised some webinars to train staff members who may deal with complaints and conflict and may need to refer a case to the MSD Mediation Service including HR, Harassment Advisors, HAF’s, DGS and student facing staff and Line managers. Learn more and sign up here: https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/about-us/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/mediators-resources

The mediation service originally stated in NDORMS, funded by the research culture enhancement fund, before completing an expanded pilot in 3 departments. Now thanks to divisional investment any member of MSD can access our team of trained mediators to help them resolve their conflicts

Report + Support

The University launched the Report + Support platform in January 2024 for University-employed staff. It sits within the Harassment Advisory Service and seeks to improve access to support, information and signposting to staff impacted by bullying and harassment – and includes an anonymous reporting route. It does not initiate a formal complaint procedure but rather aims to improve access to advice and support resources.

Over 85 Harassment Advisors have been successfully onboarded, to receive cases via this tool. The platform will also provide data insights to inform future proactive action to tackle bullying and harassment.

Harassment Advisors

The Harassment Advisor network was expanded, with over 490 trained Harassment Advisors now available to provide the first line of guidance across the collegiate University.

Training materials for Harassment Advisors were strengthened in relation to racial and religious inclusion as well as around holding professional boundaries in the workplace.

Active Bystander support

Active Bystander Intervention training was refreshed and re-launched to departments, reaching 104 people and establishing a train the trainer model to expand delivery across the collegiate University.

Training for managers

The Equality and Diversity Unit partnered with The Confident Manager programme (POD) to pilot a Masterclass session to build capability for managers to respond effectively to and prevent bullying and harassment in their area of responsibility.

Career Development

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Although the data showed an across the board improvement around career development was overall quite positive, improving and higher than the University and HEI average:

  • 60% felt they had the opportunity to develop and grow here
  • 72% felt comfortable discussing my training and development needs with their line manager/supervisor
  • 57% were clear about the training and development opportunities available to me
  • 61% took time to reflect on, and plan for, my career development
  • 70% had had a PDR, and 67% of them included opportunities for open and wide-ranging discussion about their carer

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Inclusive Leadership Programme

Responding to the cross divisional need for our academic and professional leader development MSD have invested in expanding the Inclusive Leadership Programme, developed as part of a smaller Wellcome funded project and now open to applicants from across the division.

Leadership training has repeatedly been identified as a key route to improving research culture. Oxford Medical Sciences Division has developed an Inclusive Leadership Programme (ILP) to address this needs gap. The ILP trains Oxford Principal Investigators (PIs) and senior professional staff in becoming more inclusive, transparent, and supportive leaders.

The objectives of the Inclusive Leadership Programme are to:

  • Identify areas of improvement specific to the participant's leadership style.
  • Build foundational knowledge and skills to create and sustain inclusive environments.
  • Build confidence to approaching sensitive issues.
  • Nurture a whole-group approach to fostering inclusivity.

Training consists of four core elements:

  • Inclusion-focused 360° feedback.
  • Training on leadership skills, conflict resolution, EDI, and coaching.
  • Action Learning Sets to integrate inclusive approaches in problem-solving.
  • An inclusion project developed collaboratively with the participant’s team

Research Culture Toolkit

Medical Sciences have been centrally involved in developing the Researchers Toolkit. The toolkit provides a space to share resources and information about research culture practices across the University to support researcher and career development, and the development of locl research culture activity.

Please explore these pages to find links to useful information (Resources Library) and ideas for research culture activities (Inspiration Bank).

Career Development Review rollout

As part of the concordat charter MSD have taken the lead for developing and supporting the rollout of CDR’s in departments, developing materials, training ans support to ensure that all divisional researchers have access to a CDR.

Careers Club

The Professional & Organisational Development team (POD) created the Careers Club to support Professional Services Staff (PSS) with career planning and skills development. More than 600 colleagues have attended the sessions (to July 2024). 91.94% of attendees strongly agreed that what they learned during the session will support them in their work.

The University also continues to offer mentoring and coaching support for all staff, which has been developed by POD, involving a network of volunteer coaches and mentors from across the University.

InRehearsal

A new learning platform, Inrehearsal, has been introduced, offering a Netflix-style learning experience, with access to hundreds of short video classes delivered by expert facilitators and industry leaders. Content is designed to increase awareness and understanding on themes including leadership, diversity, wellbeing and personal development.

Technician’s Commitment Action Plan

The University’s Technician’s Commitment Action Plan was developed. This two-year plan focuses on the professional and career development of our Research Technical Staff.

New starter induction

A University induction for all academic staff is being introduced as part of the Pay & Conditions programme.

Professional Development Reviews (PDRs)

The PDR process and supporting resources have been streamlined and promoted to increase awareness and training in departments, as part of a new Toolkit developed by POD.

A new masterclass was introduced into The Confident Manager series on PDRs in 2024 to equip line managers with skills to get the most out of PDR.

Next steps include the creation of a PDR communications pack which will be shared with departments in due course.

Narrative CV workshops

An in-person Narrative CV Workshop Pilot was run in Medical Sciences in conjunction with the Careers Service in MT24, and online Online Narrative CV sessions have run termly Since TT 2023 to support researcher and research groups develop their narrative CV’s.

Employee voice

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In 2023, you said:

  • Overall, 85% of staff felt they had a voice in their team, however, only 51% agreed they had a voice in their department and 56% felt it was safe to speak up and challenge the way things are done.
  • Academic women were least likely to feel like they had a voice in their departments or access to decision making.

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MSD Committees & representation

Researcher representation has continued to grow through the MSD Research Staff Forum:

  • Research Staff Forum Advocates worked on ‘maps’ of the routes for staff voices to be heard within their department, to increase awareness and transparency from HT24.
  • All MSD departments now have an Advocate for Research Staff 
  • Visibility of research staff reps and advocates increased through dept and div comms and webpages (e.g. webprofiles added), to make it easier for staff to find their rep.
  • Representation of Technicians, is included in the Technicians Action Plan, due to be supported by MSD (2025/2026)

Researcher representation on the central divisional committees has also been increased to three members of early to mid career research staff.

MSD BOARD RESEARCHER REPRESENTATION

The MSD Board - our main decision making body - has increased the number of research staff co-opted members to 3, ensuring a greater voice on this main decision making committee for early and mis career researchers

The People Strategy

The People Strategy seeks to improve employee voice through actions to enhance our listening culture, ensuring that all staff have more opportunities to speak up and feel safe to do so. By systematically capturing and acting on employee feedback, the University can identify and address concerns before they escalate, enhance job satisfaction, and boost engagement.

Working in partnership

The Equality and Diversity Unit and Staff Networks established a collaborative Working in Partnership project (with funding from the Diversity Fund), to provide opportunities to amplify the voices of under-represented staff groups.

Researcher Representation

  • The representation structure has been strengthened so that every department/faculty has a researcher representative who meet in divisional fora, then feed into central Research Staff Committees (one comprising entirely researchers, members of which sit on the other two).
  • Researcher representation on relevant senior University committees, currently 15, has been increased.
  • Termly networking meetings have been hosted for all researcher representatives and a toolkit has been produced to support them in being effective in their role.
  • Humanities, MSD and MPLS Divisions have appointed academics to be research staff advocates in each department to work with the researcher representative and Professional Services leads; SSD plan to do the same.

Inclusion and Leadership

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Overall, 83% of staff felt they could be themselves at work, however, for this question and other aspects of inclusion, this was lower for transgender and non-binary staff, LBG+ staff, disabled staff, and staff who had experienced a period of mental ill health in the past year.

77% of staff felt that their department respects individual differences

78% of staff felt that their department was committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.

Staff who had experienced or witnessed bullying or harassment felt significantly less favourably than staff who hadn’t in these areas.

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Disability

Targets and KPIs around disability representation, retention and attainment will be developed, for Council approval, with a comprehensive collegiate University action plan around disability support for staff and students based upon the recommendations of the Disability Advisory Group.

Digital Accessibility

The Equality and Diversity Unit (EDU) will work with the digital accessibility strategy team to develop policies and governance around accessibility, as well as a network of accessibility champions and stakeholders to offer support and training across the collegiate University.

Workplace adjustments

The EDU has developed new Workplace adjustment plans and work will be carried out to implement them once a new Staff Disability Advisor is in post.

LGBTQ+ staff and students’ inclusion The LGBTQ+ Task & Finish Group, established to enhance the experience of LGBTQ+ staff and students at Oxford and to provide guidance on improving LGBTQ+ inclusion and preparing a future submission to the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, has drawn on feedback from the Staff Experience Survey to inform its work.

EDI Expertise

The EDU is supporting EDI practitioners and staff across the University to improve their knowledge of EDI and enable access to support and upskilling. The EDI Community of Practice led a successful EDI Conference in September, and there will be termly Athena Swan Learning and Community events, on the back of the successful Athena Swan showcase in September 24.

Parents and Careers

In 2025, the EDU will launch a campaign to champion equal parenting and fatherhood, anchored in the new paternity leave policy. The campaign will include wider awareness of parenting support and resources, events and webinars on balancing parenthood with work, and case studies of equal parenting/caring champions and advocates.

Leadership ·

The University’s EDI Strategic Plan commits to ‘support and model academic and professional leadership’ (Objective 4), through actions including developing inclusive decision-making and leadership, supporting scholarly EDI work, and developing leaders and staff with their understanding of EDI.

The EDU and Chief Diversity Officer led a workshop on diversifying senior governance from race and gender perspectives. The EDU also co-delivered the EDI module for the Professional Services Leaders programme with POD, including strengthened content on race equality. · In 2024, updated guidance was shared on the EDU website to promote equality analysis through the use of Equality Impact Assessments. These aim to embed equality considerations into new and revised policies and practices from the earliest stage of development, enhancing inclusive decision-making and equality outcomes.