It is all about the experience – surely?
By Professor Ken Sloan, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer, Harper Adams University
This is a critical question to address when we are examining the relationship between employees and their employers. But is the experience the priority? If we examine our sector in recent times, and we consider the amount of effort invested in policies, it is hard to argue against the assertion that many have been primarily focused on pay, pensions and related benefits.
There are legitimate reasons for this. The Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and other related challenges have led to a sharp focus from employees and employers alike on the practical priority of surviving, and the ability to pay the bills. Some of these concerns spilled over into industrial unrest which, in some cases, affected materially the relationship between employees and their institutions.
As a Board member I am delighted the new UCEA Strategic Plan - Facilitating transformational change, Enhancing the employee experience locates the Employee Experience as the first in its new list of strategic priorities for the future. UCEA, which is best known for its role in collective pay bargaining, has, however, encouraged, promoted, facilitated, and initiated work in and across institutions regarding the wider employee experience. The UCEA website now hosts an extensive range of materials of employee experience examples drawn from our sector and beyond. This will be further built on as UCEA has now launched its plan for further work under this strategic priority for the period 2024-2027.
I am delighted to serve as the Board lead on the employee experience and hope to lead and learn as we provide thought leadership, share good and improving employment practices while progressing a narrative for HE as employers of choice.
Reflecting on my time at Monash University in Australia, I was given a clear indication from the first communication that the University was interested in me and wanted me to settle well. I was offered a range of choices and options to facilitate that. Probationary objectives were included in the offer letter with clear sources of support. I also had freedom to deploy my overall remuneration in different ways, including scale of pension contributions, leasing a car, buying IT equipment, a range of health and other benefits, and encouraged use of leisure time. When I lagged in taking annual leave, AI stepped in, and I was reminded to do so when I logged in! While no employer is perfect or gets it right every time, these attempts for me to settle were much appreciated.
I am proud to serve as the new Chair of Guild HE, incorporating the most diverse and eclectic group of tertiary institutions. Despite a broad variety in size and focus, they all share a determined interest in delivering positive student experiences despite often being in highly constrained resource environments. The employee experience cannot, however, be a byproduct or after thought of the student experience. It needs to be a foundation pillar that creates the environment in which student satisfaction, research excellence, and high performance is encouraged and achieved.
The challenge of what employee experience you can offer can be affected by the specialist, or areas of focus that the institution prioritises. I felt that keenly when I came to Harper Adams from Monash University. The Melbourne based institution had several arts performance spaces, extensive sports facilities, extensive cuisine and the best coffee you could want (in my opinion, anyway). It also had extensive staff development resources, had invested in community-focused infrastructure including face to face events and online communities. It was a brilliant environment (and of course climate) in which to work. When I joined Harper Adams, the first thing that struck me was the quality and care of the grounds, the authentic spirit of welcome, the focus on the right facilities to provide outstanding teaching and learning, and to undertake and disseminate societally useful research. One of the first decisions I had to take was to mothball the outdoor heated swimming pool which was falling into disrepair. I also inherited a staff common room with deep cultural significance and had to decide whether to continue with a no provided refreshments policy or to introduce some basic beverages again.
Alongside such differences between HE institutions and these issues sat the complexity of the connection between each employee and their employer. To provide a positive employee experience can never be a one size fits all. If so, it is likely to be based on the most favoured idea suits all which is hardly ever true.
In my new role, helping to develop sector employee experience discussions, I will highlight its importance whilst also learning a great deal along the way. We do not need to develop in isolation. Learning from other institutions, and other sectors, can be a way to tap into interventions with existing evidence of impact.
Returning to my initial question: It is all about the experience – surely? Inevitably, this must be true. I hope that readers will benefit from UCEA’s resources, but also come forward with the many and creative ways you are developing to instil belonging and connection in your colleagues, and any lessons that you have learned along the way. There is a long way to go to get it right, but by connecting ideas, even sharing approaches, together we will make the difference to the life blood of our organisations. Our people.
This is a critical question to address when we are examining the relationship between employees and their employers. But is the experience the priority? If we examine our sector in recent times, and we consider the amount of effort invested in policies, it is hard to argue against the assertion that many have been primarily focused on pay, pensions and related benefits.
There are legitimate reasons for this. The Covid-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and other related challenges have led to a sharp focus from employees and employers alike on the practical priority of surviving, and the ability to pay the bills. Some of these concerns spilled over into industrial unrest which, in some cases, affected materially the relationship between employees and their institutions.
As a Board member I am delighted the new UCEA Strategic Plan - Facilitating transformational change, Enhancing the employee experience locates the Employee Experience as the first in its new list of strategic priorities for the future. UCEA, which is best known for its role in collective pay bargaining, has, however, encouraged, promoted, facilitated, and initiated work in and across institutions regarding the wider employee experience. The UCEA website now hosts an extensive range of materials of employee experience examples drawn from our sector and beyond. This will be further built on as UCEA has now launched its plan for further work under this strategic priority for the period 2024-2027.
Experience relating to the experience
I am delighted to serve as the Board lead on the employee experience and hope to lead and learn as we provide thought leadership, share good and improving employment practices while progressing a narrative for HE as employers of choice. Reflecting on my time at Monash University in Australia, I was given a clear indication from the first communication that the University was interested in me and wanted me to settle well. I was offered a range of choices and options to facilitate that. Probationary objectives were included in the offer letter with clear sources of support. I also had freedom to deploy my overall remuneration in different ways, including scale of pension contributions, leasing a car, buying IT equipment, a range of health and other benefits, and encouraged use of leisure time. When I lagged in taking annual leave, AI stepped in, and I was reminded to do so when I logged in! While no employer is perfect or gets it right every time, these attempts for me to settle were much appreciated.
One size does not fit all
Learning and developing the employee experience is ongoing at Harper Adams University and our new strategy commits to placing the employee experience at the heart of how it develops and grows.I am proud to serve as the new Chair of Guild HE, incorporating the most diverse and eclectic group of tertiary institutions. Despite a broad variety in size and focus, they all share a determined interest in delivering positive student experiences despite often being in highly constrained resource environments. The employee experience cannot, however, be a byproduct or after thought of the student experience. It needs to be a foundation pillar that creates the environment in which student satisfaction, research excellence, and high performance is encouraged and achieved.
The challenge of what employee experience you can offer can be affected by the specialist, or areas of focus that the institution prioritises. I felt that keenly when I came to Harper Adams from Monash University. The Melbourne based institution had several arts performance spaces, extensive sports facilities, extensive cuisine and the best coffee you could want (in my opinion, anyway). It also had extensive staff development resources, had invested in community-focused infrastructure including face to face events and online communities. It was a brilliant environment (and of course climate) in which to work. When I joined Harper Adams, the first thing that struck me was the quality and care of the grounds, the authentic spirit of welcome, the focus on the right facilities to provide outstanding teaching and learning, and to undertake and disseminate societally useful research. One of the first decisions I had to take was to mothball the outdoor heated swimming pool which was falling into disrepair. I also inherited a staff common room with deep cultural significance and had to decide whether to continue with a no provided refreshments policy or to introduce some basic beverages again.
Alongside such differences between HE institutions and these issues sat the complexity of the connection between each employee and their employer. To provide a positive employee experience can never be a one size fits all. If so, it is likely to be based on the most favoured idea suits all which is hardly ever true.
What matters most?
I was genuinely curious what mattered to our employees in their experience and so our recent staff survey included a new question which invited colleagues to suggest what things they would like me to address or introduce to enhance the experience of employees or improve the University. The list of ideas is long, none are radical, many are deliverable, but they have several things in common. These included effective leadership that nurtured them positively, fairness and equity relating to workload and remuneration, addressing frustrations surrounding inefficient systems, a focus on community, communication and belonging, investment in people, spaces and systems, and reopening the swimming pool (of course). Most striking was the relative absence of direct references to pay and pensions. Of course these are important, but it does suggest that the connection that we have with employees is multidimensional and is changing rapidly, and I wonder just how well we really know them when deciding what to provide for them. We recruit using rich CVs and often reduce the content to job descriptions and required skills but what do we lose of the person in the process?In my new role, helping to develop sector employee experience discussions, I will highlight its importance whilst also learning a great deal along the way. We do not need to develop in isolation. Learning from other institutions, and other sectors, can be a way to tap into interventions with existing evidence of impact.
Returning to my initial question: It is all about the experience – surely? Inevitably, this must be true. I hope that readers will benefit from UCEA’s resources, but also come forward with the many and creative ways you are developing to instil belonging and connection in your colleagues, and any lessons that you have learned along the way. There is a long way to go to get it right, but by connecting ideas, even sharing approaches, together we will make the difference to the life blood of our organisations. Our people.
