The survey comprised of 20 questions with two open questions. Each section of the survey contained a series of statements based on eight themes, to which respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement on a five-point scale (from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’).  

Over 66% of colleagues took part in the survey, providing a comprehensive overview of what Loughborough University does well, and where it could do better.  

By working with People Insight, the University has also been able to benchmark its performance against 38 other UK universities, so we know how our experience compares to that of other higher education institutions.  

An overview of the results 

Five out of the eight themes from the survey were viewed more positively at Loughborough compared to other universities: Purpose (83%), Autonomy (72%), Enablement (55%), Leadership (52%), and Engagement (75%).  

Overall, the survey highlighted that colleagues were highlighted as one of the best things about working at Loughborough University. The answers from this question set also suggest that staff feel trusted to get on with your job, that you are clear about how your work contributes to the University’s success, and that you care about the future of the organisation.  

In comparison, there were two themes which were less favourable when benchmarking against other institutions: Wellbeing (52%), and Reward and Recognition (48%).  

We recognise the importance of recognising and valuing the contribution that staff make to the success of our University, which is why Project Expectations is currently undergoing a review of the reward arrangements we have in place. We hope to be able to share these findings with you soon and announce the new package we will be offering colleagues.  

Furthermore, we will be exploring the challenges staff have around wellbeing and what can be done to resolve these issues and would like to work with you on this to better understand the support you need.  

Find out more 

We have created a dedicated webpage which provides further detail on the results of the survey, with information that breaks down response rates across the Schools and Professional Services, as well as the type of responses that were provided for each question in the survey, including the open questions.  

Next Steps 

Schools and Professional Services should by now have shared the local findings from the Staff Experience Survey with their teams. The intention is that each School or Service will have its own action plan developed by the end of April to address the feedback in their areas. Senior leadership teams within Schools and Services will have access to a dashboard for their own action plan to help them to identify, track and progress their actions. Furthermore, the University will take action on centralised issues, of which updates will be provided over the coming months.