Showcasing Good Practice 2022

WINNER - Achieving Excellence Together – Refocusing on our People and our Culture at Ulster University 

In 2017 an all-staff survey provided clear and direct feedback to Ulster University that much more needed to be done to advance the focus on many aspects of the employee lifecycle, and the combined ‘employee experience.’ In the five years since, a significant transformation has been undertaken both in terms of the way in which ‘Human Resources’ are managed, and in the expectations and responsibilities of all colleagues to contribute to a more progressive and engaging culture. 

RUNNER UP - People First - Digital Transformation for a new era of HR

When faced with the challenges of the pandemic and the move to remote working, digitising HR solutions had never been more important.  The People First project delivered a bold and innovative approach to time consuming but essential performance and reward processes using in-house specialists to process map, design and develop applications which are mobile-friendly and fully responsive on both mobile devices and desktop PCs. 

RUNNER UP - Making an inclusive impact

Colleagues across the HR Directorate have worked as One Team on a sustained basis to implement a number of improvements to support leaders and colleagues across the University of Plymouth in building a more inclusive culture, including significantly reducing the gender pay gap and creating an environment where people can bring their whole self to work. The most notable changes have been the median gender pay gap reduction from 27.7% (2017) to 18.6% (2021) due to successful actions to address occupational segregation and the achievement of Stonewall Gold accreditation. 

WINNER - Academic Careers Framework 

The HROD Directorate at Sheffield Hallam University led a four-year project to develop and embed an Academic Careers Framework (ACF). The ACF provides clarity about what outstanding looks like so that academics know the benchmark for career progression to professor and associate professor. The ACF was developed inclusively and collaboratively with a diverse range of academic and professional services colleagues and with input from UCU trade union colleagues. 

RUNNER UP - St George’s Fair Recruitment Specialists

The Fair Recruitment Specialist Initiative at St George’s, University of London, has been designed to improve the diversity and representation of recruitment panels. The initiative began as a one-year pilot in November 2020, following evaluation of recruitment and selection data which highlighted around 66% of recruitment panels over the previous 4 years had no diversity of ethnicity. The involvement of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff at St George’s who have volunteered to become Fair Recruitment Specialists has been crucial to the success of this initiative.  

SHORT-LISTED - Diversity2Inclusion

UCA has developed a unique approach to delivering EDI prompted by its strategic vision to be a global authority on creative arts and technologies, and by the impact of societal events such as Black Lives Matter on our staff and students. We founded the approach in 2020/21 and it has driven a new level of engagement in the delivery of important and exciting projects around conflict resolution, reciprocal mentoring and the EDI forum theatre designed and delivered by our staff and students, for our staff and students. 

SHORT-LISTED - Digital and Compassionate – a fresh approach to managing sickness absence and supporting colleagues with disabilities at Teesside University

Teesside University took a fresh approach to managing sickness absence and supporting disabled colleagues through engagement with stakeholders, policy change and harnessing digital technologies. The University has been able to reduce absence rates at double the rate that the sector has within the same period. Policy changes included a radical reduction in sickness absence trigger points and replacing sanctions for short term absence with a series of support through a Health Improvement Plan.

RUNNER UP - Agility and Collaboration at the heart of HR transformation

The launch of a new Enquiry Management Service to over 9800 staff in the midst of the pandemic was not only a significant learning experience but also demonstrated measurable impact for colleagues at the University of Glasgow. Under significant environmental pressure to plan, design, implement then support and maintain an entirely new service the team displayed exceptional spirit and innovation to deliver and role model inspiring change.

SHORT-LISTED - Supporting Staff to Support Students

The Supporting Staff to Support Students project responds to the need for staff to feel supported in supporting students with a range of complex issues, through training and online toolkits with resources to provide guidance and information to improve awareness and knowledge of different issues, with clear information on how and when to refer or signpost students for further support.  

The project also aims to improve the student experience, ensuring that all staff have consistent messages about how to support students with these issues.

SHORT-LISTED - An employment framework to enable nurses, midwives and the allied healthcare professions to establish and sustain a clinical academic career

In collaboration with two local NHS trusts, Northumbria have created an employment framework to help make some flagship clinical academic joint appointments for Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals. The University has built upon our relationships with the Trusts to create, develop and implement these new appointments.

WINNER - Dynamic Working: The People, Space, Digital Approach to Transformational Change 

Aston embraced the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset work using a hybrid dynamic working model. Through a ‘people, space and digital’ approach the University provided the conditions to empower staff, to build a culture of trust, to be dynamic and focused on outcomes in order to be a truly agile institution able to provide the best experience for its beneficiaries and to respond quickly to the ever-changing operating environment.

RUNNER UP - Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow: creating a bespoke national service based on our core capabilities

The LLiG went from a handful of employees to 700 in response to the tasks of providing PCR test results, contributing to National Statistics and genotyping to identify new variants. The LLiG has also been involved in vaccine trials and many other important pieces of work that have helped in the fight against Covid. By working collaboratively and strategically the University has created something very special that will always be held in high regard by not only the University, but the UK government and general public.

WINNER - Elevate – a leadership programme centring women of colour of employees as people and ultimately motivating them through happiness and their connections to colleagues and pride towards the University. 

A cross-institutional leadership development programme for individuals who identify as female from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds has been heralded an unmitigated success. Over just 7 months, throughout the height of the pandemic, the online programme offered an engaging and range of interactive online webinars and activities including cross-institutional mentoring. Participants worked on a personal development project of their own choice, that would support their career development and have impact in their organisation.