The Awards Showcase is a window into the projects that won, or were runners up, in the 2026 UHR awards. Each session will focus on one award category and bring together the individuals who led and delivered the projects. Presenters will give a quick overview of their projects before having a facilitated conversation about the opportunities and challenges the activity brought about. The audience will get the opportunity to engage directly with the presenters to ask any questions.
WINNERS: Manchester Metropolitan University - Transforming Lives Together: Creating a great place to work
People and Organisational Development
Over the past 18 months, Manchester Metropolitan University’s People and Organisational Development Directorate has delivered a comprehensive transformation programme that has reshaped the colleague experience and embedded lasting cultural change. Anchored in the Great Place to Work and Inclusive & Diverse Culture strategies, the work spans every stage of the employee lifecycle—from attraction and development to wellbeing, ways of working and inclusion.
A sector leading Employee Value Proposition, Transforming Lives Together, has strengthened the University’s employer identity and contributed to year-on-year increases in senior academic appointments and a rise in candidates citing the institution’s reputation and values as reasons for joining.
New benefits, fairer recognition schemes and modernised systems, including McrMet Plus and Oracle, have enhanced transparency and user experience.
Leadership development, inclusive recruitment, distributed education leadership and a revitalised engagement model have driven measurable improvements in internal progression, trust and organisational resilience.
The University now has higher-than-sector representation and disclosure rates, reduced pay gaps, award-winning networks and two consecutive Outstanding Workplace awards.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate a holistic, innovative and data driven approach that other institutions can readily adopt to create meaningful, sustainable change.
RUNNERS-UP: University of Salford - Salford’s People Transformation TBC
University of Salford HR Team
The HR team at the University of Salford has delivered a far reaching programme of work that has significantly strengthened the organisation’s culture, colleague experience and operational effectiveness. Guided by a clear People Plan, the team focused on technological enablement, wellbeing, inclusion, and performance - supported by a commitment to core HR excellence. This has resulted in major achievements including becoming the first UK university to secure Living Pension Accreditation, gaining membership of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, reaccreditation from Stonewall and the Race Equality Charter, and winning a national CIPD award for People Analytics.
Key initiatives include implementing a new HR and Payroll system; launching a comprehensive Wellbeing Commitment; improving pay structures for lower graded colleagues; TUPE transferring catering staff to enhance job security and conditions; and delivering an annual colleague engagement survey that informs leadership decision making.
The team’s work has also influenced organisational sustainability, talent retention, academic workload transparency, and inclusive policy development.
Collectively, these achievements showcase an HR team that is innovative, data driven, values led and deeply committed to improving the working lives of colleagues while supporting the University’s long term strategic success.
Tagged : Employee Relations, Engagement and Wellbeing, Enhancing HR Services, Organisational Development, Events, Showcasing Good Practice
Type : Meeting
