Macquarie University’s workforce strategy during COVID-19
Macquarie University’s workforce strategy during COVID-19
While cliched, it is difficult to describe 2020 without using the term “unprecedented”. COVID-19 has impacted organisations and industries in unpredictable and uncountable ways, but among the most disrupted industries has been the higher education sector. With much of what they do reliant on face to face contact, and a significant portion of their revenue dependent on international students, it seems almost an understatement to call this year challenging.
Voice Project has worked with 41 Australian & New Zealand Universities since our inception. During the COVID-19 pandemic, over 12,000 academic and professional staff from eight Universities completed Voice Project’s COVID-19 Staff Check-In Survey, a pulse survey designed to gather insight into factors that are critical for supporting business continuity and staff wellbeing throughout COVID-19.
One of the universities that participated in the COVID-19 Staff Check-In Survey was Macquarie University, who surveyed staff in late April 2020. Fully endorsed by the VC, the survey aimed to gather staff feedback to adjust the range of support measures provided by the University in response to COVID-19, and to identify any gaps.
Voice Project was honoured to co-present with Macquarie University at the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (AHEIA) 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Conference in September 2020 to facilitate learning and collaboration within the sector as universities continue to navigate uncharted territory. While Macquarie University had many unique experiences with regards to the pandemic, their results also indicate a level of shared experience with the other Universities that conducted a COVID-19 Staff Survey.
Loren Hutton and Linda Williamson at Macquarie University were generous enough to share the University’s experience of Voice Project’s COVID-19 survey, from planning the survey right through to actioning the feedback. You can view the full AHEIA presentation here and read their story below.
The Context
Macquarie University was thrown into the deep end early after making headlines for being in close proximity to one of Australia’s first outbreaks. Not long after the formation of their COVID-19 Task Force in early March, they had its first confirmed student case on March 17th. Since moving non-essential services staff to remote working on March 25th and commencing virtual, remote teaching on March 30th, Macquarie University has made a monumental effort to maintain business continuity (essentially keeping students engaged and learning) and staff wellbeing. This all happened following an exceptionally difficult summer of fires and floods.
While many organisations hesitated to survey their staff at such a sensitive time, Macquarie University made the conscious decision to listen to its staff even if it was potentially challenging or critical feedback.
Macquarie’s Survey Results
The overall results
The University was generally pleased with the uptake of the survey (2166 responses were received in total), but were even more pleased once they received the results. At a high level, it was evident that most staff agreed that the University had been able to achieve its objectives of maintaining staff wellbeing (77%) and business continuity (77%). Results indicate that staff were particularly satisfied with the focus on health and safety (84%), the support they were receiving from their direct manager (84%), and the collaboration and communication between staff within and between work units (83%). Most staff also reported favourable perceptions around the University’s communication about COVID-19 (81%), the resources (e.g. equipment, technology) provided throughout the pandemic (81%), and senior management’s communication and decision-making in response to COVID-19 (80%). Despite still being positive results, involvement of staff in decision-making (75%) and work/life balance (70%) were the two relatively lower performing areas in the survey. The lowest scoring question was around workload being manageable (62%), which has been a common theme for many organisations that have completed our COVID-19 Check-In Survey. This is unsurprising given the additional health and safety and technological requirements we all need to learn and adhere to and the emotional resources required from all of us this year.
Deep diving into the data
While the overall results were overwhelmingly positive, Loren and Linda were keen to understand what they could do better. This involved delving into the data to find specific pockets within the University that were struggling the most or needed targeted support.
When they deep dived into the data and looked beyond the positive overall results, it became evident that certain pockets of staff had a vastly different experience to the University as a whole. They split the data using several demographic questions (e.g. role, employment type, gender), which revealed the cumulative impact of these factors on someone’s experience of the pandemic. For example, while 62% of Macquarie University staff agreed that their workload was manageable, this dropped to 32% for academic staff with direct reports and parental responsibilities.
It was evident that every time a layer of responsibility or potential risk factor was added (i.e. parental responsibilities, caring responsibilities, line management responsibilities, teaching responsibilities, perceived vulnerability to COVID-19), individuals were less satisfied, particularly with regards to managing workload and maintaining wellbeing and stress levels, compared to other staff. By understanding these layers, the University was able to identify and provide targeted support for these specific groups.
Not all about the numbers
One of the most valuable parts of the survey process for Macquarie University was going through the qualitative data collected as part of the survey. It added colour and context to the quantitative data, and allowed them to identify broader trends that were not necessarily evident in the quantitative results.
Overall, the text comments were mostly positive, particularly with regards to the VC and Executive’s prompt response to the pandemic by getting staff and students to work and study off campus safely and their regular communications to keep staff and students up-to-date during the pandemic. Staff also responded well to working from home in general. Nevertheless, consistent with the quantitative data, the text comments also indicate that staff who needed more support tended to have multiple responsibilities and be impacted by layered factors. Some key themes that emerged in the text comments include:
Increased teaching and academic workloads due to moving to online learning, looming deadlines, job security concerns and reduced boundaries between work and home, which were impacting on staff wellbeing and stress levels – these concerns were particularly significant for casual/sessional academics,
A desire for increased transparency over plans for future semesters and return to work, and
Some gaps in the equipment, technology and resources required for staff to work remotely.
Post-Survey Response and Key Learning
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Macquarie University has taken a range of measures to support staff to work from home, manage their stress and maintain a good level of wellbeing. Some of these measures included a dedicated COVID-19 webpage with evidence-based wellbeing and working from home resources (e.g. webinars on home schooling, coping and resilience during COVID-19), daily free online gym and yoga classes run by the University’s Sport and Aquatic Centre, continued EAP support for both managers and staff, provision of free flu vaccines, and moving face-to-face staff learning and development opportunities to online quickly. The survey feedback indicates that these measures were effective and were highly appreciated by staff. In addition to proving the effectiveness of the current COVID response, the University was able to further identify 5 areas for action from the comprehensive survey feedback. As with their response to the pandemic in general, their approach to feeding back and actioning the survey results was timely, considered, empathic and practical. The 5 areas identified for action included:
Acknowledging the pandemic’s impact on teaching workload and research performance by factoring the impact of COVID-19 into performance assessment of academics and applications for future academic promotion.
Recognising the hard work and contributions of casual/sessional academic staff by giving these staff an additional one-off payment.
Identifying what specific actions should be taken to help staff with parental and/or caring responsibilities overcome their challenges during the pandemic, which is also part of the University’s broader gender equity strategy.
Offering greater clarity around how COVID-19 has impacted the University to staff
Providing more communication about the University’s COVID safe plan and return to campus plan.
There are a few key learnings for Loren and Linda as they went through the survey process, including:
The importance of gathering staff feedback early and feeding the survey results back to staff quickly – it only took the University about 5 weeks to announce the results and 5 areas for action since the survey was launched to staff,
The value of making data-driven decisions by using Voice Project’s portal for deep dive analysis of the quantitative data,
The richness of the qualitative data, which provides additional insights for the Executive to identify key priorities for action
The importance of sharing the data and ownership of the results and actions across all levels of the University, and,
The strong commitment to supporting staff during COVID-19 from the University’s senior leadership.
What’s Next
While Macquarie University had a strong early response to the pandemic, their next challenge (as with all organisations) will be when fear becomes fatigue, novelty becomes normal and plan become practice. Macquarie has committed to involving and consulting staff in their COVID response, and the survey was just one part of that strategy. The survey has given the University confidence to continue with their approach, and been a way for leaders to communicate to staff that their views and work are valued.
If you would like to check in with staff to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on your workforce, Voice Project has many options available. Please contact enquiries@voiceproject.com to speak with one of our experienced consultants.