The Graduate Student Association - Uni of Melbourne
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The GSA is a small organisation that packs a big punch.
The Graduate Student Association of the University of Melbourne is a small organisation that packs a big punch. In 2018, it celebrated 25 years as a supportive hub for graduate students at the University to build their skills, connect with peers, fight for change, and prepare for life after study. As their reach grew so did their staff, and in 2016 their CEO decided it was time for a formal survey of what was at the time 20 staff.
They ran their first Engagement survey in 2016, and from there they were able to set targeted priorities for improvement. Their focus from 2017 was then checking in with their student base, so they conducted two bespoke student surveys to get feedback from them throughout the year. A great benefit of running the engagement and student surveys was that GSA were able to use insights from both surveys to inform their strategy, and also get some innovative suggestions from staff in the open ended text comments about how they could better deliver on their mission of supporting graduate students.
After focusing on their 2016 staff survey priorities and listening to their membership base across 2016-2017, they decided to run another staff survey to see how they were tracking on priorities. Results revealed a substantial improvement across the board (an average of 12.3% per category assessed in the survey per year) and were shortlisted as a finalist in our change challenge awards. Alongside these wonderful improvements in engagement was an improvement in many other business metrics, including: Turnover, Student Satisfaction/NPS, Student engagement, Staff Productivity and Financial performance.
They have been able to maintain this exceptionally high standard in their 2019 staff engagement survey, achieving results that earned them the honour of becoming one of Voice Project’s first Best Workplaces recipients this year. They are currently among the top performing in the Associations, Professional and Peak Body Benchmark. Reinforcing what Voice Project values most, when asked what we have added to their organisation their CEO said “they have fostered a relationship with our organisation, which has built confidence in the approach over time”. We look forward to working with them again in the future!
