We want to find out about your experience of working at the University so we can take action to improve. Therefore, we’re inviting all colleagues to take part in our Staff Survey.
This is your chance to share how you’re feeling about working at the University of Bedfordshire — what’s working well, what isn’t, and what matters most to you.
Over the last few years, we’ve focused strongly on improving the student experience. Now, we want to apply that same focus to listening to and supporting our colleagues.
This survey is the first step in a new approach to staff engagement — one built on listening, clear priorities, and taking visible action. Your feedback will help us understand where we need to focus our efforts to make the biggest difference.
The survey is completely confidential and is being run by independent specialists, so you can be open and honest in your responses.
Our Staff Engagement Survey has now been open for just over a week, and thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to complete it.
I know surveys can sometimes prompt a degree of scepticism. Colleagues will naturally want to know whether their feedback will genuinely be listened to and whether anything will change as a result.
Over the years, colleagues across the University have shared feedback in many different ways and experiences will vary. Some colleagues will have seen positive local action and support. Others may feel less confident that feedback has always led to visible change or clear communication about what happened next.
One of the reasons for introducing an annual University-wide survey is to help us build a clearer and more consistent picture of colleague experience across the institution over time.
This is important because, while we rightly spend a great deal of time understanding the student experience, we have not previously had the same consistent university-wide approach to understanding how colleagues experience working here.
The survey gives us an opportunity to better understand what is working well, where colleagues feel supported and engaged, and where we need to improve.
The survey is confidential and independently run by People Insight, with responses going directly to them rather than to the University.
What matters now is that we use the feedback properly, are open about the themes we hear, and demonstrate progress over time. Some issues will be easier to address than others, and not every change will happen quickly. But colleagues should be able to see a clearer and more consistent approach to listening, responding and improving year on year.
So if you haven’t yet taken part, I would really encourage you to do so. The more colleagues who participate, the more meaningful and representative the picture will be, and the more useful the insights will be as we shape future priorities and actions together.
Thank you again to everyone who has already contributed.
We've put together answers to some of the questions you might have about the survey. If you have a question that hasn't been covered, please let us know by emailing p&c@beds.ac.uk, so we can include it.
We want to find out how you’re feeling about working at the University so we can take action to improve and also see where things are working well.
There are three main reasons:
Deborah’s appointment as Vice Chancellor also coincides with the final year of our Transforming Bedfordshire Strategy, so it’s important that we capture feedback as we begin work on a new strategy. We know this is a busy time, and with ongoing uncertainty in the external environment, there’s no ‘perfect moment’ to run a staff survey.
People Insight are independent employee engagement specialists. We have asked them to conduct the survey and use their expertise to advise us on what to do as a result. They also have extensive experience in running employee surveys with other organisations across the UK and internationally. Using an external specialist means the survey is confidential and impartial. You can read more about them on their website
People Insight will also support us to take action on the results and ensure we regularly monitor and feed back on the progress we’re making. This is not a one-off. We’re moving to a regular annual survey so we can keep track of progress and keep improving over time.
Yes. Taking part in the survey allows you to express your opinions and help make a difference at the University, but it isn’t compulsory. We really hope you will complete it.
Employees of the university are invited to participate in the Staff Survey. Due to the scope of this survey, and the nature of some of the questions, we are not able to include visiting staff. The nature of the visiting staff role is usually one of short-term duration, and some of the questions require a longer-term experience at the University. If you are a visiting staff member, and would like to share your experiences, you are very welcome to email P&C@beds.ac.uk with your thoughts and comments.
The survey goes live at 9am on Tuesday 5 May and closes at 5pm on Friday 29 May. You will receive an email directly from People Insight sharing a link to the survey. If you don’t get an email by the end of 5 May, please contact p&c@beds.ac.uk.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. You will select one answer on the scale provided per question to show to what extent you agree or disagree with a number of statements. You will then have the opportunity to write free text comments on the issues that matter most to you. You will also be asked about areas we’ve been focusing on as an organisation, such as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and mental wellbeing, including work towards accreditations like the Race Equality Charter and the University Mental Health Charter.
Yes. Your manager will encourage you to complete the survey at a time that suits you, including during working hours. If you are struggling to find the time, speak to your manager and they will support you with blocking out time to allow you do complete the survey.
No. You can complete the survey wherever is most convenient for you, as long as you have online access—for example at home, at work, or in another suitable location. You can also access the survey at any time using the QR code provided.
You will need your Staff ID number to access the survey using the QR code. This can be found on Trent under Employee Self Service.
If you have a non-desk-based role, or would prefer to complete the survey in a quieter space, we have made the following arrangements:
These spaces are available to help ensure everyone has the opportunity to take part in a comfortable and appropriate setting.
No. All your information will be saved, so if you need a break, you can finish it another time. Make sure you complete it before it closes at 5pm on Friday 29 May.
If you have submitted your answers and would like to amend them, please contact support@peopleinsight.co.uk to let them know. They can reset the survey for you either from the beginning or from a certain question number.
You can complete the survey on your phone, an i-Pad or at a designated workstation at the following places:
Line Managers of colleagues that are not desk based should provide sufficient space and time for non-desk based colleagues to complete the survey.
People Insight keep the surveys as simple as possible by following best practice guidelines to accommodate most readers. If you have difficulty completing the survey, please get in contact with People Insight by emailing support@peopleinsight.co.uk and they will find an alternative way for you to complete the survey.
For those who were here for the last survey in 2022, we know that we didn’t always keep you updated on how things were progressing after the survey. While actions were taken, the lack of follow up understandably makes it hard for you to see the value in taking part and whether your feedback makes a difference.
This time, we are committed to sharing the feedback and the actions we will take to make the University a better place to work.
We want an accurate and representative picture of how people are feeling. The more people who take part, the more useful and representative the feedback will be, allowing us to take more meaningful action.
Sharing your thoughts about your work will help drive real change, and your thoughts are unique, so we want to hear from everyone. The survey is one of the best ways we have to voice our opinions honestly and openly with the goal of improving our own work lives and the organisation overall.
Yes. The survey is being run by People Insight, an independent provider, and all responses go directly to them. This includes whether or not you have completed the survey.
At no point will anyone at the University, including senior leaders or managers, be able to see individual responses. This means you can be completely honest, knowing your answers cannot be traced back to you.
Free text comments will be shared with the University, but they will not be attributed to individuals. In addition, results will only be reported for groups of a minimum size (5 respondents or more) to further protect anonymity (see question ‘How will my data be used and reported?’ for more detail).
We know some of what you may want to say could be difficult to share, and that’s okay. Hearing your full experience—both positive and negative—helps us understand what needs to change.
People Insight operates under strict confidentiality and data protection standards and takes this responsibility very seriously.
All responses to the survey are confidential and are collected and analysed by People Insight, our independent survey provider.
To help us understand where action is needed, results may be reported for different groups (for example, departments). To protect anonymity, no results will be shared for any group with fewer than five respondents, across both teams and demographic groups.
If a group is too small to report on separately, responses will be included in wider, aggregated results. This means your feedback will still contribute to the overall findings.
People Insight handles all data in line with GDPR requirements. You can read their Privacy Policy here:
[https://peopleinsight.co.uk/privacy-policy/]
You can also watch a short video explaining how your responses are handled here:
[https://vimeo.com/460103536/7ef50bab4b]
People Insight, who are conducting the survey for us, ask a small number of demographic questions so we can understand how experiences may differ across the University. This helps us identify where support or action may be needed most and ensures that any action we take is meaningful and targeted. To protect anonymity, results are only shared with us if there are enough responses to ensure confidentiality (five respondents or more). This means no individual can be identified based on their answers or demographic information.
If you access the survey via the intranet link or the QR code on posters, you may also be asked to enter your staff ID number. This is used by People Insight, our independent survey provider, to:
Your answers remain confidential because individual responses are never shared with the University. All reporting is anonymised and based on groups of five or more and never individuals.
Survey results may be analysed by groups such as department, length of service and other demographic categories. This helps us target actions where they are most needed.
Where there are not enough responses to report on a group separately, results will be combined into broader datasets to ensure anonymity is maintained.
Yes. Any free text comments you provide will be included in the survey results exactly as written (verbatim). However, your name will not be attached to your comments, and no one at the University will be able to identify you directly from them.
For this reason, we ask you to take care not to include any information that could identify you or others (such as names or specific personal details), as comments may be recognisable based on their content.
A reminder of this will also appear within the survey itself.
If you are concerned about anything you have written, you can contact People Insight at: support@peopleinsight.co.uk.
Please also note that this survey is not a formal route for raising complaints or grievances.
We know some colleagues would value more opportunities to share detailed feedback.
The survey was designed in partnership with People Insight, who advised on balancing meaningful feedback with keeping the survey manageable so that as many colleagues as possible take part. As a result, it includes a mix of structured questions and a small number of open comments.
This approach allows us to identify clear themes across the University while still hearing colleagues’ views in their own words. We will use the results to guide follow‑up conversations where more detailed feedback is needed.
The results will be shared from July and will be discussed in our Staff Engagement Forum, leadership coffee chats, University Leadership Forum, Line Manager Support Sessions and you’ll also have the chance to discuss results within your team.
Following publication of the results, we will begin a process of working with colleagues across the University to develop both organisational and local priorities. These will focus on improving the staff experience and will help shape the actions we take forward as a result of the feedback we receive.
Transparency is important, so if we are unable to prioritise a specific issue, we will explain why. It might be the case that we can address it at a later date. Either way, we will communicate that to you.
Yes. This survey marks the beginning of a new approach to staff engagement at the University, one built on listening, action, and accountability, and embedded in how we work every day. As part of this approach, we will run an annual survey so we can track progress.