WATCH: Townhall with Professor Duncan Ivison on Colleague Engagement
20 Jun 2025
The Townhall was an opportunity to explore the recent findings of the Colleague Engagement Survey and discuss why colleague engagement is important as we get ready to launch and deliver our Manchester 2035 strategy
President and Vice-Chancellor Duncan Ivison emphasised the importance of colleague engagement and explored the key findings of the Colleague Engagement Survey. The survey will run annually alongside our ongoing joiner, one year and leaver surveys.
During the session, Duncan Ivison along with Executive Director of People Ele Morrissey and Head of Colleague Experience Rachael McGraw, gave an overview of the highlights and strengths as well as the challenges faced by colleagues, including stress and workload management, career progression and dealing with change. Discussions also centred around bullying and harassment and the importance of transparency and accountability in dealing with these issues to create a respectful workplace.
Rachael McGraw talked about the next steps in terms of taking action in response to feedback from the survey. While there will be a small number of University themes and actions, local leaders have been empowered to take actions in their own areas and updates on these will be shared via StaffNet and local communication channels.
Correction: The questions about bullying, harassment and discrimination use a different key to the other questions in the survey. This caused some confusion at the Townhall where it was cited that 86% of colleagues in the Cultural Institutions had experienced bullying and harassment. In fact, 86% said they had not experienced bullying and harassment.
Reading the results
Colleagues are encouraged to review the guidance on the Your Voice Matters hub about how to read the results correctly.