Colleague Engagement Survey
7,445 colleagues took part in the 2026 Colleague Engagement Survey, Your Voice Matters, helping to build a clearer picture of what it feels like to work at the University and where further action is needed.
This year’s results show continued progress, with the overall engagement score rising to 80%, above both the higher education and Russell Group benchmarks. Response rates also increased, with 59% of eligible colleagues taking part — up 8 percentage points on 2025.
The results are an important part of how we listen, learn and improve together, supporting our M2035 ambition to create an inclusive, supportive and high-performing University community.
The results also highlight areas where colleagues want to see continued improvement. University-level action will focus on key themes including leading change, workload and resources, career development, recognition, and building a positive and inclusive culture.
Next steps:
Your local leaders will share more details about the survey results in your area and provide opportunities for you to explore what the results mean. We have a community of 265 Engagement Advocates who will develop local actions aimed at improving the colleague experience and engagement.
About the survey
In 2026, the survey launched on Tuesday 10 March and ran until Tuesday 31 March.
Our Colleague Engagement Survey is an important way for all colleagues to share how engaged they feel in the work they do, what they value most about working here and where things could, and should, be better.
The survey, which runs annually, is your opportunity to be totally open and honest and tell us what’s working and what isn’t.
Your responses are invaluable and will help us deliver on our strategy ambitions to 2035, as well as a range of local actions, all contributing towards making our University a better place to work for all.
Thank you for taking part, we genuinely appreciate you taking time to share your views.
Read our latest news where we’ve taken action
We’ve used your feedback from the 2025 survey to shape our Manchester 2035 strategy and more than 400 local and University-wide actions are underway – you can find out more via our news feed.
We’ll also be sharing short video clips under the key themes from 2025 to demonstrate the types of actions taking place across the University. These will be shared on the Your Voice Matters hub and on StaffNet.
We have been running Colleague Engagement Surveys (previously known as Staff Survey) for a number of years. By completing these surveys, you’ll ensure we have a clear picture of what it’s like to work here. Your feedback means that we can put together action plans to make a real difference and make positive changes. In addition to these surveys, we also have lots of other ways that colleagues can feedback or ask questions, and all of this is used to make positive change.
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