Dodman said that a recent survey found 94% of staff said they were proud to work for the university.
He added that the successful scores weren’t down to “just one intervention or activity”.
“It has been [due to] looking at staff development, leadership development, health and wellbeing, pay and all the different dimensions coming together to try and strengthen the relationship between employer and employee,” he said.
Last year, the University of Sheffield won the Health and Wellbeing Award at the HR Excellence Awards, for its integrated wellbeing programme, called Juice. Dodman said that since the win the university has invested further in services and activities that have led to a “significant increase” in staff engagement in wellbeing.
The university launches a new wellbeing campaign every three months, he added.
When it comes to engagement, Dodman said that taking action on survey findings was crucial.
He said: “Where they see particular results, whether they are good, bad or indifferent, we asked [employees] to identify action they would like to see in the workplace in order to improve those scores.
“We made it clear that it wasn’t a corporate ‘top down’ plan in response to the staff survey results but more ‘you told us what you think; now look at the results locally, make an action plan and we’ll support you to deliver it’.”
To enter this year’s HR Excellence Awards – which includes categories on health and wellbeing and employee engagement – visit www.hrexcellenceawards.com
Entries close on 27 March.
University of Sheffield focuses on holistic engagement strategy
A holistic staff engagement strategy has led to almost 100% pride scores for the University of Sheffield, HR director Andrew Dodman told HR magazine.
