Rector on the Results of AAU's Staff Well-being Barometer: The Stress Numbers are Worrying and Demand Action
: 09.02.2024
Rector on the Results of AAU's Staff Well-being Barometer: The Stress Numbers are Worrying and Demand Action
: 09.02.2024
By Lea Laursen Pasgaard, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Illustrations: Søren Emil Søe Degn, AAU Communication
The majority of staff members at Aalborg University (AAU) are satisfied with their work. They see their tasks as meaningful, and seven out of ten staff members indicated that they are highly or very highly motivated and committed to their work. This is according to the results of AAU's Staff Well-being Barometer 2023 that was just published.
However, the well-being barometer also indicates that a significant proportion of the university's staff members are under pressure. Every fifth staff member experiences an imbalance between demands and resources, and every fourth experiences stress symptoms often or very often. Of those, 3 out of 4 indicate that it has been going on for more than 3 months. And a large proportion have not reported it to their immediate superior.
- It’s good that staff members are generally satisfied and motivated in their work, but it is very worrying that so many people are experiencing symptoms of stress. We need to do something about this, says Rector Per Michael Johansen who chairs AAU's Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
He adds:
Symptoms of stress appear in many places, so this is something we need to talk about in all units. What causes stress? Can we organize the work to achieve a better balance? As management, we need to be listening and finding solutions.
Symptoms of chronic stress
Martin Mølholm, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Psychology is Deputy Chair of the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee. He believes that the results of the Staff Well-being Barometer are 'disturbing and hair-raising reading'. Like the rector, he has particularly noticed the high stress numbers.
- When our colleagues have been dealing with symptoms of stress for more than three months, this is what is known as chronic stress. We must take this very seriously. At the same time, it is important for me to say that the Staff Well-being Barometer cannot be used to make a clinical diagnosis, but neither should it. First and foremost, it presents a picture of the 'state of the nation'. And if this is the state of the nation then as the management, the board – and ultimately also in political terms – I would be very worried, says Martin Mølholm.
More people experiencing harassment and bullying
In the Staff Well-being Barometer 2023, the occupational health and safety organization changed its question formulations and response categories so most of the current results cannot be directly compared with results of previous years.
However, a number that is directly comparable is the number of staff members who have experienced bullying or harassment. Specifically, 23 staff members indicate that they were subjected to sexual harassment, which is the highest level in the previous three well-being surveys. Further, 194 staff members indicated having experienced bullying, harassment (other than sexual), discriminatory or unacceptable behaviour in 2023. This is an increase of 36 percent compared to the previous two surveys.
- That is simply not acceptable! We must talk to and treat each other properly. So, management and staff must come together as soon as possible to find solutions so that everyone can go to work without the risk of being harassed or otherwise subjected to inappropriate behaviour, says Per Michael Johansen.
The rector noted that far from all those who experience bullying or harassment report it to their immediate superior.
- This is really disturbing, and I hope that in our upcoming discussions we can learn more about what prevents some staff from going to their immediate superior about such experiences. It is crucial that the individual staff member can feel comfortable doing so. We must therefore also talk about what we can do to strengthen confidence that immediate management takes such matters seriously and acts on them, says the rector.
Martin Mølholm agrees that there is a need for a thorough discussion of both the findings and possible solutions. Such as in the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee where management and health and safety representatives together determine strategies, policies, and frameworks for improving the working environment at AAU.
The numbers in the Staff Well-being Barometer reflect the fact that Aalborg University has not sufficiently implemented the necessary processes in the organisation to take care of and improve staff well-being and the working environment
He continues:
- Some conditions are given, but there are also conditions that the university actually has influence and control over. We need to sit down together and make smart decisions that can help ease the burden on the individual staff member so that they feel there is better coherence between demands, tasks and resources, he adds.
Need for better task prioritization
The Staff Well-being Barometer also indicates that more staff want more help from their immediate superior on prioritizing work tasks. In any case, 15 percent of the respondents indicate that they are not getting sufficient help – a low or very low degree – from their immediate superior on prioritizing work tasks.
- Although I think that the university has succeeded in having a strategic approach to the kind of university we want to be and how to get there, it is quite obvious that we as management have not been good enough at prioritizing staff members’ tasks. We need to be much better at this, and I will have a dialogue with both management and staff representatives about this, says the rector.
Martin Mølholm agrees and believes that there is a need for a much more systematic conversation between the individual staff member and immediate superior about prioritizing tasks.
- A wise man once said that prioritizing is about neglecting in the right order. We need to get better at this at AAU. So, if I were to ask our management for something, it would be to take a point-by-point look at the work portfolio and tell staff members which tasks they should put aside or, alternatively, only do partially, says Martin Mølholm.
Dialogue is the next step
The results of the Staff Well-being Barometer will now be discussed by the consultation and the health and safety committees and will also be discussed by the Executive Management, the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee and the Main Joint Consultation Committee.
Martin Mølholm looks forward to the discussions and suggests that management introduce a principle where all decision-making take into account what it will mean for the staff working environment.
- If you are about to make a decision that will negatively affect the working environment then right now we are at the point where I think you shouldn’t make it, says Martin Mølholm.
The rector wants thorough discussions of the results before he will point to solutions:
- It is important that we now have a good dialogue in the occupational health and safety committees and consultation committees about what we can and should do before we decide on the solution, he says.
Satisfaction
6 out of 10 employees responded that they are very or extremely satisfied with their job as a whole, all things considered.
Motivation and commitment
Overall, 70 out of 100 employees have indicated that they are highly or very highly motivated and engaged. For SSH, it is slightly fewer, while for SUND it is slightly more. 6 out of 100 employees have indicated a lack of motivation, as they have answered that they feel motivated and engaged in their work to a low or very low degree.
Balance between demands and resources
While 7 out of 10 feel that their work is meaningful, only one in three employees say that there is an appropriate balance between demands and resources to a high or very high degree. Overall for AAU, almost every fifth employee has answered that they feel to a low or very low degree that there is an appropriate balance between demands and resources. At SSH and ENGINEERING, employees experience the greatest imbalance, where this applies to almost one in four. In FS, this applies to only one in fourteen.
Symptoms of stress
1 in 4 employees often or very often experience symptoms of stress. Of those, 3 out of 4 state that it has been going on for more than 3 months. 6 out of 10 employees who state that they quite often or very often have symptoms of stress have not told their manager.
About the AAU Staff Well-being Barometer
- AAU's Staff Well-being Barometer 2023 was sent out to all AAU employees in November 2023 and consists of a total of 20 questions plus eight possible sub-questions about offensive and unacceptable behaviour and stress.
- The response rate was 66 percent, which corresponds to 2,274 of the total 3,452 staff at AAU who received the questionnaire having responded to the survey. In 2021, the response rate was 69 percent.
- The results should be viewed as gauging the temperature on a number of parameters in the social and organizational working environment and serve as inspiration for dialogue on the workplace assessment and working environment – future, preventive and developmental aspects – at the individual departments and units.