How has the day-to-day working life of university staff changed during the pandemic? This was the question posed by the Presidential Board and the Staff Council in February. The focus was on work motivation, work-life balance, communication within teams and working from home.
The situation took everyone by surprise: in March 2020, the majority of the university’s staff began working from home; the buildings were generally closed, and the campus lay deserted. To find out how staff were experiencing these changes to their daily working lives brought about by the pandemic, the Presidential Board and the Staff Council jointly carried out a staff survey in February – partly to determine how a university can be managed in such an exceptional situation.
In the Staff Council’s view, this situation was a kind of real-world experiment carried out at record speed, for which, under normal circumstances, several studies would have had to be conducted. Making a virtue of necessity – that was also the rationale behind the survey, explains Jörg Stahlmann, Vice-President for Administration and Finance. “We can draw important conclusions from our experiences during the coronavirus pandemic for future working practices at the university. This is particularly true when it comes to remote working and mobile working. In doing so, we want to take even better account of the tasks and personal needs of each individual,” he emphasises.
Indeed, the survey provides a comprehensive picture of working under pandemic conditions: no fewer than 1,234 of the 2,875 staff members surveyed – just under 43 per cent – completed the questionnaire in full. As responses were received from all areas of the university, the results can be considered representative, says Dr Carolin Schöbel-Peinemann, Head of the Human Resources and Organisational Development Department.
Desire for greater flexibility regarding place of work
Schöbel-Peinemann organised the survey together with her colleagues Dr Astrid Beermann and Inga Rüdebusch from Health Management, as well as representatives from the Staff Council and the Human Resources Department. The Internal Evaluation team, part of the Department for Study Affairs, analysed the results anonymously. According to the findings, just over half of staff took on different tasks within their own remit during the pandemic. Most staff (87 per cent) felt able to cope adequately with these tasks. A large proportion of respondents also rated aspects such as work motivation and collaboration with colleagues and line managers as positive.
At the time of the survey, over 90 per cent of participants were working from home either full-time or part-time. Three-quarters of this group were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘somewhat satisfied’ with the situation. The elimination of commutes and the improved balance between work and personal commitments – such as childcare – were among the positive experiences. A large proportion of respondents therefore expressed a desire to continue carrying out part of their work from home in the future. “Many have developed a more positive attitude towards working from home,” says Schöbel-Peinemann.
However, the results also highlight the downsides of the situation: many rated the accessibility of other organisational units as worse than before. Between a quarter and just under half of employees also felt that communication with colleagues and line managers had deteriorated – depending on whether they were working from home or not. In addition to social isolation, many people working from home also found it difficult to switch off from work and to draw clear boundaries between their professional and private lives.
New service agreement in the pipeline
The Staff Council concludes from the results that, despite the circumstances, the university has managed to create sufficiently good conditions for staff at short notice – even if, naturally, this cannot apply to all staff members. The task now is to draw appropriate conclusions for the future and, in line with staff wishes, to allow them greater flexibility regarding where and how they work. It is important here to take everyone’s needs into account, including those who do not benefit from working from home.
The Presidential Board and Division 1 are now working together with the Staff Council to define the organisational, social and legal framework. This includes, amongst other things, digitalisation and the provision of equipment for home workplaces, as well as the development of skills among managers and staff. The current “Service Agreement on Alternative Working Arrangements during the Coronavirus Crisis” will remain in force until the end of the winter semester. By then, according to the plans of those involved, a new service agreement is to be finalised and come into force.
