Colleague Experience

Investment in digital services is a key enabler to improving our colleague offering, which is essential to attracting and retaining the people who drive the University's success. Our culture and colleague experience differentiates Edinburgh Napier as a employer of choice in the University sector and beyond.

To do this, we provide services that delight our colleagues from the beginning of their career with us, effective tools to enable a flexible and collaborative work culture and personalised support to mature their digital literacy. Embedding inclusive digital practices allows us to grow our own talent.

Internal digital communications channels bring to life our purpose and places our values at the heart of all we do. Colleagues feel connected to the University’s goals and understand their role in achieving them.

Investment in our estate, such as the collaboration technologies in our learning and teaching spaces and meeting rooms, ensures a consistent and connected service

For a greater insight into our ambitions for our colleague experience, watch Carolann Begbie (Director of People & Services) talk about her vision.

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Digital transformation For me, looking after both our colleagues and our students, is allowing them to have the same digital experience while they're at work or while they're at university

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that they have whenever they're at home. So if you think about our lives today, I can do my banking online, I can order food online. If I'm being bad, I can listen to books online and I can communicate with people online. I can communicate in a digital way that I didn't used to. And I think we've all become used to that experience. And if we don't get our experience at work or as a student, then it really impacts on our ability to deliver what we're here to do. So I think at a really simple level, creating an experience

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that our colleagues and our students that mirrors what they've got outside is just so, so important. So some of the frustrations that people have with us within the people team is how long it takes to process something online or fill out a form to get some to get something really straightforward done. And being enabled by technology will allow us to make sure that's a much smoother process.

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If I think about the the colleague Internet right now, today, when we go to look for a policy or the way to do something and we do have colleagues that try to go and find that for themselves, they can't find it or they can find something from 5678 years ago that's no longer in date. Actually through the digital transformation we'll have a colleague Internet that makes it really easy for people to find the answers themselves or to make make it easy for us to make answers accessible for people. So I think the key enablers to realise

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digital vision are taking people with you. And I think helping people understand why we're going to enable ourselves digitally is going to be really important. And why do I say that Some people really love change, some people don't. And with change comes uncertainty comes a different way of doing things and for some of us it's a different way of doing things that that you know, we've done something for 10 years one way. We now need to change the way we do that. And I think a key part of introducing different technology or introducing

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and new digital experiences, making sure that we take people with us and we help people understand why we're doing it, what the benefits are going to be to them of us doing it and what outcomes are going to achieve through it. So I think what's going to be really important is taking people along that journey and and and helping people who will potentially naturally be resistant to doing things. Sometimes it might be doing things themselves. You know self-service, why would a self-serve and I can get somebody from

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ex team to do it for me. And I think helping people understand why we're changing and the positive impact that it's going to have on them is really important. So having a data strategy and all our data on one platform will be a game changer for us from a people team perspective. So at the minute we've got, we've got HR Connect which allows us to record the core colleague record. It doesn't allow us to record everything. It doesn't allow us to look at how we do talent management. It doesn't let us the the performance management elements of that system don't work in the way we would want

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into and we don't have our colleague data all in one place. So if we want to do ethnicity pay reporting for example, which is going to come in is much more difficult to do with the the different, the myriad of systems that we've got. At the minute, having it all in one place enables us hugely. It allows us a single source of the truth on our people and allows us I guess to make really informed decisions based on what the data tells us. Attracting the best talent into the universities are core part o

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what we want to do. And I think as a university we've got a really strong brand, We're developing that into an equally strong employer brand. But what's going to be really important when we've developed a really strong employer brand is it as soon as someone decides that they're going to apply for a role with us at the minute that experience stops because the technology is just not there for them to be able to apply for the role. And taking it then further than that, having a system that allows us to from the point that somebody's

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stated that they want to apply for a role with us right through to the day they leave, where their information is all in the one place where they interact with us in the one place I think we'll just be. So makes such a difference to to the whole colleague life cycle.

Employee Journey

Our systems underpin intuitive processes which enable our colleagues to be self-sufficient, supported by specialists in our professional services teams, with seamless, robust workflows to manage regular activities, such as payroll. Talent attraction is a proactive activity, underpinned by good information and streamlined services that remove barriers to recruiting new colleagues effectively.

Empowerment

Colleagues are equipped with information, systems, devices and skills to engage in their own performance and development plans, ensuring their contribution and aspirations are congruent with the organisation’s goals. We use digital channels to support networks and communities of practice. Microsoft Modern Workplace underpins flexibility and autonomy.

Engagement

Our online events capability allows all colleagues to join the senior team as they cascade information and celebrate success. Our colleague intranet is complemented by more informal, user-created channels on our internal social media platform for communication and collaboration. Digital services assist continuous listening to feedback, and analysis of that feedback drives continuous improvement.

Building Careers

Our Virtual Learning Environment is exploited to provide a coherent and cohesive prospectus of learning opportunities that match the aspirations of the individual and the needs of the University. Digital learning supports all learning approaches, including the use of video and podcast content. Digital services underpin the onboarding and longitudinal induction of new colleagues, providing an engaging programme tailored to their role, and promote communities of practice.

Digital Skills

We provide comprehensive training and support so that colleagues can exploit learning technologies to best effect. This complements a self-assessment tool that allow colleagues to build a development plan and access resources to gain a contemporary digital skills portfolio. All colleagues have access to the devices, services and support not only for use in their work, but also to enrich their career and increase confidence in engaging in a digital world.

Data & Insights

We convert our people data into accurate, actionable insights for both targeted interventions and strategic workforce planning. We can manage the risk and evaluate the impact of these interventions. Individuals and line managers have access to the data they need to engage with our policies and processes as we transition to a culture of enablement and self service.

University wide

While being committed to Growing Sustainability

As well as being core to delivering our University values and our strategic objectives to Build Careers and Grow Networks, this theme directly links to the delivery of a number of our strategic KPIs and associated Transformational Actions:

Staff Engagement: Engagement Survey
Finance and Enablers: Financial Surplus (£M) (contribution for Schools)

Transformational Values

Our transformational actions explained.

Prioritise Career & Professional Development

Student Journey

We provide digital services that empower students to successfully navigate and enhance their University journey, ensuring that they have access to tailored services, information and support.

Enabling Enterprise

Our services support student entrepreneurship, research commercialisation and industry engagement, enhancing the University's contribution to economic and societal development.