Valuing people

In order to achieve our ambitious mission we need to ensure that our staff are fully engaged, and are passionate about their roles in the overall enterprise. It is also important that individuals in our partner organisations – who teach our students and are partners in our research – feel appropriately valued.  Prolonged remote working – and in particular blended working with some staff working from home and some staff at the workplace – raises a new set of challenges around inclusivity, equality and connectivity that we will need to address.

Culture

A central aspect of our overall strategy is to make the Department “a great place to do great work”. We believe that happy staff who feel valued and supported are most able to be creative and give of their best. To achieve this, we have developed a series of initiatives. Through its work on Equality and Diversity, the Department successfully renewed its individual Athena Swan Bronze Award in 2021. We have now joined the SBS-wide Athena Swan submission, contributing to the recent Bronze Award for the School. Our E&D committee is chaired by a member of the senior management team, and has representatives from all areas of teaching and research, contributing to an active process of continual improvement in processes and facilities supporting E&D. We also have an active Mental Health and Welbeing group that has pioneered a series of recent initiatives, including regular staff coffee afternoons, a Wellbeing Week with invited speakers and mindfulness sessions, and the funding of Mental Health First Aid training for a number of members of staff. We have recently agreed to refurbish two small rooms in the department as quiet spaces for reflection for students and staff to escape from stress. 

A clear sign of a strong culture within the department are self-organised events. It is very encouraging to see the clinical students keeping up the tradition of an annual Pantomime, and the research staff have organised a weekly coffee morning with a rota for shared cake baking, which is very well-attended.

“Affiliated” titles

We apply a system of Affiliated Titles for non-University employees who nonetheless contribute greatly to teaching and research in the University.

Housing, transport and childcare

The West Cambridge Day Nursery is a short walk from the Department of Veterinary Medicine.  The lack of affordable housing is a matter of pressing concern for the Department although Eddington (North West Cambridge Development) has helped to alleviate some of these challenges.  With the proposed expansion of Cambridge 2040 there will be an expansion of industry in our region.  This will increase housing development in Cambridge, but also presents its own challenges with the wage differential between academia and industry likely to mean there will be further pressure on the affordable housing market.

There are several staff groups who merit specific consideration as they are crucial for us to achieve our full potential. These include (but are not limited to) postdoctoral scientists, data scientists, and administrative staff. Particular issues are competitiveness of the overall reward package compared to other employers, the expense of living within easy reach of the West Cambridge Campus, and less involvement in the collegiate University than academic faculty and students. We are very strongly supportive of the University’s initiatives concerning postdocs, which illustrate what we can do to address these issues. We also consider there is much more to be done.

A large proportion of our staff live outside of Cambridge, and we are particularly keen to advance affordable, convenient and safe transport options for them, as well as optimising travel to work for those living on the other side of Cambridge.  Pre-pandemic, many of our staff  experienced long, stressful commutes, due to congestion and the lack of public transport routes that do not reach the Campus directly.  Some staff are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work from home in a hybrid style of working while other staff may be missing the workplace even if able to work from home.   Different roles also have a greater or lesser requirement for onsite working.  The recipe for wellbeing is very individual and we firmly believe that staff who are happy with a good work-life balance are likely to be the most creative and productive colleagues.