Staff Policy a chance to discuss soft values

At the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, they started working with the Staff Policy during the annual kick-off in early autumn 2023. The theme of the kick-off was staff culture and the Staff Policy was part of the programme. Before the kick-off, the Staff Policy was sent to all members of staff at the department.

“We had good discussions and people got very involved. We tackled some issues in groups, such as what it means to treat one another with respect and how we can continue to address these issues,” says Karin Ringefors Finn, HR generalist at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering.

The Staff Policy at Uppsala University was adopted by the Vice-Chancellor in February 2023. During its development, staff, managers and other groups had the opportunity to provide input and ideas. The Staff Policy is effectively an A4 page of bullet points on how staff and managers should behave in the workplace.

Prepare the ground before starting

“It’s important to prepare the ground before reaching out to all staff at the department. Our head of department works actively with work environment issues and of course that lays the foundation. But we also activated the department’s combined work environment and equal opportunities group and the heads of divisions,” says Linnéa Sandén, HR generalist at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering.

In their role as local HR generalists, Ringefors Finn and Sandén have led the process of launching discussions and work on the Staff Policy at the department. The set-up has focused on dialogue and oral discussions.

“The purpose of raising this topic at the kick-off was to set the ball rolling and start a conversation about staff culture and these issues,” Sandén says.

Dilemma exercises in small groups

Since the kick-off they have organised workshops at the department’s divisions, focusing on the dilemma exercises in the supporting material for the Staff Policy. Workshops have been held at two of the three divisions and a workshop is planned at the third.

“Workshops have been held at two of the three divisions and have been well received. We are now planning a workshop at the third division. The heads of division have invited their staff to the workshops and we HR generalists have moderated the discussions,” says Ringefors Finn.

They selected four or five dilemmas from the thirty or so suggestions in the supporting material. They sent the Staff Policy again before the workshop and began with a brief recap of the policy to get things started and for anyone who had missed the kick-off.

They both note that it is important to think about the best way to conduct the discussions.

“Though I think we selected too many dilemmas. The discussions went so well that we let them carry on and skipped some of the dilemmas,” Ringefors Finn says.

Discussing soft values

“Both the kick-off and the workshop are chances to practice using dialogue as a tool for soft values as well. We see this as a beginning, we’ve started talking and getting to know the material,” says Ringefors Finn.

Sandén and Ringefors Finn began by focusing on the first two points in the Staff Policy and selected suitable dilemma exercises based on them. These points in the policy are about contributing as a member of staff to a good climate at work, treating all people and ideas with respect and maintaining a respectful tone in all communications.

See it as an opportunity

“The important thing now is to give these issues space. It’s helpful to put these matters into words. I hope that members of staff see this as an opportunity and not as another burden. How often have we talked about staff culture before?” Sandén wonders.

“Of course you can see the Staff Policy as a set of requirements, but you can also turn it around. This is what I can expect of others – that they show me respect,” Ringefors Finn says.

“The dilemma exercises are a good tool for taking up differences and divergent experiences. In connection with the dilemma exercises we have reminded people that everyone is different and that their perceptions of one and the same situation can vary. We all interpret things from our own perspective, based on the experiences we carry with us. It may sound a bit of a platitude, but it’s good to remember that we are one another’s work environment. Everyone has a responsibility,” Sandén points out.

Support for managers

They both agree that the Staff Policy is a useful tool for heads of department and other managers.

“The Staff Policy is something heads of department can lean on in discussions. It can make it easier to hold conversations before any incipient issues become big problems,” Ringefors Finn says.

“Hopefully the Staff Policy will become a natural part of performance and development conversations,” Sandén says.

Everyone has a responsibility

Needless to say, the Staff Policy and staff culture are not issues that a department or division is ever done with. They need to be recurrent topics that managers and members of staff constantly come back to.

“We’re now planning to have discussions with dilemma exercises once a year. We’re also going to send the Staff Policy to new members of staff as part of their introductory information package.”

Anders Berndt