[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
Gemma Dale, our Wellbeing and Engagement Manager takes a look at wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic<\/strong><\/p>\n Wellbeing is a somewhat imprecise term, meaning different things to different people. Some perspectives focus on overall life satisfaction or the pursuit of happiness. There\u2019s a wide range of perspectives, definitions and models available, but an agreed definition still eludes us. <\/p>\n When we talk about wellbeing we often use terms like thriving, balance, flourishing or being your best self. Wellbeing incorporates mental, physical, social and even financial health. It is a broad topic, and one that is also deeply individual and personal. What supports or enables my wellbeing might be a source of stress for someone else. <\/p>\n The COVID-19 pandemic highlights this starkly; all of us are living through the same shared situation but experiencing it in very different ways. For some, lockdown and working from home has meant isolation and loneliness or loss of purpose. For others, it has led to anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. Some people are reporting eating better, some worse. There are people who have found more time for physical activity and others who have seen their motivation to exercise wane entirely \u2013 or they just can\u2019t fit it in around home schooling and work commitments. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sure many of you will have seen the media reports about the potential mental health implications that may result from the current situation. Many people who are working at home are certainly feeling increasing levels of tiredness with the shift to online meetings. Combined with the personal and professional challenges that Coronavirus has delivered and living with continuing uncertainty, there is a very real risk of people burning out. <\/p>\n At our University we have taken steps to support our people through our additional closure days and the \u2018meeting light\u2019 fortnight. Some Faculties are also introducing their own initiatives to reduce the length of meetings and avoid meetings at lunch times or on certain days of the week. We\u2019ve been asked if we are going to make these formal University-wide policies. The answer to that is no and the reason is simple \u2013 it is once again about the individual nature of wellbeing. <\/p>\n What works for one team or one department, or even one individual member of staff will not necessarily work well for another in an organisation as large and complex as ours. I believe that there are two things that really matter. The first is that we do something different; we can\u2019t just move everything that we used to do face-to-face into a virtual world. It might not work as well and specifically there may be negative wellbeing implications. The second thing that we need to do is make it fit for the context \u2013 the particular job roles, the needs of the team and the department.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to encourage all people managers to have this conversation with their teams. Discuss what ways of working will support shared wellbeing. Take inspiration from the many ideas that have already been shared, such as meeting free lunchtime periods, Zoom free Fridays or other agreed time periods, or shortened meetings to allow for screen breaks, and see which ones will work for you and your specific context. Please make the most of the meeting light fortnight to have some time free from online meetings. <\/p>\n I\u2019d also like to encourage all of our staff to talk to their managers and share their ideas for improving ways of working in their teams. We can all work with wellbeing in mind. <\/p>\n Please also keep your own wellbeing in mind. Self-care starts with each individual and the first step to self-care is self-awareness \u2013 knowing what works to enable our own wellbeing and what detracts from it, and recognising our own personal signs and symptoms of poor wellbeing. <\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t already engaged with our wellbeing opportunities please take a look; we aim to have something for everyone. When we are busy and juggling competing demands, all too often it is our own wellbeing that falls to the bottom of the priority list. We have a way to go before we can return to a more normal way of life, and it\u2019s important we do take the time to focus on our own wellbeing, at work and at home \u2013 doing what works for you and your particular situation. <\/p>\n I would like to leave you with a quote. The New Economics Foundation undertook research into those factors that enable wellbeing. It is this research upon which our own \u2018ways to wellbeing\u2019 are based. Their MD said this: \u201cWellbeing is not a beach that you go and lie on. It is a dynamic dance and there is movement in it, all the time\u201d. <\/p>\n – Six ways to wellbeing while staying at home<\/a> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wellbeing is a somewhat imprecise term, meaning different things to different people. Some perspectives focus on overall life satisfaction or the pursuit of happiness. There\u2019s a wide range of perspectives, definitions and models available, but an agreed definition still eludes us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"[et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]\r\n\r\n When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]\r\n\r\n [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p>\r\n\r\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3338"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3395,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3338\/revisions\/3395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– Wellbeing resources<\/a><\/p>\nRelated<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Richard Smith: Don't look up. Look inwards and outwards.<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Karen Heaton: Why our hard-earned retirement is top of my agenda<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Patrick Hackett: Operations and change\u00a0<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>\r\n