WPA 2022: It will soon be time to evaluate AU as a workplace.

Every three years, Aarhus University conducts a workplace assessment (WPA), which helps to map wellbeing and the work environment at AU and to show how we can work together to make improvements in these areas. 

This year’s WPA will take the same form as in 2019, where, for the first time, questions about the psychological and the physical work environment were combined into one questionnaire. Among other things, you will be asked about your work situation, your professional development, your daily management and, not least, your physical working conditions. As something new, WPA 2022 will also ask questions about communication style and equal opportunities, regardless of gender. In addition, the questions regarding offensive behaviour have been extended so that it’s possible to provide more nuanced responses.

On Monday 28 February, all employees at AU will receive a link to WPA 2022. Employees will have until Friday 11 March to complete the questionnaire, which has been approved by AU’s Main Liaison Committee and Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee. The results will then form the basis for follow-up work to develop and improve the work environment in the various units.

Preparations for the questionnaire are well underway – and you can expect to hear more about the process from your local management in the near future. You can also find more information here

Registration for WPA workshops is open

Managers and members of an occupational health and safety committee or a liaison committee have a particular responsibility to follow up the results of the WPA. If you belong to this group, you can already register for one of HR’s WPA workshops, which will be held throughout March. At this workshop, you will get inspiration for follow-up work in your local unit. Register using this link.

Good to know about WPA 2022

What is a WPA?

A WPA is a statutory questionnaire survey and a tool for working systematically with the workplace environment. The questionnaire contains a common section for everybody at AU and a small number of questions specific to the individual faculty and administration.

Anonymity on questions about the psychological work environment

The WPA will include questions about both the physical and the psychological work environment. As always, the responses about the psychological work environment will be anonymous. This is ensured by using anonymity limits, which means that results will only appear in the report if a certain number of employees have answered the question. In order to facilitate specific and practical follow-up, the responses about the physical work environment will not be anonymous.

Your responses matter

When you complete the WPA questionnaire, you help identify and highlight the areas that management and employees can work together on at the local level. The more employees who respond, the better basis we will have for a good dialogue and local follow-up. By completing the WPA questionnaire, you will therefore help to create the best possible framework for a good workplace.

Follow-up through dialogue

The results of WPA 2022 will be published on 4 April. After this, time will be set aside for local follow-up and dialogue meetings. The purpose of these dialogue meetings is to give employees and managers an opportunity to discuss the results and prioritise the initiatives which it makes sense to work on in the individual units.

It is the managers who, together with the occupational health and safety organisation and the liaison committee organisation, are responsible for ensuring that the results of the WPA are followed up.

Questions

If you have any questions about WPA 2022, you can contact your local occupational health and safety representative or occupational health and safety organisation – see occupational health and safety organisation here