Update of AU staff policy

The AU staff policy will undergo a number of major changes this autumn. The changes will be based on the many comments and suggestions for improvements submitted in connection with the evaluation of the staff policy carried out in the spring.

The planned changes have just been adopted by the Main Liaison Committee based on the recommendations of a working group consisting of both staff and management representatives. And it should be noted that the revised policy will be the result of a very thorough evaluation process. In fact, the staff policy has been evaluated both by the liaison committees and by the occupational health and safety organisation, which submitted a total of 35 responses. Moreover, input has been received from two workshops attended by a total of 95 managers and staff members. Finally, the comments field in the Christmas quiz also produced a number of comments.

Six focus areas identified

Six main points stand out in the evaluation:

• The staff policy in its current form is too wordy.
• There is limited awareness of the staff policy among employees who are not union representatives or managers.
• There is a desire that the staff policy should be more value-based and provide a framework of general principles with scope for local variation in the implementation of the principles.
• There is a need for greater coherence between the staff policy and the staff administrative guidelines.
• There is a desire for the staff policy to address topics such as work environment, language, international employees, equality/diversity as well as career paths.
• Management was also a recurring theme, both with regard to the sense of policy ownership at management level, and as regards management as a discipline at AU.

 Staff policy must be more useful

Based on the key points from the evaluation process, the working group has arrived at a number of recommendations for the Main Liaison Committee concerning the form and content of the staff policy, the adjustment of a number of subpolicies and the issue of policy ownership. These recommendations were approved by the Main Liaison Committee at its meeting on 24 August. This means that the actual revision of the AU staff policy can now start. 

“In the working group, we believe that the changes will result in greater clarity and a staff policy which is more easily accessible and of more use for all staff members at Aarhus University. This will also help to ensure a sense of policy ownership throughout Aarhus University. There can be no sense of ownership without thorough information and regular follow-up, both locally and centrally,” says University Director Jane Kragelund, who is chairman of the working group.

Revised staff policy to be presented in 2016

The revision of the staff policy will take place in autumn 2015. The revised policy is expected to be ready at the beginning of 2016, which is when the implementation of the policy will then start.

 Read the existing AU staff policy at www.au.dk/staffpolicy