About the Employee Survey 2022

The questions are based on the questions that were the main questions in the 2017 and 2014 employee surveys and HR Pulse surveys. It also includes a number of questions that capture Strategy 2030. This means that the results from this year's MU-Pulse can be compared with the employee surveys conducted in 2014 and 2017. The results can also be compared with the HR-Pulse surveys that were sent out. Comparisons with other higher education institutions that also use Quicksearch as a provider of employee surveys are also possible.  This makes it possible to work further with the results both on a cross-sectional level and on a departmental level.

Aim

• To get an idea of what employees think about their work and Karolinska Institutet as an employer.
• To gain insight into how employees talk about their department with friends and acquaintances and the organisation's employer brand.
• To provide managers and employees with a material to use in the improvement work so that we focus on the right things, find strengths and development potential and help make the right decisions.
• To be able to compare results over time, and against their own and other sectors.

Method 

The employee survey is available for distribution in March and April. Each department will decide when it is appropriate to send out the survey based on its own operations. The survey will be open for two weeks from the date of mailing. The survey will be available for such a two-week period from Tuesday 1 March to Tuesday 19 April. After 19 April, it will no longer be possible to send out the survey. For those who started their period on 19 April, the survey will close.

An automatic reminder is sent to those who have not started or completed the survey on three occasions, 4, 8 and 10 days after the survey has been sent out. The survey is closed for completion 14 days after sending.  

Before the employee survey is sent out, local HR at the departments works on the basis of the organisational structure. The employees who will respond to the employee survey are those who are part of the working environment. The organisational structure needs to be verified and approved two days before the mailing date.  

Participants in the employee survey 

• Those who are to participate in the employee survey includes anyone who contributes to the working environment of the department, excluding students. Each department will decide who will or will not participate in the survey, as part of the work environment. The basis for the sample was exported from Primula and IDAC on 17th of January.   
• The survey will be sent to all employees at the departments, including those on parental leave or sick leave. Regardless of tenure or type of employment local HR will decide prior to sending out the surveys who should take part. In previous years, in order to be included the individual had to be employed for at least 6 months for at least a 40% capacity. This time, the departments will decide.
• Fellowship-funded PhD students and postdocs who are not employed by KI may be included in the survey. Regardless of tenure or type of employment local HR will decide prior to sending out the surveys who should take part. In previous years, in order to be included the individual had to be employed for at least 6 months for at least a 40% capacity. This time, the departments will decide. 
• Affiliates can be included in the survey. Regardless of tenure or type of employment local HR will decide prior to sending out the surveys who should take part. In previous years, in order to be included then individual had to be employed for at least 6 months for at least a 40% capacity. This time, the departments will decide. 

It is only possible to answer the survey once, therefore the employee will only be able to answer at their main employment. Should the employee respond to the survey during their placement instead of their main employment, local HR must adjust their organisational chart accordingly.  In the organisational structure, managers should be located in the organisation of which they are the manager. The manager will not be included in the results for the group. A manager responding to the survey is based on the group where the manager's colleagues are included. The manager's results will be raised one level in the results portal. 

The background variables that will be available for all employees are: age, type of employment, manager/employee, gender, category of staff, employee/affiliate. For fellows and affiliates, the background variables need to be answered in the questionnaire. Both employees and affiliates need to answer a question on the extent to which they are active at the KI.  

Survey 

The Employee Survey includes the following index areas; Employee engagement, Objectives and Strategies, Employee engagement and Leadership. The questions from all index areas remains the same as it was in 2014 and 2017, which enables us to compare with previous employee surveys. In addition to the existing index questions, there is a new grouping of questions on; wellness, sedentary work, values and perceived “sense of us”. The results of the employee survey is comparable with the results of some of the HR-Pulse surveys. HR-Pulse can also be used to follow up or detailed the results of the employee survey. The survey consists of 45 key questions, all of which are answered. In addition, there are four questions answered only by graduate students, as well as follow-up and background questions. 

Result  

The results of the MU-Pulse will be available in the same portal as the HR-Pulse and the Exit survey. The results will be updated in the portal once the survey has closed. Once all departments' surveys have closed, it will be possible to see an aggregate value in the portal. Before all surveys are closed, it will only be possible to see results per department.

Result portals

All those who have access to view the results of HR-Pulse surveys will have access to the results of the employee survey in a portal. In addition, equal opportunities representatives will have access to a results portal. In the 2014 and 2017 employee surveys, managers also had access to a portal with results but as those portals were not used and not appreciated, local HR will download reports and pass them on to the respective managers.

Reports

There will be a high level report where you can compare departments and certain background variables such as age, job category, etc. The portal will also have a dynamic report which will change depending on which filters are used. The reports are distributed by local HR to the respective managers.  For the 2022 employee survey, the reports that managers receive have been adjusted. Within each subject area, there are descriptive texts and questions to discuss. The hope is that it will become easier to interpret the report and easier to work with the results in groups.  We have also updated the report where there is a breakdown of more specific data. 

Anonymity

The employee survey is conducted by Quicksearch, which ensures anonymity. There is no way to show who has answered what in the survey. Once the information and background variables associated with the email have been collected the system automatically deletes any personal data including name and email. The results are presented in two ways; either the results are presented as calculated values, index values; or the results are presented as a spread of response options. To display index values, five responses are required. 

The results of the survey will be filterable by department, unit, employment category, manager or co-worker, and whether you are employed or affiliated. The breakdown or filtering of results should only be carried out at department level. Please note that filtering or disaggregation requires sufficiently large groups. 

How should the results be presented?

At the beginning of May, when all surveys have closed, there will be an overall result available to all of KI. Overall result presentation is booked for the project team immediately after the surveys have closed. A week later, the results are presented to the President and University Management. Department Heads and the Head of Administration will receive a presentation of the overall results. The dates have not yet been booked. In addition to the presentations mentioned above, presentations of the results have been booked for the Equal Opportunities Unit, the Health and Safety Committee, the Liaison Committee, the HR Department and the HR Forum.

There is also an opportunity for each department to receive a presentation of the departmental results. The project manager for the employee survey will then go through the departmental results, where it will be possible to choose whether the presentation should be for department leadership team, managers, or all employees. In addition to the high-level results, each manager will present the results to their team. All employees will receive feedback on the results. Appropriate actions depending on the result will be taken at the departmental level, how this is achieved will be decided by relevant managers.  Individual action plans will not be collected by central HR.