A 2024 staff survey has revealed a 35% decline in a staff satisfaction metric. The results of the survey were excluded from the latest University of Aberdeen annual report as key goals for staff health and wellbeing were missed.
The biennial survey revealed that in 2020-21, 79% of participants responded that they either agreed or tended to agree with the statement “I feel the University cares for my health and wellbeing, including my mental health”, but a Freedom of Information request has revealed that in 2024-25, only 51% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
The biennial survey is part of the Aberdeen 2040 strategy, which aimed for 90% of staff to agree with the health and wellbeing statement by 2025, but the goal has been missed.
The 2020 and 2022 annual reports included this metric figure under the Aberdeen 2040 ‘updates on progress’ section. However in 2024-2025, they did not include that year’s figure, noting that due to methodology change year-to-year comparisons were “no longer available.”
The university changed the scales for the survey in 2024, switching from a 4-point scale to a 5-point scale which includes a neutral option, claiming it would allow for “benchmarking with other Higher Education Establishments.”
23% of staff voted for the new neutral option in 2024. There was also a 5% increase in staff who voted for the most disagreeable option, with 7% voting for it in 2020 and 12% voting in 2024.
The survey also found a 6% fall in students who said they either tend to agree or strongly agree with the statement, from 85% to 79% between 2020/21 and 2024/25.
This comes at a time where members of the University and College Union (UCU) at the University of Aberdeen have been participating in strikes over fear of compulsory redundancies.
UCU members have taken part in strikes this March and April demanding that university bosses rule out compulsory redundancies as restructuring plans are likely to cause course closures and staff cuts.
A seperate survey by the UCU has found that out of 370 staff, 88% of academic staff described the morale as fairly low or very low, whereas 87% reported that recent proposals to university restructuring have increased their work-related stress.
Some staff told us that restructuring plans proposed by the university remind them of 1988, when three staff members took their own lives following department closures at the university.
Last October, a governance efficiency review at the university found worrying signs of a ‘toxic’ staff culture. One unnamed source told The Herald, “Staff are demoralised, over-worked and anxious about their jobs. I’ve never seen it so bad.”
In March, Katie Cross, lecturer in theology told The Gaudie, “[Staff] are not being listened to. This is not only affecting us personally and financially, but also our morale.
“We see [mental health issues] very widely. I do casework for the union [UCU], and we see that mental health has been a big issue for a long time.”
A University of Aberdeen spokesperson responded:
“We recognise this is an extremely challenging time for staff here and right across the higher education sector. Periods of change and uncertainty can be difficult, and we are mindful of the impact on colleagues both professionally and personally.
“A change in the methodology used to measure staff satisfaction between the two surveys meant that a meaningful comparison could not be drawn, and it would therefore be misrepresentative to publish both figures.”