Why it’s time to promote staff wellbeing in universities

On 10 October 2022 – World Mental Health Day (WMHD) – one university launched a staff wellbeing initiative. With this year's WMHD putting the spotlight on workplace mental health, this article explores how that initiative had grown and what more needs to be done to ensure the psychological safety of university staff.

The mental health of students has rightly attracted the focus and resources the issues deserve. Indeed, the link between students' experience and achievement at university is clear and so one might presume that the importance of the wellbeing of university staff supporting them inside and outside class is also recognised. Surely all universities also have a plan for staff as they play such an integral role in student wellbeing? However, while staff wellbeing is not a metric recognised across the higher education sector, is it surprising to learn it is not yet a universal priority for universities? 

One challenge seems to be persuading senior leaders that staff and student wellbeing are interlinked and important for all concerned, as well as for the metrics by which the sector is judged currently. Fifteen years ago in the UK National Health Service, the Boorman Report showed how staff wellbeing is linked to patient outcomes. There is no reason to feel differently in the higher education sector, where effective learning and student wellbeing are underpinned by teaching, research and administrative staff who are best positioned to support students. 

A grassroots initiative

Certainly, there has been considerable growth since the Covid pandemic in provision for the mental wellbeing of university staff, including the appointment of roles such as staff wellbeing leads. World Mental Health Day has helped at least one university change course towards adopting staff and student mental health as its key priority and this may be helping to influence the whole sector.

Two years ago on World Mental Health Day, the University of Salford launched its staff mental health and wellbeing commitment. It was not the result of a top-down senior management initiative, but the outcome of academic and administrative colleagues working together to develop a new approach to how the organisation considers its employees. 

Now - stemming directly from this initiative – Salford University chairs a UK network of around 50 staff wellbeing leads from universities and colleges across the higher education sector. The network's third annual conference will take place at Aston University on 5 November and is being hosted by network member and work psychologist Paul Jones. 

So how did all this come about? Against the backdrop of so many challenges to higher education and at a time of industrial action, it had become clear that not only was it important to campaign for pay and pension rights, but to be well enough to do so! In a sector where studies have shown over 50 per cent of employees experience poor psychological health, it seemed curious to omit staff wellbeing from the equation that includes safeguarding the mental wellbeing of students. 

I remember a senior leader saying, "the university is not ready to consider the mental health of staff". As psychologists, we hear many interesting statements and this response to my request for a policy designed to support colleagues helped galvanise my determination to challenge the status quo! 

I had conversations with others supporting colleagues and students and we enlisted the help of enlightened partners in the human resources department. With colleagues from across the organisation, we began a working party and co-created a set of principles and proposals that was adopted by the university. These included recognition of the connection between staff wellbeing and performance, a commitment to reducing stigma around mental health, providing access to support and designing jobs better to help prevent problems arising.

Staff wellbeing event 

Launching the university's commitment to colleagues on World Mental Health Day provided the momentum for an event which attracted the interest and support of senior leaders, not only from our own institution but others too. We invited keynote speakers with national reputations for their work in employee wellbeing, including renowned psychologist Professor Gail Kinman from Birkbeck, a representative from the University and College Employers Association and Professor Nic Beech who had led a group of vice-chancellors considering the mental health of university staff. Salford's Chair of Council and a former MP Lord Keith Bradley opened the event – before heading off to swear allegiance to the King – and the momentum of what had started out as a modest event became clear.

Combining in-person and online participation, around 60 colleagues from Salford and more from neighbouring universities across the North-West of England joined together on World Mental Health Day. Highlights included conversations between colleagues and opportunities in breakout groups to discuss mental wellbeing, its importance and how we might do things differently and better. 

We followed up the launch with online events attracting further interest from colleagues who are supporting staff wellbeing across the higher education sector. Last autumn and building on the first event, colleagues at the University of Manchester led by occupational psychologist and head of colleague wellbeing Helen Brewis, hosted the first follow-up conference to the one held in Salford.

Evaluation of provision

As an emerging network that includes staff wellbeing leads from around 50 UK higher education institutions, we conducted a small-scale service evaluation of provision for university employees' mental health. Based only a small sample so far, the findings suggest a follow-up survey is needed to explore an emerging inverse relationship between a university's ranking – as assessed by current metrics - and the number of wellbeing initiatives on offer to its employees. 

In other words, the issue of staff health does not appear to be getting the priority it deserves, which could be addressed if it is included within considerations of what makes a university a good place to work and study. Despite wellbeing starting to feature in surveys of university staff, it is not a requirement for it to be measured and unsurprisingly is not viewed as a universal priority in the sector.

Successful impact in combating challenges to employee mental wellbeing rests not only with a range of well-organised initiatives, but with the support of senior leaders within HEIs. Indeed, when the University of Salford advertised for a new vice-chancellor in 2023, colleagues lobbied successfully for the job description and recruitment process to feature staff wellbeing. 

Certainly, as our own experience at Salford has shown, there is scope for success of grassroots initiatives, nurturing environments where staff can take ownership of challenging the status quo to improve psychological safety of the whole university community. 

Many universities have begun their journeys to promote colleagues' wellbeing as well as that of students. However, for universal progress in how the sector considers all staff who facilitate student success, more strategic change is needed. It is time to recognise what staff and students know – the success and future of university education depends on the psychological wellbeing of both groups!