17 November 2021
Disgruntled Peasant
By email:
[FYI request #16109 email]
Dear Sir/Madam
Official Information Act Request 21.44 Staff stress and wel being
I refer to the Official Information Act (the Act) request dated 17 July 2021 for information relating to staff
stress and well-being at the University of Canterbury. You have requested the following:
1) the number of professional / general staff who have resigned over the last 5 years, broken down by
month.
Please find attached the numbers for each month from 2016 – 13 September 2021 of professional/general
staff that have resigned. Please note that some staff held two roles at the same time, therefore there are
instances where one person has resigned from two roles simultaneously (where this has occurred, this is
indicated.) Where the number of staff leaving in a month is less than five, the actual number is not provided,
rather the range of less than or equal to five under s 9(2)(a) of the Act. The public interest is served by
providing a range of numbers, balanced against the need for individuals to remain unidentifiable. With other
industries, the Covid-19 pandemic may have affected staff movement at the University from March 2020 –
September 2021.
2) any reports, emails, memos or other documents that summarise exit interviews or exit survey
responses from 1 January 2020 to present
There are two different providers for the exit questionnaires that have been used since 1 January 2020 –
September 2021, Survey Monkey and Qualtrics. Survey Monkey was used until March 2020. The questions to
the responses for the Survey Monkey exit questionnaires are not in a readily retrievable format. Therefore, the
information from January to March 2020 is refused under s 18(f) of the Act, as it would take substantial
collation and research to correctly match the information.
Qualtrics stores data from the last 12 months, therefore aggregated data is provided from the Qualtrics exit
questionnaires from September 2020 – September 2021. The information from April 2020- August 2020 in
refused under s 18(e) of the Act, as it cannot be located. There were also one free text fields provided in
relation to each theme.
The information in the free text fields is withheld under s 9(2)(a), to protect the individuals privacy, as the
comments provide a mix of information, with some of it potentially able to identify individuals. The public
interest is served by providing aggregated results of the survey questions, balanced against the need for
individuals to remain unidentifiable.
At UC managers are supported to identify ways they can continue to develop both their own capability and
skil s and how they can support their staff to do the same. Managers are also supported to provide ways to
encourage collaboration and develop teamwork.
3) any reports, emails, memos or other documents regarding staff wellbeing and workload (internally or
external y generated) from 1 January 2020 to present. Please note I do not want information
regarding individual staff members or incidents, only high-level information. Please include health and
safety reports and information provided by the union.
After seeking clarification on the parameters of this from you on 24 September 2021, you replied on 27
September 2021:
I am happy to limit this executive level information and information to the exec from the TEU. This is not limited
to health and safety - rather I suspect the TEU has been letting UC know staff are miserable and feeling
exploited, and I am highly doubtful about the VCs apparent surprise at this at the last forum.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team have confirmed that the TEU has not emailed them regarding general
wellbeing concerns. Any emails from the TEU have been in relation to specific individual staff or incidents. Any
communication regarding general wel being concerns have been verbal.
Executive level information is all staff emails regarding wellbeing issues – please see these attached. During
the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, there were numerous al staff updates from the Incident Management Team
with reference to wel being. As this would be a substantial amount of emails to col ate under s18(f) of the Act,
we have provided a sample of such emails.
4) any reports, emails, meeting minutes, briefing notes, memos or other documents relating to the Sli.do
questions for the last staff forum
After seeking clarification on whether this related to only Health and Safety information on 24 September
2021, you clarified on 27 September:
I want discussion on al the slido questions, not just health and safety ones, but I am prepared to limit this to
executive level, or conversation with Comms and HR.
Please see the attached correspondence relating to the Sli.do questions. Those who are (or were at the time)
in the Senior Leadership team have a public facing element of their roles and represent the University in the
wider community. Those below this level do not have the same public facing element of their roles and
therefore their names are withheld under s 9(2)(a). The public interest is met by the surrounding
correspondence being provided where there is no good reason to withhold, which provides the information
whilst still protecting the individuals’ privacy.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about
how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Claire O'Connel
Information Compliance Officer
Attachments:
Q1 Professional / General Staff resignation numbers
Q 2 Aggregated Qualtrics data
Q 3 Sample of All staff emails regarding staff wellbeing
Q 4 Emails regarding Sli.do questions
