Our work environment is good despite the rapid growth at our faculty

Dear staff

I am very happy about what has gradually become a tradition, namely the Dean's Corner for TAP, where we meet twice a year – just before the summer holidays and again before Christmas. Here I review the latest news from the faculty and at the same time answer questions from employees that have been submitted in advance.

This time, I focused on the candidate reform and its expected consequences at our faculty, where we are still awaiting political clarification. There was news about Vejle and a little about APV 2024. The questions from the employees centered on developments at the faculty, including finding office space for new colleagues and examining the development in the distribution between laboratory assistants and A-TAP.

We are in a growth scenario, as a result of the increasing interest in IT education and the increased collection of external funds. This creates a hustle and bustle throughout the organization and places great demands on both employees and managers.

The SDU board has just decided that pavilions can be set up to house the many new employees at the faculty until a new research building is built, which will be completed in about 5 years. We should therefore be assured that there is room for everyone.

A count of TAP staff shows that the number of TAPs is increasing along with the number of VIPs. This also applies to the number of TAPs in the laboratories (laboratory assistants, laboratory technicians and A-TAPs).

However, the number of laboratory assistants is maintained, while the number of A-TAPs is increasing. A-TAPs constitute approximately 16% of total lab TAPs and approximately 55% of these are externally financed.

Increasing requirements for the operation and maintenance of infrastructure, data processing and management of laboratories are some of the reasons that are important for this development.

Fortunately, the APV shows that the working environment is well controlled despite the growth scenario, as our faculty generally ranks high on all parameters and fewer people feel stressed. Motivation and commitment are also high, but for some employees there is a decreasing trend.

When there was a question from the employees about the status of our strategic initiative The good university life, I took the opportunity to ask everyone: What is the good university life for you? The answers may help us maintain a high level of commitment and motivation in the coming years.

I would like to thank you for the many answers, and I have tried to collect them: Flexibility in work is a common theme that many people appreciate. This applies to the possibility of flexible working hours and working from home, but also freedom under responsibility.

A downside to flexibility is the desire for clear frameworks, defined work tasks with a time horizon and having colleagues who do not work from home.

Some emphasize high professionalism and professional communities and the opportunity to develop either through competence development or sparring on tasks.

Participation and influence were also mentioned by many: Being involved in important decisions, having an influence on task solving and being invited to help develop SDU.

Many emphasize good management, which recognizes the individual employee, who is present and attentive and ensures psychological security. Finally, but very important: Communities. Many responses were quite simple: Community.

Others elaborated on the topic of community more: That you feel like part of a team. That you have good colleagues who are committed and work for solutions across units.

In many ways, these topics are familiar to management and topics that many have worked with for a long time and continue to work with. I therefore think that we have a really good foundation for continuing to develop the faculty and ensure a good working environment despite many work tasks. Cultivating communities is a good starting point.

PS. The responses were of course anonymous - and I did not know that we had so many exotic animals at the Faculty of Science. Here is a selection:

Marianne Holmer, dean