Edinburgh Napier University: Redefining excellence in employee listening

Located in the heart of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) is a forward-thinking institution with a strong focus on people. With over 1,800 core employees and 20,000 students, the University balances academic excellence with an ongoing commitment to its workforce. ENU’s innovative people strategies mean that employee engagement and wellbeing are not just values but embedded priorities, contributing to the success of the University’s broader strategic objectives. In fact, ENU has been carrying out engagement surveys since 2009, underscoring its longstanding commitment to employee voice. 

Edinburgh Napier University has made a bold transition from traditional biennial surveys to a dynamic continuous listening programme, placing colleague engagement at the heart of its people strategy. This shift reflects the University’s commitment to a proactive, data-driven approach to understanding and improving the colleague experience. 

So far, ENU’s continuous listening programme has combined full engagement surveys with targeted pulse surveys. In 2023, ENU introduced a short 14-question pulse survey to measure engagement and monitor progress in key focus areas. These shorter surveys allow for real-time tracking of sentiment while reducing survey fatigue. Pulses also allow ENU to measure key themes and quickly act on emerging trends. 

ENU is extremely conscientious in what questions are asked to their colleagues. Surveys include both standard engagement questions and those tailored to strategic priorities like colleague workload and wellbeing, collaboration, recognition and performance. This approach ensures the University gathers actionable insights aligned with its goals. 

On top of this, ENU makes sure to include open-ended feedback opportunities in the form of open-text questions. This is a great chance for colleagues to share their candid thoughts in a safe, anonymous way. One of the questions asked included ‘Describe what it feels like to work at ENU,’ which provided rich, qualitative insights into the University’s organisational culture. 

Moving forward, ENU plans to analyse these responses even further by using Prism AI to uncover themes and guide targeted actions. 

One of the standout features of ENU’s listening programme is the strong integration of accountability across all levels.  

Key practices include: 

• People Partners and Survey Leads: These individuals are critical to local-level engagement, acting as champions who analyse local survey data, facilitate discussions and support action planning in specific Schools and Service areas. 

• KPI-driven targets: ENU’s leadership team sets measurable engagement goals for each School and Service, ensuring accountability is built into performance management systems. These targets are tailored to local contexts, allowing for fair and achievable improvement goals. 

ENU leverages People Insight’s self-managed platform to independently run surveys and monitor results. Using this tech, ENU benefits from seamless access to engagement data, analytics and action-planning tools, empowering the People Team to manage the programme with minimal external reliance. The platform also supports data-driven storytelling, providing clear communication with stakeholders at all levels. 

A successful listening programme relies on good communication. ENU has redefined its approach to communication, focusing on openness, consistency and collaboration. These efforts aim to build trust by showing colleagues that their feedback is valued and acted upon. 

Key methods include: 

• University-wide updates: Leadership sharing “you said, we did” updates through emails, newsletters and live events such as the Principal’s View sessions. These updates highlight progress on action plans and specific changes made in response to colleague feedback. 

• Innovative formats: ENU had made use of infographics, SLT fireside chats and videos to present survey findings and action updates in engaging, digestible formats. For instance, senior leadership team members host video updates detailing progress on key themes like wellbeing and collaboration. 

• Localised communication: Survey leads work closely with Schools and Services to share tailored updates, ensuring local-level feedback is reflected in actions. 

ENU’s listening programme is not just about gathering data—it’s about demonstrating tangible outcomes. 

Action planning happens at every level. Schools and Service areas develop their own action plans, ensuring local feedback leads to meaningful improvements. Survey leads use the People Insight platform to track progress and keep colleagues informed. 

An important element of the action planning process also included the addition of strategic working groups. Following the 2022 survey, ENU established three senior leadership-led working groups focused on workload wellbeing, collaboration and performance. These groups have delivered key initiatives, such as: 

• A new intranet to improve collaboration and information sharing. 

• Micro-efficiency improvements for example, access to calendars on personal devices. 

• Introduction of an academic portal to support academic colleagues accessing information in one place. 

• Development workshops for managers to enhance giving and receiving feedback and recognition practices. 

• Changes to how we recognise colleagues, more inclusively, at a University level. 

• Proactive support for managers and leaders in managing performance. 

By delivering on action plans, ENU has significantly increased the proportion of colleagues who trust that their feedback will lead to change, rising from 34% in 2022 to 42% in 2024 — a remarkable increase in such a short space of time. 

ENU aims to ensure that communication doesn’t stop between surveys. Action plans remain “live,” with regular progress updates keeping momentum and demonstrating accountability. This ongoing engagement cultivates trust and signals that employee voice is integral to decision-making. 

Using the survey data, ENU partner with subject matter experts across the University (Health & Wellbeing, Inclusion, etc) to be able to target interventions where they would have the most impact on the colleague experience. For example, survey data has also been used to help inform: a review of colleague recognition, people manager capability and to feed into EDI plans and wellbeing initiatives. 

These concerted efforts underscore ENU’s growing reputation in employee listening, setting a benchmark for other institutions aiming to build trust and drive meaningful change.

Through its listening approach, ENU has achieved positive results: 

• Stronger trust: A growing proportion of colleagues now believe their feedback will lead to action. 

• Improved collaboration: Scores for inter-departmental collaboration have risen, supported by a new intranet project aimed at streamlining information sharing. 

• Enhanced wellbeing and recognition: The university’s working groups have introduced micro-efficiency improvements and survey data has shaped new recognition frameworks. 

Looking ahead, ENU plans to expand its continuous listening framework, with upcoming initiatives including: 

• Lifecycle integration: Adding onboarding and exit surveys to capture insights at critical employee lifecycle milestones. 

• Enhanced technology: Leveraging AI tools like Prism to analyse qualitative feedback more efficiently and generate more actionable insights. 

• Focus on fairness and equality: Addressing emerging themes around equity and inclusion through targeted senior leadership initiatives. 

Edinburgh Napier University’s success perfectly demonstrates the transformative power of listening with intent and acting with purpose. By embedding colleague engagement into its strategy, the University has set a benchmark for others in the higher education sector. 

Inspired to elevate your institution’s listening approach? Partner with People Insight to create a thriving employee-centric culture that drives long-term success. Contact us today to begin your higher education staff survey.