HYBRID

WORKING
QUESTIONNAIRE

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES

Amy Bangs, Operational Improvement

SUMMARY

1,449 staff responded to the RESPONDENTS BY

online questionnaire, which CONTRACT TYPE
was open from 1 October
to 3 November 2021. This PTO: 888
represents only 18% of the Academic: 201
total staff community at
Research: 194
Imperial.
Questions were intentionally general,
Teaching: 78
to avoid leading respondents to PhD: 47
comment about specific issues.
Analysis is both targeted (by pre- Blank: 36
agreed themes) and exploratory (by
Clinical: 5
frequently mentioned topics).
Responses illustrate activity at
the time of the survey, i.e. may not
represent permanent hybrid working
arrangements. STAFF BY
Responses may also reflect Imperial’s CONTRACT TYPE
COVID-19 safety guidance, e.g. a
PTO: 4,064
respondent’s number of days per week
worked on campus may be determined Academic: 1,275
by current building occupancy limits. Research (includes PhD): 2,209
Previous analysis took place via the Teaching: 493
departmental Call for Evidence in May Clinical (Academic, Research & NHS): 573
2021 (where departmental operations
management staff were asked to
outline their tentative hybrid working
plans ahead of pandemic restrictions
relaxing), which was combined with Using the proportions of contract
summary data from the September types of all Imperial staff as
2020 and February 2021 Wellbeing a guide for representation,
Surveys for the People workstream of Research and Clinical employees
Returning to Campus. are under-represented in this
survey’s response data, and PTO
PTO = Professional, Technical and Operational staff are over-represented.

2
QUESTIONS

1. What contract type do you have at Imperial College?

2. How many days per week do you work on campus? If you

are part-time, please refer to the ‘pro rata’ percentages
below and select the most relevant answer. Please exclude
‘extraordinary’ days such as training or team away days from
your answer.

3. Which day(s) do you usually work on-campus? Please select

all that apply. Please exclude ‘extraordinary’ days such as
training or team away days from your answer.

4. What’s working well for you and/or your team about hybrid
working? Can you give any examples and outline what’s
helped it to work well?

5. What hasn’t been working well for you and/or your team
about hybrid working? Can you give any examples and outline
the problems or barriers that have stopped it working well?

6. To what extent do you think that hybrid working will be a

permanent part of how we work in the future - and what could
the College do to support it being a permanent part of how we
work?

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WORKING ON CAMPUS

When grouped together, the responses

for DAYS PER WEEK WORKED ON
CAMPUS tell us:
•

•
40% of respondents are working on campus
1 day per week or less
59% of respondents are working on campus
40%
2 days per week or less of respondents are
currently working
• 39% of respondents are working on campus on campus one day
2 to 3 days per week per week or less
• 14% of respondents are working on campus
4 to 5 days per week

DAYS PER WEEK WORKED ON CAMPUS

all respondents

128 Variable - 2-3 days

81 Too variable to say
143 5 days (100%)
67 4 days (80%)
158 3 days (60%)
281 2 days (40%)
285 1 day (20%)
288 <1 day per week
18 No response

4
4
WORKING
ON CAMPUS
DAYS PER WEEK WORKED ON CAMPUS
by staff group

ACADEMIC RESEARCH KEY:

23 22
Variable - 2-3
16 6 days per week
31 30
14 19 Too variable
35 22 to say
27 20
25 28 5 days (100%)
30 47
4 days (80%)
PTO TEACHING
66 7 3 days (60%)
44 9
71 4
2 days (40%)
23 5
89 7
202 15 1 day (20%)
205 13
183 18 <1 day per
week

PhD CLINICAL
9
1
6
5
3 1
11 2
5 1
7 1

5
WORKING
ON CAMPUS
1 day per week
DAYS PER WEEK WORKED ON CAMPUS
by staff group

Less than
Less1than
day1 day
perperweek:
week 1 day per week:
KEY:
PTO
PTO
PTO Research
Research

2 days per week Academic

Teaching 3 days per week Academic
PhD Academic Teaching
Clinical

PhD
Research Clinical
2 days per week: 3 days per week:
PTO PTO
Academic
Teaching Academic

4 days per week 5Research

days per week PhD
Research
Teaching Teaching
PhD PhD
Clinical
Clinical Clinical
4 days per week: 5 days per week:
Note:
PTO PTO
PTO are expected
Research to form the Academic
Variable - 2/3 days per weekToo variable to say
Academic majority of Research
answers in
Teaching each of thesePhD
PhD categories due
Teaching
to the size of this
Variable - 2/3 days per week: Too variable to say:
employee group
PTO – the proportions
PTO
between each
Academic group tellsAcademic
us
Research more than Teaching
the
quantity.
PhD Research
Teaching PhD
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WORKING ON CAMPUS

DAYS OF THE WEEK WORKED ON CAMPUS

all respondents

396 555 521 544 325 13 11 505

Monday

Tuesday

Saturday
Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Sunday

No set days

7
7
WORKING ON CAMPUS

DAYS OF THE WEEK WORKED ON CAMPUS

by staff group

ACADEMIC RESEARCH
M 69 M 68
T 89 T 89
W 79 W 77
T 89 T 87
F 59 F 53
S 3 S 2
S 2 S 3
No set days 79 No set days 68

PTO TEACHING
M 214 M 17
T 325 T 20
W 318 W 14
T 313 T 27
F 169 F 17
S 4 S 0
S 4 S 0
No set days 303 No set days 36

PhD CLINICAL
M 21 M 1
T 23 T 1
W 20 W 3
T 19 T 2
F 22 F 0
S 4 S 0
S 2 S 0
No set days 11 No set days 8

Note: Graph axes have been adjusted to reflect proportion rather than number

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QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
The questionnaire responses provided 173,000
total words to analyse - circa 56,000 in positives,
50,000 in negatives, and 67,000 in ambition phase
recommendations.
The average response time was 36 minutes - a lot
of time and consideration has been given to this
questionnaire by respondents.
With this volume of data, the analysis has been split
into two categories:
PRE-AGREED
Themed around the existing four
Returning to Campus workstreams -
• People
• Space
• Technology
• Safety
- previous feedback, and common
understanding of hybrid working
pros and cons from external sources.
Some topics identified in the 2020-
21 Wellbeing Surveys were also
reviewed, though most comments
at that time related to COVID-19 and
pandemic restrictions.
AVERAGE
RESPONSE
TIME:
36 minutes
EXPLORATORY
Using language analysis software
to identify additional feedback –
most frequently used words and
phrases – to ensure that commonly-
occurring opinions are captured and
summarised.
This allows emerging feedback
not yet identified by the Returning
to Campus Working Group to be
analysed.
This type of analysis mostly
captures majority opinions across
respondents articulated in a similar
way.
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9
THEMES

WHAT IS A THEME? COVID-19 Safety

• A pre-agreed topic to
report on
Learning and Teaching
• A topic that has been
mentioned multiple times
in multiple questionnaire
responses, to avoid
Space
‘false positives’ from
the language analysis
software (i.e. ten people Meetings
mentioning a topic one
time is useful data; one
person mentioning a topic Commute
ten times is not), and
has been paraphrased to
ensure anonymity
Technology

Cost/Financial
Implications

Management

Health

Staff with disabilities/

Neurodiverse staff
Focus Group
opportunity Caring responsibilities
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WHAT’S WORKING WELL

WORKING FROM HOME:

• Improves focus, reduces distractions, boosts concentration
• Improves work/life balance
• Reduces commute time and cost
• Makes coming to campus relevant and valuable (for roles not already 100% based
on campus)
• Improves sense of control over COVID-19 safety
• Makes caring responsibilities more manageable
• Makes online meetings simpler to schedule, progressing work faster

WORKING ON CAMPUS:
• Improves personal relationships with colleagues
• Increases informal interactions
• Improves experience for operational staff based primarily on-campus
• Increases network – allows you to see more than just your team
• Has a positive impact on mental health
• Increases collaboration, encourages ideas and conversations
• Improves effectiveness of roles that support students

POSITIVE COMMENTS:
• Increased productivity
• Improved mental and physical health
• Drastically improved work/life balance relative to pre-pandemic
• Increased flexibility and autonomy over schedule and workload

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WHAT ISN’T WORKING WELL

WORKING FROM HOME:

• Can be isolating
• Can incur costs previously not attributed to employees (heating, electricity,
internet)
• Can make it difficult to participate in meetings where some are on campus – those
at home feel disadvantaged
• Isn’t available as a like-for-like option for staff in operational roles

WORKING ON CAMPUS:
• Increases commute costs – time, money and energy
• Increases personal risk in relation to COVID-19, with case levels high as of October/
November 2021
• Can sometimes feel irrelevant or like a waste of time if all work is conducted online
when on campus
• Can be compromised by a lack of suitable technology or equipment on-site (due to
keeping it at home or someone else taking it home)

NEGATIVE COMMENTS:
• A lack of consistency in application of hybrid working, both within teams and
across College
• A lack of formality in applying what may be a long-term arrangement
• Perceived differences in hybrid working arrangements between colleagues
• Frustration with temporary measures (Transition & Learn) not having an end date
• Note: Over 70 people responded ‘Nothing’ or ‘N/A’ as negatives)

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AMBITION PHASE

TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU THINK HYBRID WORKING WILL BE

A PART OF THE WAY WE WORK IN THE FUTURE?
• Less than five respondents stated that hybrid working should not continue
at all.
• Most responses recommended a continuation of hybrid working. There
were 550 mentions of ‘Permanent,’ ‘Forever’ and ‘Here to stay’, with more
variations when manually reading responses.
• A lack of consistency in application of hybrid working needs to be
addressed, with some variations (provision of equipment, acceptance
of work location patterns) needing urgent attention before the Ambition
phase can begin.
• Based on multiple responses, the pandemic needs to be in a more stable
place before people become comfortable with solidifying future working
arrangements or increasing their presence on campus.

WHAT COULD THE COLLEGE DO TO SUPPORT HYBRID

WORKING IN THE FUTURE?
• A trustworthy hybrid meeting guide – from tech to meeting management.
• Clear definitions of the impact of making hybrid working decisions
permanent.
• Support flexible commuting times around existing on-campus
commitments.
• Spaces that support on-campus work, digital meetings. multimode
learning/teaching, and quick transitions between these types of work.

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COVID-19 SAFETY

POSITIVES
• Working from home provides a better sense of safety as
COVID-19 cases rise.
• Working from home helps protect those with clinical
vulnerabilities or family members with clinical vulnerabilities.
• On-campus working is not as frequently cited as a risk – it is
travelling to campus.
• On-site PCR testing centres are helpful in promoting a better
sense of safety.

NEGATIVES
• The commute to work is the most frequently cited COVID-19
related risk.
• Anxiety over current immunity (in Wellbeing surveys this was
due to not being vaccinated yet, and now relates mostly to not
having a booster jab yet).
• Concern over crowding (by post-pandemic standards) – busier
on-campus events, students returning in-person, or increased
occupancy of offices create feelings of risk.

AMBITION PLAN
• A set of measures that could allow presence on-campus to be
increased or decreased based on current pandemic information.
• Continued promotion of and adherence to safety measures
(occupancy, ventilation, masks, sanitisation) and escalation
advice where this is not followed consistently.
• Continued testing and vaccination capability during pandemic.

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LEARNING AND TEACHING

POSITIVES
• Easier to have one-to-one tutorials or meetings with students
via Teams/Zoom, including more comfortable confidential
conversations. Students reportedly better attend/engage with
this type of meeting.
• Hybrid work allows staff to plan and operate preferred medium
for teaching e.g. face-to-face/online/multimode.

NEGATIVES
• The success of hybrid/multimode teaching can be dependent on
the space.
• Negative feedback received about delivering multimode
teaching – both in terms of perceived quality of learning
(attention, participation) and practical issues such as audio/
visual issues.
• Negative feedback received about students’ perception of solely
online delivery (i.e. face-to-face or multimode – particularly the
choice the latter offers – is preferred).
• Some space allocation means staff encroach on student space
to work/meet, e.g. at South Kensington, the Library/JCR/SCR
become excess staff space.

AMBITION PLAN
• If multimode teaching becomes a permanent part of Imperial’s
way of working, central investment needs to happen to improve
spaces and technology.

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SPACE

POSITIVES
• Some space requirements have lessened for workers at home,
e.g. no need to book a meeting room or find/book desk space.
• Some booking systems are working well in managing safe
occupancy of spaces and increasing awareness of team/
department presence.
• Some reduction in paper/filing due to unavoidable move to
digital working in 2020.

NEGATIVES
• Spaces can exceed capacity (relative to their current capacity
guidance) when whole teams come on-site to work together
without proper coordination.
• Lack of individual, compartmentalised spaces to quickly and
quietly join and participate in online meetings.
• Inconsistent allocation of fixed desks and shared desks in some
departments, particularly for those who started work at Imperial
during the pandemic.

AMBITION PLAN
• Recommendations for space vary between either to creating new
space (e.g. small meeting spaces), or to better equip existing
spaces to fit hybrid working.

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MEETINGS

POSITIVES
• 100% online meetings are simpler to schedule – people are more easily
available.
• Meetings are often shorter and more efficient when held online.
• Where meeting room equipment has been upgraded, hybrid meetings
can work well.
• Meetings on campus can be more productive when held 100% in-
person.

NEGATIVES
• Virtual meetings in open-plan shared spaces disrupt others.
• Multiple people can’t dial into the same call from a shared open-plan
space without issues (echoes, delays), even with new headsets.
• Privacy and confidentiality mean often meeting rooms are essential
even for a 1:1 hybrid meeting.
• Meeting rooms are not all equipped for a hybrid setup – either no
equipment or equipment not working as it should.

AMBITION PLAN
• The College needs to refresh its tech and its spaces to better support
hybrid meetings.
• Additional meeting spaces need to be configured in shared open-plan
offices to enable hybrid meetings to take place without disrupting
colleagues.
• Reliable personal tech recommendations (which headset, what
settings) need to be published for procurement, to better equip staff to
work effectively.
• A charter or set of rules for how College will run its meetings, which is
adhered to by all.

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COMMUTE

POSITIVES
• Infrequent implication of commute breaking up the work day and
allowing an opportunity to place boundaries over the work day.
• Positive feedback given to line managers who are comfortable
with their line reports commuting outside of rush hour – a flexible
commute is valued.
• Almost all other positive feedback centred around not having to
commute.

NEGATIVES
• Consumes time and energy for individuals either side of their work
day – this impacts both workload and physical and mental health.
• Incurs expense – presently, costs that not all colleagues have to
incur.
• Increases risk of contracting COVID-19 through close contact with
large volumes of people.

AMBITION PLAN
• Encouraging managers to accept flexible commute times to ease
rush hour pressure.
• No other direct recommendations, beyond noting the value in not
commuting 4-5 days a week. Personal decisions about longer-term
hybrid working are likely to be informed by this; the commute is one
of the most negatively impactful parts of on-campus work, based on
the mentions it received.

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TECHNOLOGY

POSITIVES
• Online collaboration software has been extremely helpful –
specifically Teams and Zoom – to maintain communication through
the pandemic and during Transition & Learn.
• Support transitioning delivery of teaching or other work into online
formats has been valuable.
• When hardware is either new or well-maintained, it supports
prolonged home-based working and on-campus working.

NEGATIVES
• Reports of insufficient ICT kit to accommodate a team – many using
personal devices at home and a desktop on campus, with some
reportedly not having an asset at all.
• (Global) shortage of available new equipment means many are
working on old, faulty or broken hardware.
• Reports of on-campus Internet connections (Network & Wi-Fi) being
temperamental.

AMBITION PLAN
• Support capacity/surgery to invite individuals to troubleshoot
hardware or software issues.
• A clear asset register across teams would be helpful to understand
where gaps in allocation exist.
• ICT to continue work on refreshing ICT estate across the College.

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MONEY/COSTS

POSITIVES
• Saving money from a lack of commuting costs 4-5 days per week,
without changes to salary.
• Saving money from on-campus purchases (lunch, coffee, etc.).
• Hybrid working has enabled more affordable life decisions, e.g.
moving outside of London or other more expensive areas.

NEGATIVES
• Reports of inconsistency in approaches to expenses – for example,
that some staff have paid for their own remote working equipment,
whereas others have had costs reimbursed.
• Some respondents feel they should not pay for heating, electricity,
internet, or travel/commute costs post-pandemic.
• Some fairness perceptions around the expenses paid by staff
required to be on campus vs. those who are not, often in similar
teams or in comparable roles across Faculties.

AMBITION PLAN
• A clear articulation (or re-circulation) of acceptable expenses
tolerated by the College.
• A clear articulation of the pay and benefits impacts, if any, should
an employee make a permanent change to their work location.
• Further work on overall parity between staff – Returning to Campus
approach has been to encourage departmental operational
requirements to determine on-campus presence arrangements.

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MANAGEMENT Line report
perspective

POSITIVES
• Line manager flexibility is cited as one of the main enablers of a
successful hybrid working arrangement.
• Hybrid work increases contact points between manager and line
report through convenience of communication.

NEGATIVES
• Subjective application of guidance by individual line managers.
• Perceived arbitrary applications of ‘days per week’ by managers.
• A lack of formality of arrangements is disempowering for the
manager and the line report.
• Some mentions of managers pressuring staff to return to campus
prematurely.

AMBITION PLAN
• Clear impact assessments on changes to working arrangements in
the long term are required (e.g. becoming a home-based worker or
establishing a permanent hybrid working pattern).
• While there is guidance available on having constructive hybrid
working conversations, there is still a perceived gap where the
relationship between manager and line report is not strong.

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MANAGEMENT Manager
perspective

POSITIVES
• Online working increases availability, particularly when staff
are based over multiple buildings/campuses, and can promote
consistency in contact with line reports.
• Management roles seem to mention direct benefit from face-to-face
interaction with their line reports more than line reports.

NEGATIVES
• Confusion from managers over what is permitted either within their
department or in College.
• A lack of formality of arrangements is disempowering for the
manager and the employee.
• Some mentions of managers pressuring staff to return to campus
prematurely.
• Concern for more junior staff or staff with varying support networks/
living circumstances.

AMBITION PLAN
• Clear impact assessments of long-term changes to work location or
schedule.
• A clear approach to defining and formalising long-term hybrid
working arrangements, including how to plan, consult and make
these changes (if applicable) – e.g. en masse for the whole team,
case-by-case by individual, etc.

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STAFF WITH DISABILITIES/
NEURODIVERSE STAFF
POSITIVES
• The flexibility of hybrid working allows staff with disabilities to
better manage their condition.
• Home-based work has allowed staff with ADHD to better focus and
manage their work/life balance, which had been more difficult with
a fully on-campus working arrangement.

NEGATIVES
• Car parking for disabled staff has been impacted by changes to
campus spaces and booking process, plus peaks in capacity on
some weekdays.
• ICT assets (e.g. desktops, laptops) are often assigned to the person
rather than to each workplace (home and campus) – making either
home or campus less effective.
• One respondent was advised that their disability made them
clinically vulnerable to COVID-19, but internal assessment did not
conclude this– links to feelings of COVID-19 safety.

AMBITION PLAN
• A more tailored approach to hybrid working (i.e. similar to how
adjustments may have been made pre-pandemic in the physical
workplace, applied to the hybrid workplace)
• Flexibility for neurodiverse staff who have a preference for one
working environment.
• Continue to enable the positive conditions that hybrid working
presents for staff with disabilities.
• Provide appropriate resource to review and formalise hybrid working
case-by-case.

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CARING
RESPONSIBILITIES
POSITIVES
• Helps those with clinical vulnerabilities to COVID-19 to better
protect themselves or others.
• Balances childcare and work responsibilities without affecting
workload.
• ‘Net positive’ impact when caring responsibilities are made easier
and commute time is reduced on total work/life balance.

NEGATIVES
• Emergence of new caring responsibilities directly related to the
pandemic (e.g. a relative with Long Covid).
• (NB: Sought negative perceptions of caring responsibilities affecting
productivity and availability of staff from previous feedback, but
this was only mentioned by three respondents)

AMBITION PLAN
• As with more flexible commute times, continue to encourage
managers to support staff with caring responsibilities case-by-
case.
• Consider updating or re-circulating guidance on caring
responsibilities, due to an indicative increase in College staff having
these.

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HEALTH

POSITIVES
• Work/life balance improvements (cited elsewhere in analysis)
have improved mental and physical health for many reasons – for
example through the release of time previously used commuting, or
better management of workload.
• A hybrid approach – dividing time between home and campus – has
been cited as beneficial to mental health.

NEGATIVES
• Mental health conditions such as anxiety are worsened where
triggers relate to COVID-19, crowds or claustrophobia, making
returning to campus more difficult for affected individuals.
• Mental health generally worsened by the events of 2020 and 2021.
• Physical work setup at home can exacerbate existing health
conditions or led to developing issues (e.g. back pain).
• On-campus work is sometimes described as increasing risk to
physical health from COVID-19.

AMBITION PLAN
• Ensure that changes made to the work day that have enabled staff
to feel control over/improve their mental and physical health are
not lost. These exact changes will vary between individuals, so
there is no specific recommendation beyond not losing valuable
improvements.

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