Listening to our people

• 95% have good or excellent experience working in FLEET
• 90% believe FLEET is doing a good job to promote equity and diversity
• 92% agree or strongly agree FLEET fosters an environment where people of diverse backgrounds and lifestyles can work together effectively.

When asked to state three key strengths of the Centre, the top five words members used were collaboration, research, people, diversity and communication.

Responses, which came from 55% of FLEET membership, offered strong insights into what works and what doesn’t, right across the Centre. While it is great that 95% of respondents rated their experience at FLEET as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’, we also received clear feedback on areas where FLEET can improve. Centre management and committees are working to implement responses to that feedback in future initiatives and programs.

Highlighted strengths of FLEET are:

• Culture, Diversity and Inclusion: Members believe that they are treated with respect at work and that FLEET fosters a diverse, inclusive and flexible working environment that is free from discrimination.
• Centre Cohesion: Members are aware of the Centre’s objectives and believe that the FLEET Leadership teams are building a collaborative Centre where members share ideas and information, and open, honest communication is generally encouraged.
• Covid: The majority of members agree that they have been supported by FLEET’s initiatives during Covid.
• Professional Development and Training: Members agree that they would normally regularly attend workshops and conferences related to their roles and that they know where to access information about opportunities. They also believe that they can develop new skills within and outside their technical areas.
• Outreach: Members understand the importance of outreach and overall enjoy contributing to these activities.
• Communication Channels: Members find the FLEET website and newsletters useful and are aware of opportunities to promote their research.

Using an external survey provider (Leaderskill) maintained independence and confidentiality throughout the survey process.

Changes implemented by FLEET based on survey findings included:

• Facilitated training workshop to identify inappropriate workplace behaviours
• Added an ‘emergency phone’ communication channel, available at the click of a button on the FLEET intranet, so that all members could ask for help quickly, if needed
• Reduced the number of internal seminars (see Collaboration)
• Fine-tuned internal communications to reduce email clutter (see Internal Communication).

Since 2018, annual FLEET surveys have examined the quality and impact of current initiatives and identified best ways to support members. Surveys are voluntary and anonymous, and they have obtained an average response rate of 40%. Other surveys ensuring the Centre is serving the needs of its members include:

• Pandemic survey in 2020 exploring how members were being impacted by Covid-19 and how the Centre could help (see Responses to Covid)
• Standalone equity surveys each year except 2021
• ECR Training Working Group survey 2021.

Outside these surveys, members can provide feedback or raise any matter that needs FLEET management attention via the FLEET intranet and KPI portal.

Areas of strength at FLEET, as identified by members

FLEET’s key strengths