Sir, – The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) is gravely concerned by the findings of the DIT employee engagement survey ("Dublin Institute of Technology staff concerned at lack of 'clear vision'", October 27th). The findings indicate a considerable degree of alienation and discontent among staff, with only 35 per cent considering themselves valued and only 29 per cent believing DIT's leadership team manage the institution well. Only 20 per cent believed that senior leadership listened to and responded to their views, and 8 per cent were "currently being harassed or bullied at work".
It is somewhat ironic that the first staff heard about the results was through the national media and is completely unacceptable that the response from the institute’s president is that the worrying findings are merely a case of staff “getting things off their chest” rather than being indicative of deeper systemic problems in terms of communication and consultation. Is the president of DIT attempting to suggest that the results do not reflect deeply held views from highly committed staff who succeed in delivering high quality education to students despite the considerable obstacles being placed in their way? These include cuts in funding, unsustainable teaching loads and, as the survey results and response to them show, management indifference to their views.
TUI notes from the findings that bullying and harassment are areas of considerable concern. We note that fewer than half reported their complaints because of a belief that nothing would happen or that they would be victimised. This is entirely unacceptable and TUI is now demanding a review of bullying procedures and an investigation into the high levels of bullying reported by staff.
A 2013 TUI survey of members in DIT, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown and Institute of Technology Tallaght found that 69 per cent of respondents were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the consultation process used by their institute relating to the proposal to move towards a Dublin technological university.
Regrettably, it would appear that little notice was taken of these results and that the wilful exclusion of staff views is now the norm in many of our institutes.
TUI will not be signing up to new institutional structures unless staff are fully involved in their development, and TUI will oppose any developments which are nor based on full consultation with staff and which do not place collegiality at the core of decision-making processes. – Yours, etc,
GERRY QUINN,
President,
TUI,
Rathgar, Dublin 6.