Data and Analytics – Improving enjoyment at work

 2nd July 2026

The Trust has a number of initiatives to improve staff experience. A great example of this is the Enjoying Work Project led by Juan Campos, Kara Keenan-Wilson and Patricia Popa of the Data and Analytics team. 

Getting started – our enjoying work survey

When we started this work we knew something needed to change. We had insights from staff surveys, but they came too far apart to act on meaningfully. So we introduced a simple idea — a short Pulse Survey every two weeks — to help us understand how work was really feeling, in real time. 

In the beginning, engagement was one of our biggest challenges. Completing a survey that often felt like an extra demand, and response rates were low. We realised quickly that if we wanted honest, regular feedback, we needed to make it easier — and worthwhile.  

We tested a number of approaches: making our emails more engaging with themes and humour, introducing a protected 10–15 minute slot during the working day, and consistently sharing results back so people could see the impact of their input. Over time, this made a real difference, and we saw participation increase significantly. 

During this time, we established our aim statement as follows – To improve the satisfaction and enjoyment of work of the data and analytics team, by increasing the scores from 3.3 to 3.9 in average for the pulse survey by May 2026 

Testing change ideas

Using the feedback, we focused on testing small, targeted changes.  

• We introduced a peer recognition programme, where colleagues could nominate each other for going the extra mile — something we now celebrate at team away days.  

• We developed a team voice approach, capturing ideas from meetings and turning them into practical changes. 

• We also adapted our supervision template to include more meaningful conversations about wellbeing and future aspirations, not just performance.  

• More recently, we introduced micro-learning sessions, where colleagues share skills, ideas, or learning from conferences. 

Our data 

These improvements are demonstrated in our data below 

 

We achieved similar results across the other Pulse Survey questions.  

These changes weren’t perfect from the start, and we adapted them as we went. But over time, we’ve seen real progress. Most of our survey measures have improved, and feedback from the wider staff survey highlighted the supportive and positive culture in the team. 

The impact of our work is further demonstrated by our staff survey results, as follows –  

What we have learned most from this project is that enjoyment at work doesn’t come from one big initiative. It comes from listening consistently, acting on what people tell you, and giving teams the space to shape their own working environment. 

We are proud to have contributed to the trust’s efforts to improve staff experience and have recently shared this project on the Corporate QI forum, for others to learn from. We plan to continue to collect data and embed the changes we have made.