Staff Survey and Employee Experience Platform

Staff Survey and Employee Experience Platform

The university’s People and Culture Plan outlines the workforce vision and goals to enable us to become The University for Social Impact. We believe that people give their best when they know they belong, are empowered, valued and supported to thrive. This belief underpins our plan. The overarching aim of the plan is to inspire success by improving the working lives of our YSJ community.

A specific workstream will focus on embracing staff feedback and using it to inform decision making. Employee engagement has been tracked over the last four years through an annual staff survey with local and cross-cutting action planning in place. Results from 2025 show an organisational response rate of 77%; an engagement index of 6.8/10 and Employee Net Promotor score of +2 (up 14 on the previous year).

To date, access to the provider platform has been restricted to the HR team and the overarching approach has been quite traditional whilst the People and Culture Plan has been developed and trust in the process/ approach has been built. Over coming years, we anticipate developing our culture so that leaders and managers could be empowered to engage directly with the platform and for potential additional features to be used.

Potential providers are invited to advise on the latest market developments that could be appropriate and congruent with the Higher Education (HE) sector and specific York St John context, so that the full Invitation to Tender (ITT) can be drafted with the latest innovations in mind.

While our thinking continues to develop, we expect the future solution to offer a blend of well researched survey content, accessible, longitudinal reporting tools and a collaborative managed service model. In broad terms, we anticipate needing a platform that can:

• Deliver benchmarked surveys aligned to recognised engagement models
• Support meaningful analysis at organisational, team and demographic levels
• Provide managers with clear, actionable insights
• Enable longitudinal tracking of engagement over time
• Offer pulse survey capability and flexible question design
• Situate our results within HE specific and cross sector benchmarks

This pre-market engagement exercise is designed to help us test these assumptions, understand what is now considered standard practice, and identify areas where innovation could add value. The insights gathered will directly inform the development of the full Invitation to Tender, which we expect to publish in the coming months.

During this engagement period, we may invite suppliers to share written information, participate in online discussions, or provide demonstrations that help us understand the capabilities of their platforms. Participation is entirely voluntary and will not influence the outcome of any future procurement. Our aim is simply to ensure that the final tender reflects the best of what the market can offer and is aligned with the needs and aspirations of our staff community.

Suppliers who wish to take part are invited to register their interest via the questionnaire below. Further information about timelines and engagement activities will be provided to those who register. This notice does not constitute a call for competition. It is an opportunity for York St John University to listen, learn and shape a procurement that will support a thriving, engaged and empowered workforce.

Pre-Market Engagement Questionnaire

This questionnaire is intended is to help us understand current market capabilities, innovations and delivery models. Responses will inform the development of our eventual Invitation to Tender (ITT). This is not a selection or evaluation exercise.

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