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How are things at ITM?

It will soon be time for a new ”MUS” employee survey. “MUS” can be seen as a temperature gauge that tells us about the general atmosphere at the workplace and how we balance our jobs with our leisure time.

To get the best possible picture it is important that as many people as possible answer the questionnaire. This will allow us to constructively allocate the resources where we need them the most. We are well aware of the importance of processing the information generated by the survey and it is management’s intention to do just that.

Below we have prepared a list of activities that have been conducted since the last survey. Naturally we hope that they have had a beneficial effect on everyone.

  1. To reduce the negative stress linked to work and to alleviate sleep difficulties caused by the prevailing situation at work we have arranged:
  • obligatory stress management seminars for all managers
  • lectures on the theme of stress for employees ”motivation till motion” (“motivation for exercise”). ”Lär dig hantera din stress” (“Learn to manage your stress”) and “Balans i Livet” (“A balanced life”).
  1. To improve the general level of health we have:
  • coordinated ITM’s preventative fitness activities
  • Step competition
  1. To increase the number of staff who are familiar with the emergency routines, we have:
  • prepared contingency plans and informed the employees about them
  1. To increase the number of staff who are familiar with the fire evacuation routines we have had:
  • regular fire drills in all premises
  • training of fire drill leaders and fire protection officers
  • fire safety training for lab work
  1. To increase the number of staff who are familiar with the routines after accidents/work injuries and routines for reporting irregularities regarding harassment and discrimination, we have:
  • developed tools for simpler reporting, we now keep statistics of accidents/ occupational injuries
  • provided information about the routines in the event of occupational injury, accidents, discrimination/harassment in all management groups, school/department
  • informed employees about the routines for handling occupational injury, accidents, discrimination/harassment
  1. To combat discrimination, the school has taken preventative action by:
  • arranging an event that focuses on equal treatment and diversity
  • played ”Mr. Norm” in different teams
  • raised equality issues on the management course
  1. To improve the indoor climate and therefore the physical work environment we have:
  • worked alongside Akademiska Hus in improving the indoor climate
  1. To improve the ergonomics in the workplace and therefore the physical work environment we have:
  • hired an ergonomist who has provided information about general issues linked to ergonomics
  • offered a personal ergonomics round for those who request one
  • purchased ergonomic products where the need exists
  1. To improve the supervision of our doctoral students:
  • MMK has created a supervisor’s forum
  • MSE has held regular meetings with its doctoral students
  • ITM has set up routines for following up the syllabus
  1. To improve the quality of performance review:
  • TMT has had workplace meetings and discussed and provided information about the development dialogues
  1. To improve leadership we have conducted:
  • a full-day management training course focusing on work environment, stress, conflict management etc.
  • coaching-programme for all managers in administration including group development
  • needs-based group-development
  • yearly leadership conference for all managers

We sincerely hope that some of the activities listed above have helped to improve the workplace but we also that we have learned to balance work and leisure in a way that will generate a noticeable improvement in the survey compared with the last one.

ITM’s management requests that you allocate time to answer the questionnaire when it arrives in your e-mail. This will enable us to influence and improve our shared work environment together.

Thank you in advance

Christina, Head of Administration

Greetings for the new year

Do you remember what it felt like to open a brand new paper calendar? Every sheet a clean page, completely blank, no doodles, no “to do” lists. Gradually you filled it up by hand.

This is still how I feel today when I return to work after the Christmas break, but there are no blank pages – everything has been transferred electronically into a diary.

Financial result for the year
The school had a budget of SEK 5.7 million and posted a surplus of SEK 5.6 million. The result is distributed by division: SEK -7.3 million for research and SEK +12.9 million for education. Research is still generating a loss despite a marked increase in the number of external projects in 2015. This is largely due to the school’s low level of basic government funding which is not matched to the number of external projects.

The education side generates a relatively large surplus. This is partly due to the performance-based funding that was awarded to ITM for the master’s programme in engineering. A number of positions are being recruited, means those costs have yet to arise.

The doctoral completion rate increased by 10 points from 2014 to 2015, which will generate an increase in allocation for 2017. At the end of 2015 there were 516 full-time equivalents employed at the school.

The school continued to have a regulatory capital deficit of SEK -12.1 million.

Allocation for 2016
The school’s operational objectives for 2016 (president’s contract) have been uploaded onto the web. They outline the school’s objectives from a KTH perspective. The document specifies KTH’s expectations and objectives for the school. The year’s allocation of funding is also specified in this document. Work on allocating the revenues to the school’s departments is currently in progress.

Administration
The administration office at the school held a shared workshop just before Christmas. There were two intensive days during which all participants showed great commitment. The work environment and group projects were in focus and we discussed how an ideal administration could be structured/function within a three-year period. The key words for the day were psychosocial work environment, service-mindedness, efficiency, sustainability, leadership and organisation.

The on-going workshop-based work will continue throughout the year and will emanate in a new administrative strategic plan for 2017-2020.

Be well

Christina, Head of Administration

Almost at the finish line!

The last part of the year places big pressure on the Dean’s Office (DO) Administration often deals with aiming for the finish – the cycle must be completed before the end of the year.

In the best case scenario, the salary reviews will be complete. The financial books will close and the 2016 budget will be entered into the system. Activity reports will be finalised. All grading reports for the year will be submitted, partly so as students will have their grades registered during the correct period, but also because registration is a financial transaction.

Furthermore, it is the case that all of us want to “tidy up” a little bit before the new year. This is usually evident from the marked increase in expenses, remunerations a travel invoices throughout December.

In the spring, KTH received its environmental certification. Revisions will be conducted on an ongoing basis to make sure that we continue with our improvement work and follow the established management plans for meeting the environmental goals in place. An internal audit was carried out in November, in which ITM performed well – we only had a few small deviations that will now be rectified.

The time frame for this year’s salary reviews has been tight. Many of us have worked to pull off the “impossible” feat of having the new salaries paid out in December. It is fun being able to say that good cooperation and communication within the school and between the parties made sure that ITM was finished on time. In the best case scenario – if all of KTH has done well – payments will be made on 23 December.

We have recently seen the arrival of a new colleague, Anton Lagerbäck. Anton will mainly be working with academic appointments. There has been a huge need for support in this area. The process and working methods at KTH have been altered, which has meant a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing for completion. It is now the ambition that, with the help of Anton, we can get the ball rolling without disruptions and with shortened processing times. So a very warm welcome to Anton!

Throughout the year we have worked on creating routines for how to manage the School’s purchases of between SEK 100,000 and 500,000. The routines must follow those set by the state but also the KTH guidelines at the same time as we need smooth processing for everyone involved. But most of all we should be able to be happy with the product/service we buy, despite the bureaucracy that it entails.

Now we are heading towards the end of the year and with this, the financial books for 2015 will close. This time of year is the most intensive for our financial team. Whilst the rest of us go on Christmas vacation, the pressure is on in the “workshop”, with all systems go for finalising the year. Nevertheless, over recent years, this work has gone ahead without a hitch. Currently, our accounts maintain a high standard, which means that comprehensive work must be done, but it is managed without any surprises.

For many years there have been requests and demands from the organisation and the School’s financial team to create a project leader report – and now we’re there! Over the first quarter, each person responsible for a project will receive follow up reports each month, directly to their email. To be able to carry out this follow up, a budget is of course needed for the respective project. All new projects have one of these, as do the majority of older projects. It will be interesting to receive feedback on these reports from those of you who are project leaders.

Work to create the School’s Annual Report for 2015 is in full swing. It will be the seventh year in a row in which the School issues a report. This years’ report focuses upon “Impact –research’s cooperation/influence in society”.

During 2015, DO’s focus areas have been:

*                           Environmental certification
*                           Working environment measures
*                           Management course (returns on 16th March)
*                           Fine-tuned accounting with monthly follow ups
*                           Project leader reports (financial)
*                           Purchasing and procurement routines
*                           Information online, e.g., “information from management”
*                           Health and wellbeing initiatives
*                           Stress project (seminar for all the heads of school and lecture for all members of staff)

A big thank you to all of my colleagues for this past year! I am proud to be the Head of Administration at ITM and I am grateful to have you all as my colleagues. You always do your best, no matter what!

From everyone at DO, merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Christina