Your opinion counts

The Human Resources Department will soon be launching an opinion poll for CERN staff members





In his message to the CERN personnel, the new Director-General said "My New Year’s resolution involves managing CERN in a participative, democratic and inclusive manner". In the same spirit, the Human Resources (HR) Department plans to develop new channels of communication with CERN personnel. Dialogue is not always easy in an organization the size of CERN and, with this, its first survey, HR hopes to contribute towards it.

In March this year, the HR Department will be sending an on-line questionnaire to all staff, giving you the opportunity to comment on your personal experiences of working life at CERN, your expectations and your commitment to the Organization.

The initiative is the brainchild of the Head of the HR Department, Enrico Chiaveri, and the Deputy Department Head, Anne-Sylvie Catherin. As they put it: "We want to find out how the staff see the Organization, listen to any serious concerns they may have and establish whether the services we provide are adequate or need to be improved. Over and above that, we aim to promote dialogue. We are fully aware that there is scope to optimize communication inside CERN and we are keen to find a new approach in collaboration with the staff."

The questions are being carefully designed with the help of social scientists from the University of Lyon 2. The Lyon team has recently carried out exploratory interviews in French and English with a representative sample of 40 staff members to pinpoint the subjects that are close to their hearts.

In the words of Marie-Luce Falipou, the HR project leader, "The questionnaire must connect to the realities of life at CERN. We have contacted a university to benefit from the academic world’s expertise, practical experience and methodology to help us obtain detailed answers."

Cooperation with an outside team will also validate the exercise and guarantee its confidentiality and objectivity. "CERN is unique", says Philippe Sarnin, the head of the team from Lyon 2, where he is a lecturer. "It is not only a high-tech enterprise with an industrial production dimension but an international organization with much that resembles a university campus."

The Staff Association is also lending its support, sharing its expertise in the preparation stages of the poll.

"This survey is part of a human resources strategy; it will show us where we need to focus more of our attention", Enrico Chiaveri explains. "In future, we will be consulting the staff at regular intervals in order to keep up the momentum, stay tuned and promote constructive dialogue."