Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R)/HR Award

News on HRS4R implementation at university and faculty level

An overview of activities implemented in the first half of 2024:

• 4/2024 - 9/2024: FI Equal Opportunity Audit
• 2/2024 - 6/2024: creation and implementation of e-adaptation plans for new FI employees and contractors, creation of e-brochure for new FI employees
• 2/2024: approval of Practitioner Code of Ethics by FI Academic Senate, launch of new FI website on ethics and rights protection
• Ongoing: participation in HR Award working groups, Gender Equality Plan, Adaptation, Recruitment, PhD academy, Training and development coordinators, participation in HR events
• Ongoing: support for FI staff development, cooperation with CERPEK
• Ongoing: development of internal and external communication of FI (activities of the External Relations Department and cooperation with partners (among others, information about the achievements of male and female employees on the website, FI newsletters, activities of the HR Department - updating of career pages including Women in IT; development of the Employee Portal)
• 1/2024: A new MU Code of Ethics was issued as of 1 January 2024

FI equal opportunities audit (gender audit)

In April 2024, we began processing the FI Equal Opportunity Audit or FI Gender Audit, working with the NORA Gender Information Center.

The processing of the audit includes the following sub-activities:

• Content analysis of internal and publicly available FI and MU documents,
• processing and implementation of an online questionnaire survey, analysis of the data obtained,
• preparation and implementation of individual interviews with FI employees,
• Preparation and implementation of focus groups of senior staff, foreign (English-speaking) employees, caregivers, technical and administrative staff,
• preparation of the final report and gender equality plan.

We would like to thank all FI staff/women for their abundant participation in the survey, focus groups and interviews. We managed to complete all these activities by mid-June and are now in the process of processing all the data and drafting the final report.

New MU Code of Ethics

A new MU Code of Ethics has been issued as of 1 January 2024.

The Code of Ethics is a declaration of moral values and general moral principles relevant to the academic environment to which Masaryk University and its university community actively subscribe. The extent to which an individual human act corresponds to these values is not a matter of simple conformity or non-conformity with a particular provision, but of responsible and impartial consideration of all the moral dimensions of a given situation.

MU and its university community - made up of everyone who works or studies at the university - are committed to honouring and respecting the following values:

• 1. Freedom and responsibility.
• 2. Moral and academic integrity.
• 3. Decency and respect.
• 4. the University's role in ethics and culture.

Revised Charter and Code for Researchers

Recommendation C/2023/1640 of the Council of the European Commission of 18 December 2023 on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talent in Europe contains a revised European Charter for Researchers - the full text of the Recommendation including the Code in English and Czech.

The Council Recommendation states, inter alia, that the Charter and Code for Researchers are revised to respond to new realities and current challenges facing researchers and institutions, including better integration of gender balance, gender equality and inclusiveness, with the inclusion of measures aimed at a research environment free from gender-based violence, as well as open science practices. The new version of the Charter is simplified to facilitate its implementation and to encourage its use outside the academic sector.

Updates@FI: Newsletter for staff

On 20.12.2023 the first newsletter for FI staff was published. It is available on the Staff Portal.

You can read, for example, an interview with the Dean of FI, Prof. RNDr. Jiří Barnat, Ph.D., an interview with Assoc. RNDr. Petr Sojka, Ph.D. about his life, his academic journey and his connection with the Faculty of Informatics or an interview with Mgr. Helena Lukášová, ArtD., about augmented reality.

The newsletter also includes information about the HR Award, employee benefits, statistics on student numbers, etc.

News on HRS4R implementation at university and faculty level

An overview of activities implemented in the second half of 2023:

• Ongoing: participation in HR Award working groups, Gender Equality Plan, Adaptation, Recruitment, PhD academy, Training and development coordinators, participation in HR events.
• Ongoing: support for FI staff development, cooperation with CERPEK
• 12/2023: publication of first FI online newsletter, new design of FI website
• 10/2023: participation in the HR Department's kick-off workshop on talent management (6/10/2023)
• 10/2023: Participation in the first MUNI HR Day (4/10/2023)
• 9/2023: Implementation of a workshop on selection procedures for FI committee members (9/18/2023)
• 9/2023 onwards: Staffing of the External Relations and Partnerships Department, presentation of the department's goals and agenda, meetings with the various departments, setting up collaboration
• 9/2023: Issue of updated Organizational Regulations
• 9/2023: Introduction of a new employee benefit - the school fees allowance
• 8/2023: Issuance of the FI MU dean's measure 10/2023 FI MU staff recruitment and adaptation process

Course on Effective communication within international/intercultural teams

A short-term course on "Effective Communication within International / Intercultural Teams" will take place from 11/24/2023 - 11/26/2023.

Do you want to learn tips on how to work effectively in an international team, how to manage time management or remote communication? Sign up for a free three-day course organised by the MU Language Learning Centre.

The course is available for MU employees and PhD students who are also employees. Try out exercises and scenarios from practice together with foreign lecturers. The course must be registered for via the CJV website and is conducted in English. Preliminary program and link from the registration can be found HERE.

First MUNI HR Day

On 4 October 2023, the first MUNI HR Day organized by the Department of Personnel Management of the MU Rectorate took place. The aim of the MUNI HR community meeting was to bring practical knowledge and experience from sub-areas of HR.

MUNI HR Day programme:

• Market data and its use in practice - research and other data sources mapping the main phenomena and trends in the interconnected worlds of education and work
• Recruitment - how to get the candidates we want
• Onboarding - tips on how not to discourage newcomers
• Offboarding - how to break up nicely
• Appraisal, well-being and motivation of employees in line with the needs of management, employees and entire teams and organisations

Thanks to this event, we were able to get inspiration from well-known experts from the HR world and gain insight into current trends in HR.

The workshop "How to approach the selection process with questions" for non-academic staff

On 18 September 2023, a workshop "How to go about the selection process by asking questions" was held with the participation of 11 non-academic FI staff members who are or could be involved in the selection process for filling positions. This workshop is a complement to the practical skills on the new selection procedure regulations.

Workshop topics:

• Who is a suitable candidate,
• why it is a dialogue: how to fight and how/what to present,
• preparation and logical sequence of the interview,
• what all matters - what to find out and verify about the candidate (erudition is not enough),
• how to ask appropriate questions (how/why to ask),
• specific tips for interview questions.

This is the third workshop on this topic provided by CERPEK MU and led by Mgr. Hana Ondráčková.

Introduction of a new MU employee benefit: contribution to school fees

As of September 2023, MU employees can now benefit from a school fees allowance. MU has introduced a new employee benefit to support the reconciliation of work and family life and the return of parents from maternity and parental leave. It is the possibility to draw a contribution from the social fund for kindergarten or a children's group instead of a contribution to a pension insurance or supplementary pension savings.

The allowance to cover part of the school fees is given to the employee, not to the child. Each employee is therefore entitled to one allowance. However, both parents (if they are MU employees) can draw the allowance for one child, but the allowance cannot be drawn more than once for more than one child.

If you are interested in this allowance, please contact the FI HR department.

The process of recruitment and adaptation of FI employees

As of 1 August 2023, the FI MU Dean's Measure 10/2023 Process of Recruitment and Adaptation of Employees at the Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University was issued.

This measure regulates the procedure for the on-boarding and adaptation of new employees assigned to the Faculty of Informatics of Masaryk University and serves as a support document for key persons in the adaptation process - namely the Head of the Department and the person in charge of the Department. The measure describes in more detail the individual steps important not only for ensuring the effective integration of the employee at the workplace, but also for successful orientation and integration into the workplace and the work team, usually during the first 3 months at a given workplace.

The measure and its annexes are available on the document server.

News on the implementation of HRS4R at university and faculty level

Overview of activities implemented in the first half of 2023:

• 5/2023: Achieving HRS4R embedded status.
• 5/2023: Seminar on Flexible Work Options at MU in relation to work-life balance
• 5/2023: Implementation of a workshop on selection procedures for FI committee members
• 5/2023: Development of a revised FI Action Plan
• 5/2023: FI Information Colloquium with Mgr. Mentioned in the FICI Mentoring session of the FICI Consultation on Information Technology.
• 4/2023: Start of psychological counseling for employees
• 4/2023: Establishment of MU ombudsman and effectiveness of the MU Rights Protection Directive
• 4/2023: Implementation of FI webinar on the growing role of diversity in IT
• 3/2023: FI IT Colloquium with Assoc. The IT Informatics Colloquium
• 3/2023: Introduction of occasional telecommuting at FI
• 2/2023: Implementation of an online FI survey in connection with the preparation of the self-assessment report
• 2/2023: Implementation of a workshop on selection procedures for FI committee members
• 1/2023: Implementation of the MU Selection Procedures Regulations and the FI Selection Procedures Rules

Workshop "Flexible work options at MU in relation to reconciling work and personal life"

On 22 May 2023, FI HR staff attended the seminar "Flexible work options at MU in relation to reconciling work and personal life". The aim of the seminar was to present flexible working options as a tool for reconciling work and family. The seminar also focused on the trend in the development of the home-office mode in the European labour markets in the pre- and post-covid era. The theoretical part was complemented by practical experiences with the introduction of flexible working arrangements in various companies, institutions and at MU.

Seminar topics:

• Introduction of flexible working arrangements, employer vs. employee needs,
• practical input from the Centre for Family and Social Care (introduction of the sandwich generation, their needs, how to work with this group from the employer's perspective),
• rules, practices and tools at MU (practical input),
• Motivation Labs will share practice with the introduction of flexible working arrangements from other companies and institutions (benefits for employers and employees).

Workshop "How to do the selection process by asking questions" for academics

On 19 May 2023, a workshop on "How to go about the selection process by asking questions" was held with 11 FI academic staff who are or could be involved in job selection processes. This workshop is to complement the practical skills on the new selection procedure regulations.

Workshop topics:

• Who is a suitable candidate,
• why it is a dialogue: how to fight and how/what to present,
• preparation and logical sequence of the interview,
• what all matters - what to find out and verify about the candidate (erudition is not enough),
• how to ask appropriate questions (how/why to ask),
• specific tips for interview questions.

This is the second workshop on this topic provided by CERPEK MU and led by Mgr. Hana Ondráčková. The first workshop for 12 academic staff took place on 3 February 2023.

HRS4R workshop with Mary Kate O'Regan from University College Cork

On 11 May 2023, FI HR staff participated in a workshop on Human Resources Strategy for Researchers led by Mary Kate O'Regan, who is HR Research Manager at University College Cork, Ireland.

The workshop focused on the following topics:

• Benefits of implementing HR Excellence in Research for researchers,
• the implementation of the HR strategy at University College Cork, Ireland,
• Recommendations and tips before preparing a self-assessment,
• Preparing for a site visit.

This unique workshop was organised by the Faculty of Science, MU, thank you very much.

Internal self-assessment, creating a revised FI Action Plan and obtaining HRS4R embedded status

In May 2023, the Faculty of Informatics submitted a self-assessment of the implementation of its HR strategy and a revised HRS4R Action Plan for the period 2023-2025. On 23 May 2023, the European Commission granted FI the "HRS4R embedded" status.

The development of the revised action plan was preceded by an online questionnaire survey conducted in February 2023, with a 77% return rate. This survey followed the questionnaire survey conducted in 2020 as a basis for the preparation of the HRS4R certification documentation.

The results of the questionnaire survey and the revised Action Plan can be found in the "Implementation of the 1/2021-5/2023 Action Plan" section above.