Professional Services' staff meeting 10 October 2024
On 10 October, University Director Veronika Sundström held a digital staff meeting for KI's Professional Services (PS). During the meeting, she presented an upcoming decision on the new organisation of PS. Below is a summary of the information shared.
Current news
KI's University Director Veronika Sundström began by talking about KI's favourable position in several current rankings in terms of reputation in Sweden and internationally, but also as an employer.
She also presented the government's budget bill for next year, which contains neither investments nor savings for KI. One piece of good news is that it is no longer mandatory to use the Government Service Centre. A clearer picture of KI's conditions for next year is expected with the research and innovation bill that the government will present at the end of the year.
Feedback on in-depth collaboration ahead of decision on PS organisation
Within a few weeks, Veronika Sundström will take a decision on the new organisation of PS with the aim of promoting increased coordination and clarifying responsibilities and points of contact within the operational services. Since the summer, in-depth collaboration has been carried out and all employees have had the opportunity to participate in analysing the proposal. Over 40 analyses have been carried out using the Padlet tool.
"I want to thank you all for this valuable input, I have read all 800 posts, totalling over 100 pages of strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. I interpret it as a genuine commitment to KI, PS and your respective areas of expertise. We will benefit greatly from this material in our work going forward," said Veronika Sundström.
The material shows that the reason for the reorganisation is still unclear to many. Veronika Sundström highlighted two processes in particular that form the basis for the change work:
- the needs inventory carried out by the university management in dialogue with the entire organisation, which resulted in KI's nine priority focus areas.
- taking forward recommendations from previous investigations such as the project Harmonised professional services 2019-2021.
Necessity of change
“We need to go further with increased coordination and clearer contact channels within operational support, and we see that many of you agree with this in all the responses received in the analyses. We need larger departments that can prepare for the needs of the future with a clear mandate. The silos that many people talk about usually arise when related areas are divided into separate organisational units,” said Veronika Sundström.
“I have said it before, but I want to repeat that organisation must be adaptable - it is the processes and our ways of working that are most important. This in-depth collaboration has itself been a new kind of process. Everyone has had the opportunity to be involved, even if not everyone will be happy with the decision. All input is valuable for the decision and a great help in the work ahead.
The project group, with the help of support functions, has summarised the material and made further analyses which are now being taken forward by the University Director and the PS management team. All heads of office are responsible for feeding back the conclusions of the analysis at office level and with the functions specifically concerned. Each office will also be tasked with dialogue and further work on what is relevant for them in the new organisation of PS.
Pending decision on PS organisation from 1 January 2025
From 1 January 2025, six offices will cease to exist:
- Research Support Office (RSO)
- Finance Office
- Faculty Office and International Relations (FIR)
- Legal Office
- Strategic Management Office
- Education Support Office
Three new offices are created with working names:
The office is proposed to consist of the functions:
- The entire former Research Support Office (RSO)
- The whole unit Development Office from Strategic Management Office
- The whole unit International Office from FIR
- Some function from the unit Support to Programme- and Education committees from the Education Support Office
- Some functions from the unit Research and Doctoral Education Office and the unit Sustainable development and equal opportunities office from FIR.
Head of Office: Björn Kull
The office is proposed to consist of the functions:
- The entire Legal Office
- The entire Strategic Management Office, except the unit Development Office (DO)
- The entire Finance Office
- Certain functions from FIR
Head of Office: recruitment to start shortly. Acting Gunnar Gustafsson Wiss, Deputy Helén Törnqvist
The office is proposed to consist of the functions:
- The entire Education Support Office, except for staff from the unit Support to Programme- and Education committees, who will move to the new Office of Research Support and External Relations
- Relevant staff from the unit Research and Doctoral Education Office and the unit Education - first and second cycle office
Head of office: Åsa Nandorf
HR Office
- To be added the relevant staff from the unit Sustainable development and equal opportunities office within FIR
Head of Office: Johanna Bäckström
Communications and Public Relations Office
- Review of the office's mission is ongoing in 2024
Head of office: Peter Andréasson
Property and Facilities Office
- Establishment of a common facility management (FM) function
Head of office: Rikard Becker
IT Office
Head of Office: Mattias Nordström
Administrative support
(staff function)
Head of Administration: Tomas Högberg
Few changes at the managerial level
For two of the new offices, existing heads of office will be appointed and given extended but not fundamentally new tasks. For one office, the post of Head of Office will be new and will therefore be advertised shortly. Due to natural departures, no redundancies are foreseen. As FIR is discontinued, Marie-Louice Isacson will leave as head of office. However, she will continue as a specialist within the PS staff-function with the task to project manage the review of KI's operational support.
Nor will there be any major changes at head of unit level with this decision, as the existing units will be lifted into the new PS organisation, with a few exceptions. Continued development work will then take place within each office over the next year and beyond.
What happens next?
Current heads of office are now responsible for further feedback on the findings of the in-depth collaboration at office level and with affected functions.
Once consultation with trade union representatives at PS has taken place, the University Director makes a decision. Between decision and implementation, risk and impact assessments are carried out with the support of HR within Administrative support together with the relevant heads of office, safety representatives and their designated staff representatives.
The new organisation of PS will enter into force on 1 January 2025. By 1 April, changes must be completed in the systems affected by the new organisation (e.g. web, UBW, Primula).
In parallel with this, work is underway within the University Library KIB and Medical History and Heritage (MHK), where the President is expected to make a decision later this year to integrate MHK as a unit within KIB.
There is a page for questions and answers about the review of PS on the Staff Portal which will be updated with questions and answers raised at the staff meeting.
Upcoming joint PS forums
Everyone at PS, the university library KIB, the unit Teacing and Learning and Medical History and Heritage is welcome!
| 12 Nov at 4 pm | GVS pub in Solna | |||
| 27 Nov at 13-14:30 | Digital staff meeting | |||
| 29 January at 9-11:30 | Staff meeting in the Erling Persson Hall (Aula Medica) in Solna | |||
| 25 March at 13-14:30 | Digital staff meeting | |||
| 3 June at 13-14:30 | Digital staff meeting |
Invitations will be sent in Outlook. If needed, additional meetings will be booked.
In addition, the university management invites all KI employees to open dialogue meetings on 3 and 5 December.
Presentations from the meeting
Presentations from PS staff meetings are shared with all heads of office and operations and summarised in a news item on the Staff Portal that can be viewed by logged-in staff at PS, KIB, TL and MHK.
Please feel free to contact Matilda Pearson, Communications Officer focusing on internal communications and PS, if you have ideas or comments regarding PS staff meetings.