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Summary of the All employee meeting (AEM)

2 September

Photo: Susanne Kronholm
Published Sep 08, 2021

Here is a summary of the autumn's first All employee meeting (AEM), where the Head of School talked about HSE (health, environment and safety), the school's new crisis and preparedness plan, and the results from the employee survey. There were also many questions at the end, including what applies to work on campus and remotely.

Introduction

Sonja Berlijn talked about the new format of the AEM meetings, which are now 20 minutes long. We will summarise the meetings in a written article, include the presentation material and answers to selected questions.

Health, environment and safety

Then she talked about HSE (health, environment and safety) at the school and her absolute zero tolerance for sexual harassment, threats and bullying. Despite this, this occurs at our school, and Sonja encourages those exposed to talk to their immediate manager or HR. She also pointed out that her door is always open.

What to do if you have been the victim of harassment

Working on campus and remotely

Sonja reminded us of the President's decision that we should return to campus. Discuss with your immediate manager how to do this safely. If you have a cold or symptoms, you stay at home and work from home or take sick leave.

Temporary remote working must take place in the home, within commuting distance from KTH, and thus in Sweden. If you work in a place within Sweden other than your home address, you must be able to get to work within normal setting time if the employer requires it and the employee's own insurance applies, not KTH's.

Regular working hours  are 8.00–16.30. During the pandemic, Sonja wishes that you are in place between 9.00–14.00 for meetings and joint time with your colleagues. Talk to your immediate manager if you need to temporarily adjust the time to avoid congestion.

Coffee and cake with your unit/division

During the autumn, the school's units and divisions are invited to a coffee, .

The RAE week

Sonja also noted that the digital RAE week is now over and thanked everyone who participated.

RAE 2021 time plan

Crisis and preparedness plan

Sonja went through the work done within the new plan. Among other things, the school has appointed Mikael Prytz as safety coordinator, created a contingency team that collaborates with blue light staff, security companies, and KTH Security, developed a contingency schedule, and started working on strengthening the shell protection school together with KTH Security.

EECS crisis and preparedness organisation

Incidents

During the summer, 11 August, an incident occurred. The Sustainable Power Lab discovered asbestos while emptying a storage space.  

The results of the employee survey

Sonja shared the results from the employee survey and talked about measures. Unit and division heads must submit a list of 2-3 steps for their particular unit/division.

She pointed out that she is generally delighted with the results.

See the full result in the meeting's presentation (pdf 2.0 MB)

E-mail alias

KTH recommends that all employees use their alias in their e-mail address, username@kth.se

At EECS, everyone follows this recommendation. 

A ten year old President's decision decides that we can not use first and last names in our e-mail addresses. Sonja has discussed the issue in a meeting with the Strategic Council, and this will be followed up.

Instructions for e-mail at KTH (Swedish)

Questions and answers

The meeting ended with a question and answer session. There were several questions about the directive that we should return to campus, insurance for staff , and telework agreements .

In addition to questions about returning to campus, we answer a couple of other questions here.

Do we know from the employee survey in which situations harassment, violence, etc., takes place? Is it in the teaching/teaching role or between colleagues?

All departments/divisions/units will discuss the results from the employee survey, and there will be more information about this in those reports. 

When is the next opportunity for environmental education? First aid training?

Training in fire and first aid is underway. Register for the fire protection training here .

A decision will be made on first aid training (CPR) in mid-September. Due to the pandemic, all CPR training is suspended. KTH is central to this. We will inform when it is time.

Regarding the environmental  training – a new programme is being developed for 2021.