Organisation, Security
Annual report by ombuds officer: ‘We’re all responsible for a safe work environment’
Leiden University has had a staff ombuds officer since 2022: Marjan van Dasselaar. Where confidential counsellors mainly focus on individual issues, the ombuds officer focuses on patterns and how to make our work environment safer.
Marjan provides impartial advice about this to the university. She also publishes an annual report that offers insight into her method and work, the number of reported issues and the nature of the underlying problems. The 2024 annual report is now available.
Reports
The number of reports was slightly higher in 2024 (65) than in 2023 (62). A recurring theme in many reports is insufficient transparency, ambiguous decision-making processes and the failure to honour agreements. A lack of leadership (in the sense of best practices for employers) is often the cause.
All staff are responsible for creating a safe work environment at the university (best practices for employees), and managers and administrators should lead by example. ‘Leading by example doesn’t mean that managers or staff can never make mistakes’, says Marjan. ‘But we do have to learn from our mistakes and reflect on our behaviour.’
Recommendations
The ombuds officer’s previous recommendations from 2022 and 2023 are, for the most part, still relevant. In October 2024, a Social Safety Action Plan 2024-2025 was drawn up at the university. The actions in the plan are based on recommendations from external parties such as the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Labour Authority, as well as from our confidential counsellors and ombuds officer. Rather than make new recommendations, the ombuds officer is focusing on how the Action Plan is being implemented and followed up.
For PhD candidates, contacting the ombuds officer seems to be as large a step as it was in 2023. ‘Connecting with the Graduate Schools and joining information sessions seems to have made it a bit easier for PhD candidates to reach out to the confidential support network, but there’s much to gain in helping them speak up and stand up for themselves’, said Marjan.
Contacting the ombuds officer
The ombuds officer can be contacted at ombuds.medewerkers@leidenuniv.nl or 06 38 95 04 08. Although she is unable to accept anonymous reports, and reports she receives will be treated as strictly confidential.
Social safety within the university
Have you witnessed or experienced inappropriate behaviour? Read more about social safety, what you can do and which helplines you can call in such a situation.