Responding to the Changing World of Work

At University College Cork (UCC), we know the world of work is changing – and we’re evolving with it. Our focus is on people.

We're creating a workplace where innovation, creativity, and wellbeing come together to build a more flexible and future-ready UCC. In recent years, many workplaces have embraced automation and digital tools – with the rise of smart technologies like AI and automation, now workplaces are putting people at the centre of innovation using these tools to support human creativity, values, and purpose.

At UCC, we're embracing this shift. We're building an agile workforce that's supported to grow, lead, and adapt.

Our people are not just part of the change – they drive it.

Our People and Culture Plan is about creating a workplace that feels like a community – inclusive, flexible, and purpose-driven.

By investing in leadership, skills, and digital capacity, we're putting people first – and positioning UCC as a leader in people-centred innovation in higher education.

Our Mission and Values

Our Mission

UCC’s mission is to create and sustain an inclusive environment and culture to enable transformative research and learning for the enrichment of society and stewardship of our planet.

Our Values

Having clear values is important as they help guide our everyday actions and decisions. Our values make us unique and are captured in the word CAIRDEAS, which means ‘friendship’ in Irish.

At UCC, these values guide how we connect with our community and partners both locally and globally.

The UCC values are:

Compassion

Agility

Integrity

Respect

Discovery

Equity

Accountability

Sustainability

Measures of Our Success

To ensure that the ambitions of the People & Culture Plan are realised, we will track a set of clear, outcome-oriented measures aligned to each of our five priorities.

These measures will reflect our ability to attract and retain talent, foster an inclusive and engaging culture, develop leadership, support growth and performance, and enable a more efficient and agile organisation.

Together, they represent our commitment to building a university where our people thrive and contribute to institutional excellence.

Among other measures, these include:

• Participation and engagement scores through a dedicated employee engagement measure, highlighting staff experiences of fair access to opportunities and respectful ways of working across the University.
• Our talent acquisition and employee engagement activities are inclusive and attract potential colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds.
• Our recruitment practices deliver the diverse people we need; our processes feel inclusive and welcoming to all candidates.
• Annual people planning exercises at a local level identify future improvement opportunities, succession planning and talent development.
• A leadership framework that underpins our core values and sets out the expectations of those in leadership and management roles.
• A Wellbeing Strategy that provides for flexible working arrangements for all our people and wellbeing support when it is needed.
• Support for the development of workload models to ensure fairness in allocation.
• Online technologies have increased efficiency for administrative processes across the university.
• Most posts are filled first time with the right talented people.
• Positive relationships with our recognised trade unions and other employee representatives nurtured and encouraged.

Plan of Activity

To deliver these outcomes, we will implement a structured programme of activity across the lifespan of the plan, engaging all our stakeholders to enable success of the plan:

Year 1 (2025): Foundation

• Rollout of frameworks, systems, and leadership capacity-building.

Year 2 (2026): Acceleration

• Targeted development pathways, data-informed planning and optimisation.

Year 3 (2027): Embedding

• Sustainability of initiatives, maturity in digital and leadership capability.

Through our annual operational planning process, we will bring our People & Culture Plan to life. Progress on the delivery of our People and Culture Plan will be monitored through quarterly reviews and annual reporting to the University Leadership Team and Governing Authority.This ensures accountability and alignment with the broader institutional strategy.

Together, these measures and activities will support our vision for UCC to be a university where people flourish, leadership inspires, and innovation drives a vibrant academic and professional community.