Lee Lakin, communications officer at University of Warwick, shares how an internal newsletter managed to increase staff engagement, and uncover diverse and extraordinary stories.

It’s a question that we’ve all been asked as internal communicators, how can we create better engagement with our staff newsletter? It’s one we’ve certainly been asked at the University of Warwick, but we had the added challenge to celebrate our unique and diverse staff community during our 60^th anniversary year.

Staff focus groups told us they wanted to hear from people across the University. From those leading the way in education, research and innovation, to students and the teams behind the scenes. They wanted to know the stories and backgrounds of the people that keep Warwick running smoothly or make the University come alive with their energy, passion and commitment.

We asked staff to submit ideas on how to celebrate our 60^th year. Three people had the same idea, tell the stories of our people as powerfully as Humans of New York.

Taking inspiration from the Humans of New York project, where stories featuring strong photography tell personal tales, we adapted the concept to tell the stories of our people. Identifying an initial group of staff to photograph and interview, we booked a photographer and off we went. Managing to fit in around seven people per day, interviewing them and taking informal relaxed black and white pictures.  Each story is published as part of an online web gallery then launched weekly to our staff through the   e-newsletter.

As soon as the first stories hit inboxes, we were contacted by people wanting to get involved or providing nominations for colleagues to share their story. The response to the campaign was overwhelming and soon, with help from staff, 60 people were identified who would make up Humans of Warwick for our 60^th year. We still have a waiting list of people willing to share their stories and could have far exceeded our required list of 60 people, enough for a Humans of Warwick two.

As you’d expect with such a large, diverse and multicultural campus we’ve uncovered some amazing stories. We’ve interviewed people who have travelled far and wide and made Warwick their home. People that came here to study and have never left, working at Warwick and making a difference across the globe. We’ve met people who have found their partners here, have interesting hobbies or have achieved success outside of university life. As we all know, everyone has a story to tell even if they think they don’t!

We’ve discovered some brilliant things about our staff. We didn’t know that we had the youngest graduate of medicine in Nigeria teaching in our medical school or that one of our Estates team had a passion for wildlife photography with his pictures shared on Countryfile. A lot of our staff didn’t even know that we have a university glassblower, but they do now.

Some of the stories have been incredibly powerful. We have a colleague whose son was stolen by cancer aged 7, who now devotes his spare time raising funds for vital research. Or the now professor who was wrongly told at school that Warwick wasn’t the place for the likes of them, when now it is!

The project has exceeded all expectations, increasing engagement with our staff who have been commenting on the weekly stories. We’ve had over 12,000 clicks from our newsletter onto the virtual gallery. It’s also encouraged staff to make connections with one another and inspired others to share their stories. Humans of Warwick has been by far and away the one project we’ve done in the last three years that’s attracted the most comments and interaction from staff.

We’ve also used the Humans project to promote other key messages across the University, creating links with mental health awareness, diversity days and wellbeing. We’ve also shared stories from staff who have made the journey to learn and teach at Warwick from China or other key student recruitment areas. Hoping that their stories will influence more to take the step.

Humans of Warwick is not a new idea, but you can make it your own. It’s a great example of best practice for other communication teams looking to celebrate their staff or increase engagement. It's relatively low cost, and an informal way to celebrate your community and build connections amongst your teams. And as we met people all across our campus, it was a great way to get your steps in as well!