Health, well-being and equal opportunities

Well-being encompasses everyone’s overall quality of life, covering physical and mental health, social and subjective well-being, the cultivation of the university environment, and economic and material stability. Well-being includes equal opportunities and diversity at the VŠE as a modern and prestigious employer.

Many aspects of promoting well-being have already been addressed at the VŠE. This is evidenced, among others, by the detailed information on activities in this area provided in the VŠE Annual Report for 2023, the existence of the VŠE Academic Centre, which operates the Academic Psychological Counselling Centre, the Centre for Physical Education and Sport and, more recently, the creation of co-working spaces. VŠE promotes physical health through compulsory courses for students, out-of-semester courses, and by running a gym in one of its buildings.

VŠE has formulated an Equal Opportunities Plan 2023-2027, which covers the areas of non-discrimination, fair working environment and equal opportunities. In addition, the overall HR strategy has been presented, including the concepts of talent management, career paths, maternity and parental leave system and codification of work flexibility.

The issues of health, well-being and equal opportunities relate in particular to SDG 1 – No poverty, SDG 4 – Quality education, SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth, SDG 10 – Reduced inequalities, SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions.

Incorporate well-being into the values of VŠE

Measures
  • Improve information on well-being and social safety activities.
  • Thoroughly map the well-being situation through a questionnaire survey and subsequent regular monitoring of the academic community members’ satisfaction with the well-being area.
  • Create a centralised place where links to existing initiatives will be concentrated, and make the topic visible on the intranet so that users do not have to go through a series of steps to find it. The site will provide users with an easy way to comment on well-being activities and opportunities and to propose new activities where appropriate. See also the Governance and management chapter.
  • Support and expand the activities of the Academic Centre and the Centre for Physical Education and Sport. Support the development of the Academic Psychological Counselling Centre to meet all University Counselling Standards by 2026.
  • Support the development of the Centre for Students with Special Needs by expanding its physical and personnel facilities.
  • Strengthen the position of the Code of Ethics and the Ethics Committee of VŠE.
  • Fully integrate the whistleblower protection system into the school’s processes.
  • Continue to organise the Mental Health Day, piloted at VŠE in 2023, and adapt its format to the needs of students and staff.

Promote the physical and mental health of students and staff

Measures
  • Increase the range of courses in physical and mental well-being.
  • Ensure that training in this area is provided both in the morning and afternoon and that there is no overlap. Training sessions will be announced well in advance, and details of the training’s content will be published.
  • The topics of mental balance, work-life balance, and mental hygiene are part of the teaching and other activities that take place on campus.
  • Expand mentoring and coaching opportunities for students and staff.
  • Promote acquiring knowledge and skills in mental balance, work-life balance and mental hygiene in accredited study programmes.
  • Develop talent management with students and staff and focus more on their individual needs.
  • Continue to promote student and staff sports and create the conditions for dual careers of top athletes among students.
  • Integrate sport into the teaching of leadership skills.
  • Promote prevention of negative phenomena in the workplace and social safety through LMS Moodle courses and personal workshops.
  • Continue the development of internal communication at VŠE.
  • Strengthen the integration of gender issues into research and teaching content.
  • Fully implement the e-learning course “Academic Ethics”, an output of the CRP project “Prevention of Unethical Behaviour in Academia and Support for Competence in Victim Care”.
  • Continue social safety net projects.
  • Raise awareness of this issue through internal communication.
  • Collaborate with other universities in the Czech Republic on social safety issues.

Improve study and working conditions and cultivate the university environment

Measures
  • Cultivate public space on campus by completing infrastructure and venues for meetings and discussion.
  • Retrofit co-working spaces to offer a broader range of socialisation activities (board games, etc.).
  • Improve the quality of the indoor environment, e.g. by adding greenery.
  • Use funds from operational programmes to improve the physical infrastructure of VŠE (e.g. renovation of the Vencovský Auditorium, etc.).

Decent, fair and transparent remuneration, evaluation and recruitment, VŠE HR Award

Measures
  • Adopt the VŠE Human Resource Management Strategy and implement changes to fulfil the HR Award system by 2026.
  • Implement the Equal Opportunities Plan 2023-2027 and undertake another equal opportunities audit in 2027.
  • Develop and implement the VŠE Career Code, allowing for different career paths and increasing the emphasis on staff training and regular evaluation and feedback.
  • Modernise the personnel management system at VŠE and strengthen the emphasis on career management and support.
  • Make adjustments to the HR system to develop data analytics and manage flexible working arrangements.
  • Implement a system of working with staff on maternity and parental leave and actively support their return to work.
  • Complete translations of basic internal regulations and standards into English to eliminate comprehension problems for foreign language staff and students.

VŠE aims to summarise in a similar way the progress made in meeting the objectives of the Equal Opportunities Plan in its annual reports in future years.