Thanks to everyone who sent through their comments following the launch edition of the staff magazine. Here are just a few of the good and not so good reactions you had to the magazine so far.

• "Thanks so much for today.  We thought we might be out of our collective comfort zones but you were all brilliant. We've now got ourselves an Equality and Diversity dressing up box.."

• "The concept is really well thought out and it strikes a nice balance between corporate stories and human interest."
  
  
• "I particularly enjoyed the 'musical suspects' feature, the photo of Duncan Folley with a budgie, and the lovely article about the lady that has worked here for 47 years."

• "Keep up the good work. I look forward to the next edition."
  
  
• "This magazine could be a perfect opportunity for staff (and students) to learn about the different developments, projects, initiatives, services, events and opportunities at different faculties and within different service teams at Leeds Met. Could we have something like that for students as well? Informing them what is being done for them at Leeds Met, what we do apart from teaching, how they can use those opportunities and about upcoming events etc."
  
   
• "An option on whether to receive the magazine in printed form or not would be good. I'd rather read an electronic version than have a paper version printed out and delivered to me."
  
  
• "Although a good idea, when the University is looking to save money one copy per employee is too much."
  
  
• "Although I felt this was a good production I am not sure when balancing it against the cost of production and postage. I can see why it was carried out this way as opposed to online where people may not read it. It had a nice spread of information rather than focusing on sport for a change and it was nice to hear about the new VC when we may not all get to meet her personally."
  
  
• "Ideally I would like to see it as a pdf sent to email boxes and hard copies sent internally only to those who request it."
  
  
• "I think the longer articles were too long - they could have been edited down to be shorter. More information on innovations useful to staff would be good, such as Aisling's article on the Wellness clinic."
  
  
• "I'd rather opt out of print and just view it online. Save cash and the environment."
  
  
• "Meet Susan Price was an interesting feature but there needed to be more variety of content from across the university it was too centred on a few people."
  
  
• "The magazine was excellent, it was informative whilst still being light entertainment. I hope to have some content for you to put in the next one."
  
  
• "Although the magazine was well written and stylishly produced I don't think it is a good use of money in the current climate to print and post it to all staff."
  

There was a lot of feedback on the expense of having the magazine posted to home addresses. The rationale behind this was to ensure all members of staff received a copy, to guarantee they were aware that it had been launched, and was a one-off occurrence.

There were also concerns about the expense of printing the magazine. It is our intention to reduce the print run by either having a subscription option or having it available to pick up at central points throughout the University. By offering additional content in the interactive online version of the magazine we hope that this will become the preferred channel of communication for staff, although we do believe there will always be a case for a limited print run.

In response to comments about the environmental impact of the printed magazine, all the coated papers used for University publications are sourced from European mills which all use sustainable forests. The paper is also Elemental Chlorine Free. Some of our uncoated papers use an amount of eucalyptus based paper which is fast growing (consequently sustainable in characteristics) and gives high bulk.

The cost of producing the magazine works out to around £4 per employee per year. We think you are worth this and believe this is an excellent vehicle for all 3,000 plus of us to get to know each other better.

If you would like to send in your own comment please use the form below.

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