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Our staff pulse survey helps leadership and teams around the University understand more about how colleagues really feel about working at Sussex. It’s a confidential way for staff to share their thoughts and feelings about what’s going well and what we may need to work on together to change. That’s why it’s so important for the University, together with third-party survey provider People Insight, to ensure your responses and personal data stay confidential. Find out more about how it works:

Where does the information I share in the staff survey go?
People Insight, our external partners, deliver the survey and collect the survey response data. People Insight are employee engagement specialists and we chose them for their extensive experience in running employee surveys with other organisations, including higher education institutions, across the UK and internationally.

By working with an external provider, we are able to assure colleagues that all survey answers go directly to People Insight, and the University has no access to individual responses. People Insight then provides the University with overall results data (rather than individual responses) which gives insights on feedback and trends by area.

Who can see the results data?
People Insight collect, report, and analyse the responses, and provide the University with results data and reports for our institution as well as Schools and Divisions based on the overall feedback. These reports are shared with leaders and all staff to help us better understand where we need to take action.

Additionally, the results data is also available on an online dashboard for a small number of dashboard users in each School and Division. Dashboard users have access to further results data for their specific School or Division only, and this supports local action planning. The responses remain confidential, as our staff survey operates on the ‘rule of 10’ meaning there cannot be any breakdown of results attributed to any group of fewer than 10 people.

You can take a look at some example views of the survey dashboard which give an insight into the results data that dashboard users can see.

How is the survey results data displayed?  
Individual responses are confidential but overall results data is made available for teams where there are 10 or more respondents. If there are fewer than 10 respondents, that specific team's survey results will not be reported on in isolation, to protect individual identities. Rather, it is ‘rolled up’ into a higher-level grouping. Each and every response will be included in reports at a team level or higher, so your voice will still be heard.

How can the survey be confidential when the survey asks for personal information such as gender, religion or caring responsibilities, etc.?
We ask for demographic data at the end of the survey not to identify respondents but so that we can understand any broader patterns that may need addressing. The demographic data not only allows the University hear the challenges and difficulties that specific groups may face, it also helps drive our equalities work and inform policy changes where needed. This is why it is vital that we hear about the experiences of everyone in our community.

What about confidentiality of the free text comments?
Comments are included in the survey results data exactly as the user has submitted them, although comments are redacted by People Insight where information is shared that could identify the respondent or others, such as names and pronouns. The list of comments can be broken down by different groups of respondents e.g., different categories of staff, but please note that this kind of breakdown will only be available for groups that have 10 or more responses.

What privacy and GDPR policies are in place to keep my data safe?
The security of your information is important, and the University has completed a data protection check on the process and on People Insight to ensure that your data is held and managed in line with legislation.

You can find out more about the survey, including results and ongoing actions, on our staff survey webpages. If you have any questions about accessing the survey, contact People Insight at: support@peopleinsight.co.uk. 

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