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Thank you to all of you who shared your thoughts in our autumn pulse survey which closed last Friday, 21 October. Each and every response helps us understand how colleagues are feeling about working at Sussex, and by sharing your views you help us continue to make positive change.

The University pledged to contribute an additional £2 to the Sussex Fund for every completed survey. In total, 1,742 staff members took part this time round, which means the Sussex Fund will receive an extra boost of £3,484 from the University. The fund, which is financed through donations, supports the student experience in areas of greatest need, from hardship bursaries and scholarships to initiatives that improve the employability skills of our students. Thank you again for taking part.

Overall, 48% of our target audience (academic and Professional Services staff, not including those on our casual payroll) completed the confidential survey, which is a higher response rate than the previous surveys in May 2022 and September 2021. If we include those staff on our casual payroll, this figure is 42%, again slightly higher than the return rate in previous surveys. We hope that even more colleagues will take part in future, because the higher the response rate, the more accurately views from across the whole University are reflected in the results.

What’s next?
Our survey provider, People Insight, is currently collating the data and the headline results will be available to share with staff in November. Detailed survey results will be shared with the University Leadership Team, and then Schools and PS Divisions. Once we have reviewed and understood the findings, we will turn our attention to prioritising actions based on what we have heard.

The results will be available on the following timeline:

Week commencing 14 November

• Institutional-level results will be shared with the University Leadership Team (which consists of the University Executive Group, Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellors, Heads of School and Divisional Directors).
• The headline findings from the survey will be shared with all staff.
• Training sessions will be held for survey ‘Dashboard Users’ in each School and PS Division.

Weeks commencing 21 and 28 November

• Institutional-level results will be shared with all staff.
• Local results will start to be shared in Schools and PS Divisions, and conversations will take place about possible updates to existing action plans both at institutional and local level.

Peter Mitchell, Interim Director of Human Resources, said: “I am very grateful to everyone who took part in our autumn pulse survey. I know that it is a very busy time of year for our whole community but it is vital that we continue to listen to how staff are feeling about working life at Sussex so that we can improve. Thank you for sharing your views and helping improve how we work together."

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