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The University held the first pulse staff survey of the year during April and May, asking staff to share their thoughts on life at Sussex, what’s going well and what could be done differently.

The overall score of staff ‘engagement’ (feelings of pride about working at Sussex, recommendation of Sussex as a place to work, and a desire to stay at Sussex over the next two years) is 60% in our latest survey, 1 percentage point lower than our September 2021 result. However, we have seen an improvement in number of people feeling they are treated with dignity and respect, and increased confidence in our support for staff wellbeing.

The survey results show inconsistency in staff experience across the University, and Heads of Schools and PS Division directors will now drill down further to explore pockets of dissatisfaction within particular staff groups. The percentage of respondents experiencing bullying and harassment continues to decrease, but we will investigate these issues further in line with our zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination. The experience of being bullied can have a profound impact on an individual’s overall health and wellbeing and we have committed to undertake a deeper dive on bullying and harassment. We are also reviewing all open text comments carefully to understand if there are any trends that we should be aware of that require action.

Issuing the survey every six months, with a small set of core questions each time, enables us to keep a finger on the pulse of how staff are feeling and respond quickly to issues that may arise. In each survey, we include further questions on specific areas where we want to improve. Belonging, equality and inclusion were the focus for the spring survey, and this autumn we will include questions on staff development, workload management, and leadership. Results from our six-month pulse surveys also help us to sense check our ongoing action plans, which include a range of short, medium and long-term activities. We can monitor progress and identify where more focus is needed or where additional areas need to be worked on.

Vice-Chancellor David Maguire said: “Thank you to everyone who completed the survey. Your honest feedback will drive the actions we are taking to change things for the better.

“We have faced a number of challenges over the past year and continue to see change across the institution as we reshape how we work to deliver our Sussex 2025 vision.

“The survey results show that there is work to do to ensure our community feels the sense of belonging and inclusion we want to foster at the University. There are clearly a number of issues that you want us to focus on. However, I am hopeful that we have taken steps forward in many areas, particularly with the joint agreement with UCU now in place and a commitment to support colleagues further with a salary uplift during the cost of living crisis. We will also share our updated People and EDI strategies shortly which address aspects of inequality across the institution.

“I will be working with ULT to make sure we involve colleagues in conversations about ongoing and additional actions we plan to take.”

The main overall findings are:

• Completion rates: 39% of staff invited completed the survey, against a previous figure of 36% in September 2021. This figure rises to 45% if we separate out those people on our ‘casual payroll’ i.e., those people who work for us from time to time such as summer school tutors. This completion rate is lower than the sector norm of 50%, based on surveys run by People Insight pre and post pandemic.
  
  
• Overall Engagement Score: This overall score (comprising pride in working for the University, commitment to staying here, and recommendation of the University as a great place to work) was 60%, 1% down on the previous survey, and below the sector norm of 69%. Breaking this down further, feeling proud to work for the university had dropped by three percentage points to 68% and the desire to still be working at the university in two years’ time had also dropped by four percentage points to 59%. On the other hand, advocacy in terms of recommending the University as a great place to work had increased by three percentage points to 55%. 
  
  
• Improvements: There were a number of areas which showed improvement since the last survey. 74% of respondents feel treated with dignity and respect, which is an increase of 6 percentage points from September. More people are also confident in having their say, with a 5 percentage point increase in the number who think it is safe to speak up and challenge the way things are done at the University.
  
  
• Bullying and harassment were identified as a key area of concern from the biennial staff surveys that had been used prior to the current system of pulse surveys.  The number of respondents reporting personal experience of bullying and harassment was 19% in the 2016 survey and 17% in the 2018 survey. The pulse surveys during this academic year have shown further decreases, to 15% in the September 2021 survey, and to 12% in the latest April 2022 survey.  In addition, of those people experiencing bullying or harassment, the latest results show a 5 percentage point increase in the proportion of those who feel it has stopped, compared to the results from September 2021.
  
  
• There is improved confidence in support for wellbeing. 55% of respondents felt their mental health and wellbeing was supported in their School or Division, an increase of 6 percentage points from September 2021.
  
  
• 63% of respondents believe that the University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, an increase of 4 percentage points from the previous survey.
  
  
• Key opportunities to improve engagement levels: People Insight highlighted some small drops in the percentage of those who felt that they fit in well (down by 4%), and those who believed they were valued for what they do at the university (down by 1%). These were key correlates of the overall engagement score, and could represent key focus areas for future work on culture and inclusion at Sussex.

View the headline findings from the April 2022 survey (login required)

PVC for Culture, Equality and Inclusion, David Ruebain, said: “We want all our staff to feel a sense of belonging as part of an inclusive Sussex, and the survey results clearly indicate some issues which need to be addressed to achieve this, particularly for our academic community. However, I am pleased that we have seen an increase in staff who feel we are committed to EDI. We will seek to continue to build on this progress and I would ask you to please take part in future surveys to share your feedback on life at Sussex. This will make a real difference in enabling us to understand and take positive steps towards our goals.”

Head of School for Psychology and academic lead for the staff survey, Professor Robin Banerjee, said: “Over 1,600 members of our community took the time to complete the staff survey, and that is hugely appreciated. Although there were some important areas of improvement since the last time point, it is clear that there is a great deal more for us to do to create the kind of working environment at Sussex that we all want. The survey results are a key mechanism that enables all staff members to feed their views into the plans, policies, and everyday interactions that shape our experience of working at Sussex, and we would encourage even more people to contribute to this process so that their voices are heard.“

What’s next:

Schools and Divisions are reviewing their results and taking forward actions based on the results over the coming weeks and months.

Later in July, results for Schools and Divisions, and updated existing action plans will be published on the staff survey webpages.

Progress against our survey action plans is monitored regularly by the People, Culture, and Inclusion Committee, the University’s Executive Group, Strategic Performance and Resources Committee and Council.