Broadcast: News items

PS Essentials - February 2024

Posted on behalf of: Internal Communications

Last updated: Thursday, 8 February 2024

PS Essentials highlights the key priorities for Professional Services colleagues and recent news which you and your teams may find useful. Please take five minutes to read the full PS Essentials below.

If there is information you would like included in a future edition of PS Essentials, please email the Internal Comms team at: internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk.

Quick links

About you

Can you help make our Applicant Visit Days a success?

Applicant Visit Days are taking place this coming Saturday, 10 February, and they continue on Saturday 2 March (also with an in-person Postgraduate Open Day), Saturday 13 April and Saturday 27 April. We know that visit days can have a positive impact on applicant conversion rates, and this is important in the context of the challenges we are facing around student recruitment.

With that in mind, we are calling on all staff to play their role in making sure applicants have a great first impression of Sussex. There has been a huge effort from multiple teams across the University to make these events as successful as possible, including new presentations and video content developed at speed, to appeal to both the student and parent audience, as well as a focused effort to clean up campus. Please be vigilant in the run-up to these days and if you see anything you think could detract from giving an applicant a brilliant experience on our campus, please do raise it. It could make all the difference!

Change to how to book development workshops

From the end of February 2024, staff development workshops run by Organisational Development will be bookable through our central learning management system, LearnUpon, rather than Eventbrite. This will mean that your staff development record will show your e-learning and your live learning all in one place. It will make it easier to book on to workshops, and to cancel your place if you need to. The booking process is very simple; read how to do it or watch our short video tutorial on booking onto a workshop in LearnUpon.

New features in MyView and reminder to complete your equalities data

Following staff feedback, changes have been made to how information is displayed in MyView. Full-time staff with a regular working pattern can now view their holiday in days as well as hours, giving a clearer view of the remaining annual leave available to book. The change is part of an ongoing commitment to improve staff experience, and we will also be reviewing this for part-time staff as part of the roadmap for future development within the Digital HR programme (see below). The colour of the MyView dashboard has been changed to match the University branding colours, providing a more consistent experience for staff.

As a reminder, please check that your equalities data is up to date in MyView. Collecting equalities data helps us to monitor diversity at Sussex, providing evidence to inform and support improvements to policies, practices and initiatives. In MyView, simply select the ‘My Personal Details’ tab and then ‘My Equality Data’ to fill in the details required.

About Professional Services

Promoting the National Student Survey

Our promotion of the annual National Student Survey (NSS) began on Monday 29 January and will run until 30 April. The NSS is an important way for final-year undergraduates to tell the world about their time at Sussex.

Professional Services and academic staff across the University are involved in promoting the completion of the NSS to eligible students. You can find a briefing document and folder of shared resources on Box to support activity in your area. Please contact internalcomms@sussex.ac.uk if you have any issues accessing these. Thank you for your collaboration on this high-priority campaign.

Digital HR programme to bring consistency of experience

Colin Shipp, Director of HR, recently launched our Digital HR programme, which will automate processes to ensure that staff have a consistent experience. This supports one of the focus areas of the People Strategy – ‘Getting the Basics Right’. Representing an investment in our people, this significant project is part of the University’s wider Capital Programme (see below) which includes several work areas which will transform our University.

Latest developments shared in the Transforming Sussex newsletter

The Capital Programme is our targeted investment focusing on transforming Sussex over the next few years. Discover the latest developments in our monthly newsletter, where we highlight key updates from the projects that are improving and changing our University. Covering the four portfolio areas: Better Campus, Better Education, Better Working, and Better Research, this month’s issue focuses on the launch of the new Digital HR programme, a new cyber security campaign, demolition updates and the installation of art on campus.

Stay informed and connected with the transformative initiatives shaping our University and sign up to Transforming Sussex.

Hearing your views on our Sussex 2035 strategy

Thank you to all of those who have joined the discussions on the future of the University as we develop our strategy for the next 10 years. We have now concluded our series of events centred on Sussex 2035's core themes: research and enterprise, education and student life, and global and civic engagement. You can read a blog by each of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors who led these sessions, Robin Banerjee, Kate O'Riordan and Keith Jones, on our strategy webpages - you'll need to log in to view these.

Online workshops for staff on the drivers for change topics are taking place this week, with the second of two sessions coming up later today (Thursday 8 February) from 2pm-4pm. Find out more about how to take part.

Safeguarding guidance available

You can now view staff guidance on the practical application of the University’s Safeguarding Policy on the Safeguarding webpages. It is important that staff are aware of the support available and we ask that you share this staff news update about Safeguarding with colleagues in your Schools and PS Divisions. Feedback and comments on the guidance are welcome – please contact Louise Spenceley via Teams or email: l.spenceley@sussex.ac.uk. Your input will help us make sure that the guidance is an accurate reflection of practices and processes across all areas of the University.

Meet the Sussex Researcher School

The Doctoral School is becoming the Sussex Researcher School (SRS). The rebrand arose from internal consultation during the development of our Enabling Plan, which aims to enhance provision and support for emerging researchers at Sussex. The new, more inclusive name more accurately reflects the three key communities of emerging researchers it supports: undergraduate Junior Research Associates (JRAs), postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and early career researchers (ECRs).

The webpages are being updated to reflect the change and this is expected to be finished by summer 2024. Most changes internal to SRS are complete, and we will keep you updated during the next phase of the project which will focus on usage across the University. The SRS team has expanded considerably in the last year and you can find out more about the team and what they do on the SRS blog.

A reminder

Annual Leave Purchase Scheme window closes on 28 February

The current window to buy additional annual leave will close on 28 February 2024. Up to five days additional leave (pro rata for part-time staff) can be purchased during this window. Application forms need to be signed off by your manager first, so please consider this in order to submit your application by the deadline. Visit the Annual Leave Purchase Scheme webpage to find the application form and view the frequently asked questions, guidance notes and policy.