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Robin Banerjee, Head of School (Psychology) wrote to all staff today (21 November). You can view the message below:

Dear colleague,

Thank you to those of you who took part in our most recent staff survey (3 – 21 October). During the survey period, we heard from well over 1,700 members of our community – an increase from last time – who shared how they felt about working at Sussex, expressing what was working well and what they loved the most, as well as the things they felt most needed to change. 

The nominated dashboard users in every School and Professional Services (PS) Division are now able to access their survey results, and these will be shared and discussed with you over the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the University Leadership Team (which includes all Heads of School and PS Division leads, as well as our new Vice-Chancellor, Sasha Roseneil, and all executive team members) is already working together to discuss what colleagues are telling us and how we can turn your feedback into concrete actions. 

I will share what comes out of that University-wide analysis and discussion soon, but for now, let me just stress how important your responses are in terms of giving us directions for action.  

There is clearly a lot of work still to do, as our overall score for 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) was 59%, which was one percentage point down from our last survey in the spring.  

On the other hand, there were clearly some positive changes in comparison with the staff survey last year, particularly around staff development: there was a 12% increase in positive responses on this topic. Responses to questions about bullying and harassment have also improved (with four percentage point increases in positive responses, in terms of not experiencing it and not witnessing these behaviours). However, any bullying and harassment is completely unacceptable, and sustaining this positive trend is essential.  

The improvements in some areas give us all more confidence that responding to staff surveys does make a difference and what you say really does translate into meaningful action. As you might remember, there was a question tapping into whether people felt that action would be taken in response to the survey, and while the results were still far lower than we would like, there was a 5% increase in staff feeling that action will be taken.   

More generally, having taken on the role of Chair of the Staff Survey Steering Group over the past year, I have also received a lot of feedback about the overall approach being taken to these surveys. We have now completed a full cycle of the twice-a-year approach. With Sasha now in post, the Steering Group is going to take the opportunity now to review thoroughly the current approach to understanding staff experience, and how we can make our work in this area more impactful and accessible in the future, while avoiding survey fatigue, of course! 

Let me end by mentioning what came out once again from staff as the best thing about working here. It was our colleagues and our teams - the people of Sussex. This seems to me to be hugely important and affirming. It is great to see that this is by far the dominant positive theme of staff responses.   

I will be in touch again when the more detailed survey results are released, and I will share the emerging plans for action at the institutional level. Meanwhile, I look forward to hearing about what comes out of the discussions about priorities within each School and PS Division, and I will always be glad to hear your feedback about any of the above. 

Best wishes,

Robin Banerjee
Head of School (Psychology) and Chair of the Staff Survey Steering Group

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