Our staff survey helps us understand what matters to you and take action based on your feedback.
Sharing your views
By sharing your views in a confidential online survey, we can understand more about the experience of working at Sussex. The survey results help leaders and managers understand what you think we could be doing differently or better.
Data from staff surveys are also critical to inform the work to advance equality and inclusion and to ensure diversity at the University, helping to track progress against targets in our action plans.
Take part in our next staff survey
Our staff survey is held every two years and the next staff survey will be open from Monday 30 September to Sunday 20 October 2024. You'll receive an email from People Insight, our survey partner, with your survey link. The email will be from survey-invite@peopleinsight.co.uk. The survey will take you around 15 minutes to complete and you'll be able to access it easily on either your computer or mobile phone. Find out more about completing the survey or read our staff survey FAQs [PDF 155.45KB].
The survey is compliant with web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA. If you need further support to access the survey, contact People Insight at support@peopleinsight.co.uk who can provide alternative options.
Survey timeline
- 30 September to 20 October 2024 – survey is open
- Mid November 2024 - survey results presented to University leadership
- Late November 2024 - survey results available for Faculties, Schools and Divisions to share with staff
- December 2024 - full results reports published on staff survey webpages.
There will be a number of ways you can share your thoughts throughout the year in between surveys and further information will be available later in 2024. Take a look at other ways staff and students can have their say at Sussex.
Survey confidentiality
All survey responses are completely confidential. The survey operates on the ‘rule of 10’ meaning no departmental results for groups of fewer than 10 people are released. Results for any team of fewer than 10 people are ‘rolled up’ and included in a higher-level grouping to ensure that no assumptions can be made about individual responses. Find out more about survey confidentiality and data protection.
We ask for demographic data at the end of the survey not to identify participants but so that we can identify any wider patterns that may need addressing. We complete data protection checks on the process and on our survey provider to ensure that your data is held and managed in line with legislation.
Results and action plans
You can view the results of our previous surveys and find out about our ongoing action plans for the University and our Schools and Divisions following feedback from the last survey.
Case studies
Find out how Schools and Professional Service Divisions are using survey feedback to improve the staff experience at Sussex.
Support for managers and leaders
View our staff survey line managers' guide [PDF 118.67KB] and pre-survey workshop hosted by People Insight.
Why sharing your views is important
- Why are we doing this survey?
The survey is an important way for us to measure employee engagement at Sussex. Asking all staff directly about their working life at the University gives us a broad overview of the staff experience, offering an opportunity to hear feedback and take action. Some of the survey results tell us how we are performing against our People Strategy aims and other insights gathered contribute to shaping the future of the University.
- Why is employee engagement important?
Employee engagement is the connection staff feel with their jobs and their organisation. It reflects whether colleagues enjoy their role, feel secure, developed, respected and recognised. Engaged staff tend to feel a sense of achievement from their job, know where the organisation is headed and believe in its objectives. Positive employee engagement benefits the individual and it benefits the organisation too. Having engaged staff helps an organisation in terms of increased productivity, less absence, and lower employee turnover. At Sussex, we aim to support and engage staff, enabling everyone to work to the best of their ability and thrive. This, in turn, helps to create a better experience for students.
- Will what I say make a difference?
Sharing your honest feedback about your work will help drive real change, and your thoughts and views are unique – so we want to hear from everyone. The survey is a way to voice opinions openly and to help improve the staff experience at Sussex. You can read more about action plans underway as a result of survey responses to the last staff survey in October 2022 and case studies from Schools and Divisions about how they have used survey data to bring about positive change for staff.
- Who are People Insight and why are they involved?
People Insight are employee engagement specialists and we have partnered with them to conduct the survey, following a competitive tender process in spring 2024. We also worked with People Insight for previous staff surveys between 2021 and 2022. People Insight have extensive experience in running employee surveys with other organisations across the UK and internationally. They are also higher education sector specialists, working with many UK universities, which means they have robust, reliable external benchmarking data.