In July 2022 the Human Resources (HR) Division held an away day focusing on action planning around feedback shared in the staff survey. Together the division came up with a shortlist of ideas and voted on two key projects to work on.
The first project focused on HR team morale, cohesion and building a sense of community as we emerged from working through the Covid-19 pandemic. The second aimed to improve the sense of belonging for staff across the University by enhancing induction and onboarding for new joiners.
Building a community with HR United
We wanted to create a united, cohesive HR function in which everyone could grow and thrive. With that in mind, we developed the HR United group. With 12 members from across HR, representing each of the teams, the group has six goals: to improve visibility across HR teams; to build trust between teams; to understand each other’s roles and responsibilities; to improve recognition; to create meaningful moments to connect in a fun way; and to understand our united purpose by better understanding the University we serve.
Some of the ways these goals have been achieved include:
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an HR organogram, including photos to help recognise each other in the office
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improvements to MS Teams profiles, including pictures and status updates
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social events (boundary walks, bake offs, team-building events and picnics)
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fortnightly staff briefings to share team updates, including guest speakers
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cake mornings (affectionately known as ‘Cakes with Colin’ – Colin Shipp is our Director of HR)
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Half Time HeRo awards, recognising staff every month for their achievements, nominated by colleagues and reflecting Sussex values.
The HR United group has done an amazing job in bringing teams together, improving collaboration and helping us all better understand our role at the University.
Welcome pack launched to support belonging at Sussex
The staff survey results told us that colleagues felt that more could be done to foster a sense of belonging at the University. From an HR point of view, we were aware of the impact poor induction and onboarding can have, knowing that starting a new job is demanding and can often be a stressful experience. Apart from the obvious challenge of tackling new tasks, there’s also the need to get used to a new organisation, new environment and new colleagues. We felt that an improved induction and onboarding experience could alleviate some of this stress and help new joiners to settle into their new role quickly in a positive and supportive environment, supporting our aim for Sussex to be an employer of choice.
To achieve this, we developed a new Welcome to Sussex pack and guidance to support staff and line managers to help deliver an effective induction and onboarding experience. This new University-wide pack can be used alongside local School or Division induction to offer a full experience for all new staff. The Welcome to Sussex pack is also available on MyView and the Organisational Development webpage.
Many staff in the HR Division and across the University worked together on this project, which took just over a year to complete, and we would like to thank them all for their time, energy, ideas and commitment to ensuring this project came to fruition.
For further information about these projects, please contact Cathy McDonnell at: c.mcdonnell@sussex.ac.uk
Jodie Trumper, Deputy Director of Human Resources
Cathy McDonnell, Assistant Director Culture, Organisational Development and Wellbeing
About our staff survey updates
Two case studies will be published each month, highlighting how a School and a Professional Services Division are using feedback from our staff survey to improve the staff experience. Read the recent case study from the School of Media, Arts and Humanities and look out for further updates next month.