Our people are the heart of everything we do at UNSW. Every person has a role in our mission for positive societal impact and we value every person’s unique contribution to our shared vision.
The UNSW Values in Action guide how we interact, lead and collaborate. These are complemented by our Leadership Signatures and an emphasis on recognising excellence. A culture of integrity, trust and innovation is our foundation, ensuring how we achieve results is as important as the results themselves.
We will shape an environment where behaviours reflect our values and enable everyone to do their best work. We will celebrate our people and recognise the strength and success that come from our diversity. Through active recognition, empowerment and fostering inclusion, we will strengthen our community.
Our commitment to a positive, vibrant and supportive culture extends to improving systems and processes. We will simplify and embrace new ways of working. We will ensure safety – both physical and psychosocial – to create an environment where trust and empowerment enable all staff to flourish.
We aspire to:
- be Australia’s top, most sought-after university employer
- reflect and celebrate the diversity of Australia in our staff, fostering an inclusive workforce that values and supports people of all backgrounds, identities and abilities, recognising this as a critical strength for UNSW, with increased employment and retention of staff across all diversity groups
- improve staff engagement in meaningful ways, particularly in terms of creating an environment and systems of trust and empowerment, demonstrating and living our values, enabling staff to focus on the work which matters most.Â
Objectives
1. Enable our people to realise their full potential in a safe environment and recognise excellence, by:
- rewarding contributions to our success
- providing high-quality, relevant learning and development opportunities
- actively supporting staff mental and physical wellbeing and safety
- fostering collaboration across all areas of the University.
2. Develop a culture that exemplifies the UNSW Values in Action, by:
- continuing to embed the UNSW Values in Action in everything we do, recognising how we do things is as important as what we do
- ensuring a dynamic environment that brings our Employee Value Proposition to life
- enhancing equity by recognising, leveraging and investing in our diverse strengths
- supporting a workplace that fosters inclusion and belonging for all people.
3. Build the future of UNSW by having the right people doing the right work at the right time, by:
- investing in strategic workforce planning to alleviate pressures around recruitment and workload management, while also considering and designing for future workforce needs
- creating strategies to attract great people, to retain them, and to continue to build and broaden the capability of our people.
4. Facilitate an environment of trust and empowerment by simplifying our ways of working and by giving time back to focus on what matters, by:
- simplifying processes and reducing unnecessary complexity, streamlining the way we work, normalising prioritisation and creating time for work that matters
- using AI and emerging technologies to enhance our systems and processes, simplifying how we work and engage with our community.
Flagship initiatives
Developing our people for an assured future
Recognising people are UNSW’s greatest asset, we will deliver a comprehensive UNSW Workforce Strategy to ascertain and grow our future talent needs and support our people to do their best work by investing in training and development. The Strategy will incorporate our new Leadership Signatures, focusing on developing people as leaders across the University and catalysing our Values in Action.Â
Supporting Indigenous staff to thrive
UNSW is committed to creating an environment where our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff can thrive. We will continue to invest in our Indigenous workforce, building a community of excellence that celebrates their diversity, knowledge and culture, and realises UNSW’s powerful vision for the future.Â
Cultivating a safe, engaged and inclusive culture
To nurture an engaged workforce and strong culture, we will create a workplace where people feel empowered to speak up, collaborate and innovate; where psychosocial and physical safety are prioritised; where diverse ideas are welcomed; where people are supported to challenge the status quo; where we remove barriers to access and participation; and where they are recognised and rewarded for their contributions.Â
Get in touch
Our Strategy was designed by our UNSW community, for our UNSW community so we want everyone to get involved. Please get in touch to discuss the Strategy or ask any questions.