Email Communications

INITIAL EMAIL INVITATION (EMAIL 1)

Dear _____:

The NIH Office of Human Resources invites you to participate in the 2022 NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey. The purpose of this survey, built in a partnership between OHR, EDI, and UNITE, is to assess the workplace climate and identify prevalence of harassment and discrimination at NIH. The results of the survey will help inform strategies towards an inclusive, diverse, and harassment-free NIH workplace. Your responses are valuable regardless of whether you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination. We want to hear from everyone!

This survey will ask questions about your experiences in the NIH workplace over the past 12 months and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be given an anonymous code that will prevent them from being linked to your name, email address or other personal information. This means that any identifiable information will not be accessible by NIH or its staff. To support this survey, Westat, a research firm in Rockville, MD, has been contracted by NIH to distribute the survey, collect responses, and present aggregated survey responses back to NIH.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You can stop at any time, refuse to participate without penalty, or skip any questions that make you feel uncomfortable. For information on who to contact for support, please visit our Resources Page. 

Here is your unique link: Click here to access your survey

As all eligible staff will receive a unique link to this survey, please do not forward this email.

General questions or technical issues about the survey can be directed to [email protected].

The survey has been tested with various widely used assistive technologies and is compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. However, if you experience technical issues specific to an assistive technology while completing the survey, please contact [WESTAT CONTACT NAME & EMAIL]. 

Thank you for your participation!

If you have any questions about your rights and welfare as a survey participant, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631. Please leave a message with your first name, the name of this survey (NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey), and a phone number beginning with the area code. Someone will return your call as soon as possible.

REMINDER EMAIL (EMAILS 2 AND 3)

Dear _____:

The NIH Office of Human Resources reminds you to participate in the 2022 NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey. The purpose of this survey, built in a partnership between OHR, EDI, and UNITE, is to assess the workplace climate and identify prevalence of harassment and discrimination at NIH. The results of the survey will help inform strategies towards an inclusive, diverse, and harassment-free NIH workplace. Your responses are valuable regardless of whether you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination. We want to hear from everyone!

This survey will ask questions about your experiences in the NIH workplace over the past 12 months and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be given an anonymous code that will prevent them from being linked to your name, email address or other personal information. This means that any identifiable information will not be accessible by NIH or its staff. To support this survey, Westat, a research firm in Rockville, MD, has been contracted by NIH to distribute the survey, collect responses, and present aggregated survey responses back to NIH.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You can stop at any time, refuse to participate without penalty, or skip any questions that make you feel uncomfortable. For information on who to contact for support, please visit our Resources Page. 

Here is your unique link: Click here to access your survey

As all eligible staff will receive a unique link to this survey, please do not forward this email.

General questions or technical issues about the survey can be directed to [email protected].

The survey has been tested with various widely used assistive technologies and is compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. However, if you experience technical issues specific to an assistive technology while completing the survey, please contact [WESTAT CONTACT NAME & EMAIL]. 

Thank you for your participation!

If you have any questions about your rights and welfare as a survey participant, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631. Please leave a message with your first name, the name of this survey (NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey), and a phone number beginning with the area code. Someone will return your call as soon as possible.

FINAL EMAIL INVITATION (EMAIL 4)

Dear _____:

The NIH Office of Human Resources reminds you to participate in the 2022 NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey. The purpose of this survey, built in a partnership between OHR, EDI, and UNITE, is to assess the workplace climate and identify prevalence of harassment and discrimination at NIH. The results of the survey will help inform strategies towards an inclusive, diverse, and harassment-free NIH workplace. Your responses are valuable regardless of whether you’ve experienced harassment or discrimination. We want to hear from everyone!

This survey will ask questions about your experiences in the NIH workplace over the past 12 months and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be given an anonymous code that will prevent them from being linked to your name, email address or other personal information. This means that any identifiable information will not be accessible by NIH or its staff. To support this survey, Westat, a research firm in Rockville, MD, has been contracted by NIH to distribute the survey, collect responses, and present aggregated survey responses back to NIH.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You can stop at any time, refuse to participate without penalty, or skip any questions that make you feel uncomfortable. For information on who to contact for support, please visit our Resources Page. 

Here is your unique link: Click here to access your survey

As all eligible staff will receive a unique link to this survey, please do not forward this email.

General questions or technical issues about the survey can be directed to [email protected].

The survey has been tested with various widely used assistive technologies and is compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act. However, if you experience technical issues specific to an assistive technology while completing the survey, please contact [WESTAT CONTACT NAME & EMAIL]. 

Thank you for your participation!

If you have any questions about your rights and welfare as a survey participant, please call the Westat Human Subjects Protections office at 1-888-920-7631. Please leave a message with your first name, the name of this survey (NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey), and a phone number beginning with the area code. Someone will return your call as soon as possible.

NIH Workplace Civility and Equity Survey Resources Page

This survey asks questions about your personal experience with harassment and discrimination that some may find uncomfortable or unsettling. NIH provides its workforce, including trainees/fellows, with a full service, confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP), staffed by professionals with licensure and certification in workplace wellness and behavioral health. For more information about the EAP’s full range of services, please read the EAP brochure or visit their website at https://www.ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/HealthAndWellness/EAP. For the trainee/fellow community, the Office of Intramural Research and Education (OITE) also has several Wellness Counselors available to make one-on-one appointments. Trainees and fellows may contact [email protected] for an appointment.

It is important to remember that this survey is not a way to make a formal complaint of harassment or discrimination. If you would like to report your experience of harassment or related inappropriate conduct, please visit the Civil website at https://civilworkplace.nih.gov and click the red button that says, “Report a Concern”. There you can report a concern directly to Civil or receive information about reporting to other offices that are able to assist. Trainees/fellows who wish to make an anonymous report to Civil or who would like support through the Civil process can reach out to the OITE Director ([email protected]) for support and guidance.

If you have a question or feel that you are being discriminated against, please contact The NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at 301-496-6301, email [email protected], or submit a complaint through our online complaints system.

If you are not sure and would like to discuss your concerns with offices that operate under principles of confidentiality and are not required to take action, please contact the Office of the Ombudsman at 301-594-7231 or the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) at 301-496-3164.

If you have been asked to respond to allegations of harassment or inappropriate conduct in accordance with NIH Policy Manual Chapter 1311: Preventing and Addressing Harassment and Inappropriate Conduct and have questions about the process, please review the Toolkit for Respondents and Frequently Asked Questions to assist with navigating the process.