HR SERVICES ANNUAL PLAN 2009 - 2010
DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING A CULTURE OF STAFF
ENGAGEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT
Where high quality professional standards and levels of
service to students and staff are the norm and the
achievements of all colleagues are recognised and celebrated.
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HR Services 2009-10 Annual Plan
Executive Summary
Background and Context
Our Annual Plan 2009 - 2010 aims to ensure UEL’s strategic priorities are fully integrated in all
areas of our staff activities. In particular we intend to nurture a staff culture that encourages the full
engagement of all staff and recognises, encourages and celebrates achievement, hence our HR
Strategy’s key theme being ‘Staff Engagement and Achievement ’. Our Plan is interlinked with
UEL’s HR Strategy for 2008 -10, agreed by CMT in mid-2007.
We have been awarded whole-institution Investors in People recognition in 2005 and subsequently
re-recognised in 2008. We also Acheived Chartermark for excellence in customer service in 2006,
one of only three universities in the country to hold the award for all of its provision.
The most significant factors which have underpinned our success have been the competence, hard
work and dedication of UEL’s staff and their commitment to UEL’s vision and values. Staff are our
key asset and amount to over half our expenditure. Our HR Strategy also incorporates the
outcomes of the recent HEFCE Self- Assessment Tool (SAT) exercise. This is important, as wide
staff consultation was an integral part of it. Therefore, we have reliable evidence that many of the
initiatives contained in our Action Plan
are endorsed by a good representative sample of our staff community.
Our Annual Plan and HR Strategy are dynamic documents and are updated according to our
progress and changing circumstances. We are therefore mindful that we will need to include
outcomes from UEL’s forthcoming Research Strategy and CMT’s recent residential conference in a
future version.
We are very pleased that the modernisation of HR practices continues at a pace with the
introduction of our e - recruitment system and the launch of People Manager and Self Serve Trent
modules in the spring of 2009.
Although it is anticipated that our e - recruitment system will release valuable administrative time,
savings made will be re invested in implementing the government's recent transfer of responsibility
to employers for checking compliance with statutory regulations regarding the employment of nonEC nationals, via the Points-Based system which replaced work permits. We will need to work with
schools and services to ensure UEL complies with that, and with our recent policy on payments to
individuals. We will also need to implement new legal requirements regarding CRB checks which
come on stream in 2009.
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HR SERVICES ANNUAL PLAN FOR 2009 - 10
2009 - 2010 Supporting UEL’s Strategic Aims
Our Annual Plan ‘Developing and sustaining a culture of staff engagement and achievement’ is
designed to achieve the following:
1. With tuition fee charges in place since 2006/07, students will rightly expect their learning
experience to be of the highest quality. Our corporate clients will also expect first rate
standards of service. UEL will provide access to appropriate training and development
opportunities to staff at all levels, ensuring that they are equipped with the range of skills and
experience needed to satisfy our most demanding customers.
2. Our HR policies and initiatives will support a culture in which the value of diversity is fully
recognised and embraced and where all members of our community act respectfully towards
each other.
3. We will take measures to ensure greater flexibility in working patterns, so that we can
develop a 24/7 culture and expand on our postgraduate, international, distance-learning and
part-time provision. We recognise that our teaching provision is mainly during a traditional ‘9
to 5’ Monday to Friday semester-based schedule and is not fully engaging with evening,
weekend and summer school demands from potential students. Equally our current
international and part-time students need a wide range of our services during those times, so
that they feel part of a vibrant, friendly and supportive community.
4. To further support a flexible teaching provision and enhance the student experience, we will
ensure that relevant staff are competent in the use of blended learning, social learning
technologies and can provide effective personal tutoring.
5. We will seek to ensure that all academic and relevant support staff are engaged in research
and scholarly activity and knowledge exchange.
6. UEL has performance management at the heart of its strategy. Line managers will be
recruited and further developed to take ownership of staffing and performance issues, with
HR Services providing a professional advisory service designed to support the achievement
of UEL priorities. This approach will follow the key principles of the HR ‘Business Partnering’
model which encourages greater involvement of HR Managers in core School / Service
activities, including annual planning and staff engagement initiatives, particularly with
management teams. We will work with CMT members to ensure that all managers will
implement our HR policies fully, particularly in the areas of staff recruitment and selection,
induction, probation and performance management, as there are variable standards in
schools and services.
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Priority 1: Staff Recruitment
Issues
Vacancy fill rate
Launch of e-recruitment system
Analysis of recruitment data
Using HERA competencies framework for recruitment and selection, induction and probation
Greater use of recruitment testing
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
Where are we now?: Overall we have successfully recruited academic and support staff to
vacancies during the period 2006 – 08. We believe this is due in part to our growing reputation as a
dynamic institution and in part due to our competitive pay. Nonetheless we have struggled to
recruit staff to a small number of particular senior roles across our university (see below).
Where do we want to be by 2010: To improve on this position, whilst recognising that we are
operating in an increasingly competitive environment.
Our experience has been that we have struggled to fill a small number of professional roles in UEL
in the past two years, despite re-advertising them:
AVA – Dean (still vacant)
CITE – Lec/SL in Computing
Education – SL Primary Teacher training
Graduate School – Manager, Research Training Officer
UEL Connect – Distance Learning Manager, Learning Designer
Library & Learning Services – Collections Development Manager
Otherwise, UEL has not experienced problems in recruiting to vacancies in the last two years and
feedback from all CMT members at the recent CMT residential conference indicates that high
quality appointments have been made in all areas and only half a dozen staff have either failed their
probation periods (or resigned before they would probably have been dismissed).
We intend improving on our 2008 performance of filling 79% of academic and management staff
vacancies with similar high calibre appointments on first advertisement to 82% and from the current
91% of support staff to 92% vacancies on the first advertisement. This will be achieved by high
quality marketing and advertising vacancies both in suitable media and with specialist employment
agencies. It is anticipated that our corporate brand will be significantly improved by the
implementation of our new e-recruitment system which went ‘live’ in February 2009 and we will
work to develop our brand further in conjunction with our advertising agency. We may also apply
market supplements to a small number of roles via our Market Pay Policy and provide relocation
expenses, where appropriate. We will also analyse responses to job advertisements, staff turnover
and exit interview data to identify other areas/disciplines where market supplements are needed.
We will continue to implement the HEFCE ‘Golden Hello’ scheme, to assist the recruitment of high
quality teaching staff new to our sector in ‘hard to recruit’ disciplines.
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Our new e-recruitment system will address a concern - raised by staff focus groups as part of our
SAT consultation process - that it took rather a long time for job applications to be received and
processed in HR Services before being sent on to managers for short listing. The e-recruitment
system will eliminate the need for HR Services to input the applicant’s information onto the HR
database; instead managers will have on-line access to applications as soon as the applicant posts
them to the website. There will be no need for managers to print off all the applications, thereby
saving significant amounts of paper. The applicants will also benefit from receiving e-mail
confirmations that their application has been successfully received. The e-recruitment software will
be integrated with our HERA competencies framework.
Further analysis needs to be carried out on recruitment data to ascertain why certain Schools /
Services have difficulty recruiting and any remedial action taken. We will continue to use our Trent
HR database and Business Objects to analyse our staff by ethnicity, gender, disability, age,
sickness absence, length of service, turnover, and to analyse responses to job advertisements from
different media in order to identify the most effective media in terms of cost and to ensure we attract
candidates from a broad range of groups. CMT receives regular reports on these trends. We will
provide managers with such reports on a regular basis as part of the roll-out of Trent.
Having used the HERA scheme for job evaluation purposes, we will pilot the extension of the HERA
competencies framework to staff recruitment and selection (via re-formatted job descriptions and
person specifications assisting in shaping interview questions), induction and probation. If the pilot
is successful, we will extend it to SDRs, staff development and organisational change.
We have recently devised and implemented basic MS Office IT skills and grammar tests for job
applicants. We will encourage schools and services to use this process on a more systematic basis
during 2009 – 2010. For more senior administrative roles we will be encouraging schools and
services to test candidates’ skills in drafting correspondence with correct grammar.
The East London area will be heavily influenced by the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the
development of Stratford East, the Thames Gateway and Crossrail. These may affect our
recruitment and retention policies as some staff, particularly in maintenance, catering and security,
may be lured away from working at UEL. There will be considerable research carried out in our
university concerning these developments and their impact on the local area, e.g. on recruitment
patterns etc. Therefore this would be a useful avenue to pursue in order to accurately assess the
threats and opportunities posed by the Games. We are also uncertain as to the current impact of
the global financial crisis on recruiting and retaining staff.
Priority 2: Staff Retention – Succession Planning
Issues
HERA Job Evaluation
Staff turnover equals HE Sector average
Need for a younger academic staff community, grow your own practices
In depth analysis of exit interview data and rejections of job offers
Use of Succession Planning Template
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
In 2008, we had an overall staff turnover figure of 9%, with 7% for academic staff and 10% for
operational support staff. This was identical to 12 months previously. These are not unduly high
figures by London university standards and are almost identical to the HE sector average, in all
categories.
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Our relatively low turnover enables us to reap the benefits of a stable and experienced workforce.
But overall turnover is sufficient to recruit a more diverse senior workforce, thus enabling us to
increase the representation of women and BME men and women in senior academic and
management roles.
We also need to recruit many more younger academic staff . As at 1.1.09, 70.5% (1.1.08 = 73% )
of academic staff are aged 40 or above and 36% (1.1.08 = 39%) aged 50 and above, with only
14% (1.1.08 =12%) aged under 35. Although we have achieved a slightly improved age profile
over the last 12 months, we still must continue to recruit plenty of ‘new blood’ by external
recruitment. Recruiting new academic staff with PhDs and good records of research and
scholarly/knowledge transfer activities also helps address one of our key strategic goals.
In contrast 33% (1.1.08 = 35%) of support staff on Grades A to E are under 35 years of age, with
56% (1.1.08 = 53%) being over 40 or over, so a more balanced age profile exists, although in the
longer term we need to monitor if a similar ‘ageing’ workforce is a long-term trend with support staff.
So overall, the turnover levels appear healthy at present. However, there are some schools, and to
a lesser extent, services, where turnover is so low that the desirable workforce changes (mentioned
above) are currently not possible except by increasing their income and recruiting to new additional
posts.
We need to ‘grow more of our own’ academic staff by having a good number of Graduate Teaching
Assistants and also to provide the next generation of technical staff with specialist skills via Trainee
Technicians/ Research Assistants in our schools. There are currently a total 12 GTA‘s in the
Schools of Psychology and Health and Bioscience.
We aim in 2009 -10 to undertake a systematic analysis of information gleaned from exit interviews;
we presently only record the primary reason for leaving on our HR database. Similarly we aim to
undertake a systematic analysis of applicants who reject job offers or leave prematurely i.e. within
their probationary period.
Each school and service are required to review their staff age profile on an annual basis, as part of
the planning round, working with their HR Manager using a standard template. They will identify
which staff are due to retire or impending changes in roles or FTEs (particularly of senior staff)
occurring in the succeeding five years and will develop an appropriate succession plan. Developing
talent will be a key priority.
Schools and Services review staff retirements or impending changes in roles and develop an
appropriate plan as per the following HR planning template:
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any planned changes in staff numbers;
the clear identification of school and service staff development needs;
the school/service equality and diversity action plan;
the school/service risk analysis in relation to the delivery of their objectives and central to that
is the identification of any staff recruitment, retention and development issues.
HR Services will review the Plans of schools and services to determine whether the HR planning
template was used appropriately.
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Priority 3: Staff Pay and Benefits
Issues
Promotion and expansion of staff benefits
Payroll
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
(a) Staff Benefits
We will promote existing staff benefits further, through HR Services’ website and via promotional
campaigns. In the autumn of 2007 and the Spring of 2008 we added to our flexible benefits by
offering a further salary sacrifice scheme: professional subscription membership. This enabled
members of staff to pay for their annual subscription through our payroll, attracting tax-relief for
membership of accredited professional bodies.
We will promote existing staff benefits further, through HR Services’ website and via promotional
campaigns. In the autumn of 2007 and the spring of 2008 we delivered a series of Financial
Awareness seminars for all our staff, led by a representative from the Financial Services Agency.
Feedback from the 200 staff who attended was very positive; the FSA sessions will be repeated
annually.
During 2009 we will continue our current negotiations with Newham Leisure Services to develop a
preferential staff membership package. This will encourage staff to access all three leisure centres
located within Newham, including swimming facilities within walking distance of our main Stratford
campus. In the longer term, providing sports facilities to our Stratford campus based staff is of
particular importance, as UEL is planning to develop the Docklands campus ‘teardrop site’ as a
sports complex.
We will further promote staff benefits to existing staff where previous efforts have solely
concentrated on new staff, to include a more prominent presence on the HR Services’ website.
(b) Payroll
We aim to achieve the following outcomes and performance measures in 2008 -10:


Transfer academic and research staff in current grades to our single pay band structure in
mid-2009;
To implement the staff Self-Service and People Manager modules on our Trent HR database,
where staff will be able to update their personal details and see their processed payslips, both
current and past and book their annual leave ‘on-line’.
Priority 4: Learning and Management Development
Issues
Project Management Skills
Leadership and management
Enhancing the student experience
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Leadership Foundation
ECDL
Teaching and Research Fellowships
Equality and Diversity
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
At institutional level there are a number of key staff development initiatives to take forward in 2009 2010:
(a)
Project Management Skills
Since much of our managers’ work involves project management, it is essential that all of our senior
staff are appropriately skilled. Whilst much of that is experiential - through their involvement in UEL
projects - it is also useful for them to have formal training to enhance particular technical skills, so
that they understand and manage projects appropriately. We have provided institution-wide training
in this area as part of our staff development programme and will work with CMT to ensure that staff
who need the training are on these programmes.
(b)
Leadership and Management
During 2009 - 2010 we will use a range of methods to develop our managers:
1. We will take an inclusive approach to developing UEL talent and potential and will utilise the
CMT Competency Framework and Development Centre methodology. In 2009 we expect 24
managers at Associate Dean, Field Leader and Support Service manager level to participate in
Development Centres and to implement Personal Development Plans arising from this experience.
Following this pilot in 2009, we plan to introduce further development centre programmes for this
group during 2010 and 2011.
2. Provide management skills training for new managers through a 4-day Introductory Management
Skills programme, validated by the Chartered Institute of Management (CIM). On completion of this
programme, participants become members of CIM. The first programme will run in 2009.
3. Train existing managers in first-class team coaching skills to enable them to lead teams
effectively through an accredited 4-day coaching programme, delivered by the School of
Psychology. The first programme is due to run in 2009.
4. Build an internal team of trained coaches who can be utilised to provide 1:1 coaching for
colleagues through the accredited programme, as described above.
5. Continue with Associate Deans Forum and management skills training in recruitment and
selection and performance management.
6 All staff who have attended UEL’s Staff Recruitment and Selection staff development programme
will be required to participate in a refresher session via school/service workshops. This is an
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important new initiative to ensure that staff are updated on any changes to UEL procedures and
good practices are reinforced, not least the importance of probing and asking follow-up questions.
This will be implemented during 2009 and beyond.
(c)
Enhance the Student Experience
1. New induction programmes have been designed and implemented for academic and hourly-paid
staff during 2009 to complement the corporate induction programme. This enables academic staff
to understand UEL QA requirements so that they can manage their roles more effectively and with
support. This will continue during 2010.
2. As most of the Programme Leaders have now attended the induction programmes planned in
2007 – 2008 (the turnover of programme leaders is small), programme leaders induction will be
offered annually on a smaller scale.
3. Support UEL’s Professional Standards Framework through the inclusion of HEA membership as
a mandatory requirement of the probation policy for academic staff and for those staff who have a
role in supporting learning and teaching.
4. In conjunction with Director of Learning and Teaching and the School of Education, review the
current PG Certificate In Learning and Teaching and develop a skills-based teacher training
programme as an alternative option during 2009 and 2010.
5. In conjunction with Director of Learning and Teaching, implement training arising from the review
of the Personal Tutoring Policy during 2009 and 2010.
(d)
Leadership Foundation
The Leadership Foundation provides some excellent development programmes for senior staff, but
as they tend to be costly, we have been able to send only a small number of senior staff on them
and will continue to do so.
(e)
ECDL
UEL is keen to promote ECDL because we need our colleagues - particularly our administrative
staff - to be competent in using the more advanced features of the Microsoft suite of packages to
enhance our efficiency and to provide a more professional appearance in our documents and other
materials. We launched ECDL for staff in the autumn of 2006 via on-line learning, to parallel the
provision for our students, with an overall target of 10% of all support staff undertaking ECDL by
mid 2009 and 20% by 2010. As at 1 January 2009, only 3% of support staff have registered on the
programme and of these, 30% have yet to complete a module exam. Currently 20% of UEL IT Help
Desk staff are either fully or partially ECDL qualified, but we would like them to be all qualified by
the end of 2009. This is an important target to meet, as we have record numbers of students
working towards full ECDL accreditation and our IT Help Desk staff need to understand the syllabus
so that they can provide complementary coaching and tuition.
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(f)
Teaching and Research Fellowships
It is important that we celebrate teaching and research achievements. We awarded three Teaching
Fellowships in 2005 and 2008 and we intend awarding more in successive years. This will help us
to gain more national Teaching Fellowships, will assist our research agenda and will raise our
university’s profile. We will also offer Research Fellowships as a new initiative in 2009.
(g)
Equality and Diversity
During 2008 a pilot e-module on disability awareness was developed titled ‘Towards Inclusion for
People with Disabilities at UEL’. All staff are expected to complete this module in early 2009 and
Schools and Services will be further supported though short face-to-face training, building on the
contents of the e - module, during 2009 - 2010.
Priority 5: Equality and Diversity
Issues
Job Evaluation
Market Pay
Equal Pay Audits
Equality Schemes
Equality and Diversity Action Planning
Staff Targets
Sexual Orientation
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
1.
Equal pay for work of equal value
To help ensure our legal obligation to provide equal pay for work of equal value, we have taken
forward the following initiatives:
(a)
Job evaluation
As part of the 2003 national Framework Agreement on pay and conditions of service we have
conducted a UEL-wide job evaluation exercise for all our staff in partnership with our recognised
trade unions. In common with some 70% of our sector we have used HERA to evaluate all roles
and to assign them to a new 58-point pay spine, transferring staff from a 92-point pay spine. This
project was completed for support staff in June 2007 and as soon as agreement is reached with our
UCU representatives, will be completed for academic and research staff. HERA will continue to be
used to assess subsequent substantive changes to roles on an-going basis via HERA panels. A
desktop process will be used to assess the appropriate grade for a vacancy. These arrangements
are set out in our Staff Grading Review and Promotion Schemes.
One of the outcomes of the HERA project is that it has ensured that our lower-paid staff are on a
higher rate of pay with incremental progression, e.g. our Catering Assistants, General Assistants
and Drivers. HEFCE reported in 2007 that the biggest staff shortage nationally is for manual staff.
Our post HERA project pay levels for such staff offer very competitive rates for our staff compared
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to our region, so we do not expect the Olympics and Paralympics to create a problem of retention
for our university, despite the anticipated increase in competition for such staff in our region.
Nevertheless, we need to review this issue regularly.
Only 14 staff are currently ‘red-circled’ as a result of the HERA project and will remain on their
current pay (plus any pay awards agreed by our Board of Governors) for four years, at the end of
which (mid-2010) their pay is aligned with the top of their appropriate grade as determined by
HERA. Line managers are currently working with those staff to develop their competencies, roles
and careers, where possible, as part of our Staff Development and Review process.
We will also continue to implement our Market Pay Policy and HEFCE’s ‘Golden Hello’ scheme
which provides market pay supplements to teaching staff new to our sector in disciplines such as
IT, business (business & management, accountancy, economics), education, law, engineering, and
health and biosciences. Our main use of the ‘Golden Hello’ scheme has been mainly used for staff
in our Cass School of Education.
(c)
Equal pay audits
HEFCE reported that HESA data for 2004-5 showed a gender pay gap in mean average earnings
of 12% and a median of 7%, compared with 17% in the wider economy.
As part of the HERA project, we will complete an equal pay audit of all our staff by 2009, following
the assimilation of our academic staff to our new grading structure. The audit has been completed
for support staff and no problems were identified that required intervention, although issues of
comparability between support and academic staff pay will be conducted once the academic staff
audit has been completed. The audit will identify any disparities in pay levels by gender, ethnicity,
disability and by type of employment contract and staff category. We will then decide what
remedial action is needed.
2.
Disability Equality Scheme
The key element of our new scheme is the action plan and we will work with colleagues across UEL
to implement it. We are accredited as a ‘Two Ticks’ positive about disability employer by the
Department of Employment. We continue to implement the five commitments to our ‘Two Ticks’
scheme, designed to increase the number of people with disabilities in our workforce.
3.
Gender Equality Scheme
We will continue to enhance career opportunities for women in senior roles. We are currently
offering a programme for women at Senior Lecturer level and equivalent support staff, as part of the
national Springboard initiative and we will continue to provide that, as take-up and participant
feedback has been encouraging. Due to demand we are also offering a similar programme to men
called Navigator.
4.
Equality and Diversity Action Plans
Our Equality and Diversity Policy is supported by improved E&D Action Plans in most schools and
services, where continuous development is evidenced and positive action initiatives are in place.
HR Services will monitor the plans, working with the Mentoring and Equality Unit to identify and
progress any staff development activities arising from them, or changes required to our employment
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policies or processes. We have in place a new network of Equality and Diversity Leaders and we
will continue to co-ordinate and train them.
5.
Staff targets
2008 - 2010
Our aim with our staff profile for 2008 - 2010 is to ensure that it better reflects the communities we
serve through the achievement of annual gender, ethnicity and disability targets. We
commissioned HESA to provide us with London universities’ benchmark data on ethnicity, gender,
disability and age. During 2008 - 2010 we aim to increase the number of black and minority ethnic
employees by approximately 10% in each of the following categories:
- Lecturer/Senior Lecturer from 23% to 26% (As of 1.7.08 = 27% - Exceeded)
- Principal Lecturer/ Reader from 14% to 15% (As of 1.7.08 = 14% - Not Met)
- Professor from 12.5% to 14% (As of 1.7.08 = 14% - Met)
- Principal Officer staff from 21% to 23% (As of 1.7.08 = 23% - Met)
- Research (all grades) from 18% to 20% (As of 1.7.08 = 24% - Exceeded)
- Management grade staff from 11% to 13% (As of 1.7.08 = 20% - Exceeded)
There is already a very good representation of BME staff (35.6%) in support roles in grades A to E,
so our aim is to maintain that level.
During 2008 - 2010 increase the number of female employees by 10% (in the case of PL/Readers)
in each of the following categories:
- Principal Lecturer/ Reader from 32% to 35% (As of 1.7.08 = 36% - Met)
- Professor from 40% to 44% (As of 1.7.08 = 34% - Not Met)
- Management grade staff from 32%% to 35% (As of 1.7.08 = 34% - Not Met)
During 2008 - 2010 increase the number of disabled staff by 10% from 2.9% to 3.19% (the sector
average being 2.3%). (As of 1.7.08 = 3.6% - Exceeded)
From the latest statistics we have exceeded or made very good progress. The only area of concern
is that of female professors. However, this is a relatively small group of staff and the loss of an
individual female member of staff would have a marked impact on the percentage figure.
New guidelines on helping managers implement Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are being
developed. We have made excellent progress in conducting equality impact assessments of our
staff and student policies, conducted by a working group of our Equality and Diversity Committee
during 2007.
CMT will assess the impact of all our new policies on our community in terms of gender, ethnicity,
age, etc. when we are devising them and reviewing their effectiveness. Every policy and paper will
include an equality impact assessment. However, there is some evidence that EIAs could be more
rigorous. To assist in that, training will be provided to CMT and other managers on conducting
them.
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Sexual Orientation
It is likely that in the near future we will have a legal duty to protect and promote the rights of the
gay, lesbian and bisexual community. In preparation for this and in keeping with being a
progressive employer, true to our value of inclusively, we have recently become a Stonewall
Diversity Champion. As a consequence we will undertake a benchmarked self-assessment audit
and develop a UEL-wide action plan.
Priority 6: Performance Management and Employment Policies
Issues
CMT Competency Framework
SDRs
Action to tackle poor performance
Self Serve and People Manager
Employment Policies
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
(a)
CMT Competency Framework
We plan to integrate features of the CMT 2006 360-degree pilot scheme into our 2009 leadership
and management development programme for School and Service management team members.
The case for doing so is further strengthened by the evaluation of the development programmes
delivered during 2005/6, which indicated that future programmes should be less theoretical and
make greater use of experiential forms of learning, i.e. e. coaching and action learning. CMT will
review the suitability of the CMT Competence Model as a means for individual and team
development in late 2009.
(b)
Staff Development and Reviews (SDRs)
Our SDR scheme has been in operation for over five years and the one scheme has applied to all
staff. We have recently made the scheme more specific to each school and service, by the
inclusion of key themes from their annual plans. Furthermore, the scheme will be revised in 2009
to include the national Professional Standards in Learning and Teaching for staff and refer to the
CPD process and, in the longer term, relevant UEL competencies.
(c)
Action to tackle poor performance

Where are we now? Since 2003 we have implemented a full range of new employment
policies and have updated many of them in 2008, including those dealing with poor
performance. We have also provided extensive training for managers on dealing with staff
under - performance. This involved the HR Director and his team conducting workshops for
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the management teams of each school and service in 2004/5 and this was reinforced by a
similar programme for them using an external facilitator and a group of actors in 2006. This
was followed up by ‘bite-sized’ workshops delivered by HR Managers to SMT members in
schools and services in 2007 and beyond. A workshop on handling disciplinary and
grievance matters was also held for CMT members, led by our HR Director with our Learning
and Development Manager and our solicitors in mid 2007. There has also been a follow-up
session for CMT members on conducting investigations into alleged misconduct in the
autumn of 2008. This has resulted in a high number of under-performance cases being
managed in 2004-6 (79 sickness absence cases, 15 disciplinary cases, 15 capability cases,
6 probation extensions/dismissals). Whilst this represents good progress in tackling underperformance, nonetheless more managers need to be identifying and addressing such
issues. More workshops will be held for managers to help them address under-performance
during 2008-9 and our staff disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence and capability
procedures will regularly be revised in the light of experience and changes in the law.
Where do we want to be by 2010?

Staff under-performance will be properly addressed by all our managers using our
employment policies (evidenced by staff sickness absence data, audits and staff surveys).
HEFCE reported in its Report ‘Higher Education Workforce in England – a Framework for the
future‘, that HEIs saw their biggest challenges to be embedding performance review and managing
poor performance.
HR Services will help to develop the confidence and capability of managers by continuing to
provide a consultancy service covering each stage of managing staff under-performance, including
advice on the drafting of all correspondence and procedural matters, evidence provision, options
available and advice on handling the full range of HR provision. Such a service will be provided by
HR Services staff working with individual managers, attending periodic school/service SMT
meetings, developing existing relationships with CMT and Associate Deans, delivering performance
workshops, surgeries and IIP/Staff Survey ‘health checks’.
(d)
Employment Policies
Most core HR policies are up-to-date, allowing us to concentrate on their application and
modernising actual working practices. However, some have been reviewed and revised during
2007/8 in the light of collective experience in using them and changing legal requirements:
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Our Staff Recruitment and Selection, Staff Training and Development, Discipline, Grievance,
Sickness Absence policies have been updated.
We have implemented a new probation scheme for academic staff.
We have devised new policies on Intellectual Property and External Commercial Work.
We have revised our Staff Development and Review Scheme to ensure the key priorities of
school and service plans are embedded via the insertion of SMART targets. It will also include
the new national professional teaching standards.
14



We have implemented a new staff retirement policy to take on board the new Age
Discrimination Regulations which came into effect in October 2006.
We have updated our maternity and adoptive leave scheme to take on board changes in
statutory arrangements.
We are now allowing eligible staff already in the NHS pension scheme to remain in it on being
appointed to UEL, now that the NHS recognises UEL as a clinical facility in Podiatry. This
should make it easier for us to recruit staff from the NHS.
Priority 7: Enhancing Learning, Teaching and Research
Issues
Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning
24/7Working
Research and Scholarship Strategy
The Student Experience
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
a)
Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning
UEL will encourage academic staff to gain accreditation in the new professional teaching standards
to assist the student learning experience and in their retention. This will be done via three
measures:
(i)
Our continued implementation of accredited programmes for new appointees, e.g. PG Cert in
Learning and Teaching and a new alternative Lecturers Development Programme.
(ii) Accredited CPD for academic and relevant support staff leading to HEA membership.
(iii) Encouraging academic and appropriate support staff via the direct entry route to the Higher
Education Academy.
HEFCE also encourages HEIs to implement the new national professional teaching standards, so
that all our academic and relevant support staff are appropriately qualified and accredited.
b)
24/7 Working
We need to deliver learning and teaching on a multi-site and global basis.
For UEL to compete successfully with rival universities in our region, we need to expand our parttime teaching provision significantly, in both evenings and at weekends and to blend it successfully
with our distance learning provision. This will offer students the maximum flexibility in the student
learning experience. At our Corporate Planning Conference, we agreed that we needed to ensure
UEL operates all relevant programmes in the evenings until 9.30 p.m., with school help desk,
catering, shop and study support facilities in place at both Docklands and Stratford Campuses,
15
building on our Library & Learning Services’ current all-year round 24/7 provision. Much of this will
be achieved via UEL Extra, which will conduct market research, market test new programmes and
work in partnership with our schools.
It is vital that our part-time students studying in the evenings or weekends do not feel they are
getting inferior teaching and academic support compared to full-time students studying during the
day. To help schools deliver a full range of part-time programmes, CMT needs to agree what
additional resource we need across our campuses in the evenings and we are now advertising
academic and support staff vacancies as requiring the appointee to work in the afternoon, evenings
and weekends That will hopefully encourage more of our other academic and support staff to take
up the benefits of such arrangements and be willing to work to similar patterns on a voluntary basis.
We will continue to employ hourly-paid lecturers to deliver some of our evening and weekend
teaching provision, employed on a semester basis. As part of our equal pay agenda, hourly-paid
lecturers will be assigned to the same grading structure as other academic staff.
As our hourly-paid lecturers are important ambassadors for UEL in helping our students to
progress, we intend providing such staff who are new to our university with a special staff induction
to ensure they quickly understand how UEL systems work. We have implemented new corporate
induction sessions for hourly-paid lecturers from the autumn of 2008. These are held in the early
evening to accommodate the needs of such staff, who often have daytime commitments.
We have also launched a new induction programme for other academic staff in the autumn of 2008,
in addition to the current corporate induction. It covers specific institutional priorities related to the
Academic and Quality Framework, E and Distance Learning and requirements for research and
facilities on offer.
c)
Research and Scholarship Strategy
A key feature of 2009 - 2010 will be a new Research and Scholarship Strategy, based on the recent
report by Professor Keith Dickinson, in which he reviewed UEL’s current provision and proposed
changes to them. Our Plan and HR Strategy will need to be revised to take on board the new
Strategy and this may cause us to change some of the following:

Resourcing our recently established Research institutes. This will involve us recruiting and
developing new staff. HEFCE anticipates there will be a 25% growth in demand for academic
staff 2004-2011, especially in social policy, engineering, biological sciences and medicine. So
the demand for staff with key skills in these areas will impact on our resourcing for some of our
new research institutes.

Our current target is all of our academic staff engaging in productive research and scholarly
activity/knowledge transfer by 2010. Three schools in particular have made good progress in
achieving this target (SSMCS, Psychology and Law). To help facilitate this across all our
schools, we will link our Staff Development and Review schemes to the SMART targets in the
annual plans of each School and Service. CITE last year agreed output minima for its
academic staff and our Research Committee will be consulted to develop similar pan-UEL
matrices, taking account of our recent RAE outcome.

We will continue to ensure that all academic job vacancy materials (advertisements, job
16
descriptions and person specifications) emphasise the expectation that successful applicants
must fully engage with research and scholarly activity.
HR Services will work closely with the Graduate School to help deliver the skills training programme
for early career researchers and for those who support the learning of researchers, in accordance
with the requirements of the UK research councils. New researchers also receive mentoring
support by senior researchers to aid their career development.
We will implement Research Fellowships in 2009 to complement our Teaching Fellowships.
We will implement our draft Policy on Intellectual Property and our draft Policy and Code of Practice
for External Commercial Work including Consultancy, Contract Research & KTPs once agreed by
UCU representatives and we will regularly review them to ensure they appropriately incentivise our
staff to engage in entrepreneurial and research and knowledge transfer activity.
(d)
The Student Experience
Customer Service Excellence Quality Standard (formally Chartermark)
We gained whole-institution ‘Charter Mark’ accreditation for our high level of customer care for the
service we provide students, visitors and staff in November 2006 for 3 years. It is important that we
maintain this high standard and enhance staff skills through SDRs, close dialogue between frontdesk staff and their management team and project teams to enhance our systems’ delivery. The
Chartermark standard has recently been reviewed and re-branded and is now known as ‘Customer
Service Excellence’. We will help to ensure that UEL achieves full accreditation against the revised
standard in 2009.
HR Services assisted UEL achieve whole-institution Charter Mark status by leading on criteria 6 –
‘Contribute to improving opportunities and quality of life in the community’.
HR Services will also encourage schools and services to attain the ‘Customer First’ standard, a
quality kitemark for organisations offering business support, or in UEL’s case, knowledge transfer
and research projects.
Priority 8: Staff Consultation
Issues
2009 Staff Survey
Investors in People Action Plan
Review and enhancement of HR Website
17
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
(a)
Staff Survey
Our first all-staff survey was conducted in the summer of 2005. We intend having our second in
early March 2009. 68% of staff completed our first survey, which is a very encouraging level.
Around 80% reported that they were pleased with UEL’s general direction and progress. Our Staff
Development and Review Scheme was popular and staff generally had very positive views on the
supportive role of their immediate manager. Staff were generally less positive about the way they
were consulted by senior managers on major change matters. Women and disabled men and
women were more positive about working at UEL than other staff and BME staff were generally less
positive. 72% of the staff surveyed felt that staff under-performance was not being sufficiently
addressed.
Our hope is that the overall staff satisfaction rating recorded in UEL’s second staff survey in 2009
will increase to 70% from the 66.3% achieved by the 2005 staff survey. This will have been
achieved by implementing staff survey and IIP action plans with particular reference to consultation,
internal communication and stress management. We aim for an overall positive staff perception of
UEL as an employer recorded in our staff survey in 2009 to increase to 80% from the 78.6%
achieved by the 2005 staff survey. This will have been achieved by continuing to implement staff
survey action plans with particular reference to improving staff management and development,
embedding our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy and implementing all our salary sacrifice
schemes.
It is becoming increasingly evident that UEL can improve its approach to managing change.
Although staff consultation and engagement are key principles of the effective management of
change, we can improve the situation by providing managers with a framework or expanded
guidance on how to manage change. Such guidance will be incorporated into management
development programmes, posted on the HR website and promoted as part of the IiP action plan.
(b)
Investors in People
We gained whole-institution Investors in People accreditation in mid-2005 for three years and re recognition in October 2008. Our re - recognition assessment highlighted ‘an outstanding culture of
respecting people and valuing learning and development’. Staff feedback suggested that we do in
the main effectively consult staff, who feel engaged and empowered. However, we need to build on
this achievement and devise and implement a post re-recognition IIP Action Plan.
(c)
HR Website
Following feedback from customer satisfaction surveys, we will review the HR Services website, by
improving the accessibility, content, navigation and its architecture. We believe the existing HR
website undersells HR Services and UEL as a progressive employer.
Priority 9: Health and Safety
Issues
Review/revise and implement our Occupational Health and Safety Strategy and Plan
18
On-going review of our Health and Safety Policy Statement and sub-policies
Deliver core Health and Safety training programme
On-going provision of Occupational Health referral service
Undertake HASMAP and RoSPA style auditing of our Schools and Services
Provide OHS promotional events
RoSPA award submission
Analysis of new action proposed for 2009/10 onwards
(a) Review/revise and implement our Occupational Health and Safety Strategy and Plan
Our current Occupational Health and Safety strategy and plan are being implemented. We now need to
review and revise them to take into account the availability of additional OHSU resources for OH and
fire safety. In addition, we will seek different ways of working which will free up time for new initiatives.
(b) On-going review of our Health and Safety Policy Statement and sub-policies
There is a legal requirement for us to undertake regular review of our health and safety policies and
procedures. Where necessary the information needs to be updated and made available to our
managers and staff for action.
(c) Deliver core Health and Safety training programme
The core health and safety training is required for all staff and once delivered it needs to be updated on
a regular basis, every two to three years. We aim to supplement this training with e-learning modules to
further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our training provision.
(d) On-going provision of Occupational Health referral service
The Occupational Health referral service provision will be further enhanced with the recent appointment
of a full-time OHA and the proposed introduction of a new OHP service. The latter monitored to an
agreed SLA.
(e) Undertake HASMAP and RoSPA based auditing of our Schools and Services
It is a legal requirement for UEL to undertake active health and safety monitoring of its undertakings.
We meet this requirement by undertaking regular health and safety audits of our Schools and Services.
The audit process is to be made more robust by using the HASMAP and RoSPA audit systems during
2009..
(f) Provide OHS promotional events
In recent years we have held some very successful ‘Wise Up to Health, Safety and Wellbeing’ events.
To further enhance this provision we will work in partnership with Student Services to provide additional
smaller events to coincide with national health days as a build up to the main events in 2009 and
beyond.
(g) RoSPA award submission
In 2008, UEL won a Gold award from RoSPA in recognition of our high quality OHS provision and
compliance with legal requirements and adoption of best practice. Our aim is to attain this high level
recognition in future years.
19
20
KEY RISKS IN OUR HR ANNUAL PLAN 2009/10
Risk
Likelihood (1-5)
Controls (1-3)
Operational /
Financial /
Reputation
We fail to attract, recruit and retain
appropriate staff.
3
2
2
Operational /
Reputation
HR Services staff lack the necessary
skills, experience and professional
/sector/IT knowledge, leading to
inappropriate guidance and support
being given.
3
2
2
12 Director of HR
Services, HR
Managers
Reputation /
Operational
Failure to keep computerised staff
recruitment data up to date
2
2
2
8
Overall Score
Category
Impact (1-5)
Risk Register
Risk Owner
12 Director of HR
Services and
HR Managers,
CMT
HR Managers
and HR
Systems
Manager
21
Controls
Planned Action
Ensure that job adverts remain
attractive, include IIP, Customer
Service Excellence, two tick and
Stonewall logos, and promote
flexible benefits on our website.
Remuneration packages to remain
competitive and UEL maintains and
enhances its institutional reputation.
Maintain current investment in staff
development, as per HR services
staff learning and development plan,
e.g. all HRMs to undertake
appropriate CPD.
Review HR Services’ operations to
ensure we provide what is required
by CMT and other managers.
Additional staff resource has been
found; continue to improve admin
systems as per HR Strategy.
Evaluate e learning system.
Continue to monitor
vacancies filled and plan for
hard-to-fill vacancies i.e.
using agencies and job
adverts simultaneously,
market supplements.
Action operational changes
(post e-recruitment and
itrent) to HR Services;
maintain CPD and continue
case conferences.
Local controls have been
set up to record “fill rates”
and this will be monitored
on a monthly basis. Fill
rates are currently
acceptable. Implement
Stonefish e-recruitment.
Operational /
Financial
Equal pay review and job evaluation
not fully implemented and red circled
staff are de motivated and leave UEL
2
2
2
8
Director of HR
Services,
Reward
Manager and
Director of
‘Finance
Operational
Management teams within schools
and services do not recognise their
‘managerial’ roles as significant or as
a priority. Effective leadership is not
displayed at a local level and
performance issues remain unchecked
2
2
2
8
Director of HR
Services and
CMT members
Operational /
Strategic
Staff Development & Review meetings
fail to clarify key responsibilities and
set SMART objectives
2
2
2
8
Senior HR
Manager
(Strategy and
Change) and
Staff
Development
Manager, CMT
members
Maintain SDR training for eligible
new staff (only 30% have attended
in the previous 12 months).
Communicate the revised SDR
process and provide coaching
where necessary.
Senior HR
Manager
(Strategy and
Change) and
Develop clear learning outcomes
defined in terms of business results
Strategic
Management Development
Programme fails to deliver results
2
2
2
8
22
Ensure job evaluation is effectively
managed in terms of quality of
process and timescales.
Appropriate budget contingencies
are secured to cover high costs and
‘red circling’ process is handled
sensitively.
Monitoring of staff
induction/probation and SDR. Act
on UEL staff surveys and IIP
results. Undertake IIP audits on
schools and services to assess
standards. Implement 2009
Leadership Development
programme
Monitor standards through IIP audits
and 2009 Staff Survey.
package
Close monitoring of HERA
project plan. JE completed
for support staff; still to
complete for academic staff.
Continually improve School
Service based Induction.
Launch 2009 Leadership
and Management
Development Programme.
Monitoring of key processes
i.e. staff induction,
probation, SDR and exit
interviews. CMT/HRM
meetings.
We undertook a major
promotion drive re SDR
training during summer
2007. We need to discern
the current rate of take up
and, if need be, undertake a
similar drive during Spring
2009.
Staff survey due to be
completed in March 2009 –
undertake qualitative
research.
Business case for
cascading down 360 to
CMT. Possibly pilot 360 and
associated Leadership
Strategic
Reputation /
Financial
Individual schools/service staff
development plans not clear. Staff
development courses are not
evaluated at individual, school/service
and institutional levels.
Adverse employment tribunal cases
damage UEL’s reputation, impacting
on student and staff recruitment and
retention.
2
3
2
2
2
1
8
6
Staff
Development
Manager
Senior HR
Manager
(Strategy and
Change) and
Staff
Development,
Manager, CMT
members
Director of HR
Services, snr
HR Man Policy
and Ops, HR
Managers, CMT
members
23
Development Programme.
Part of post re-recognition IIP action
plan.
Ensure compliance with HR policies
and procedures and management
training is effective. Deliver ‘micro
performance workshops’. Budget
contingencies are secured to cover
adverse tribunal decisions. Continue
to deliver salary sacrifice schemes,
CSR policy, promote UEL as an IIP/
Customer Serrvice Excellence
employer.
Ensure all School / Service
staff development plans are
consistently to standard –
key component of post rerecognition IIP Action Plan.
However, standard greatly
improved as a result of IIP
assessment
Management and HRMs
monitoring of potential ET
cases by HRMs. Director of
HR Services and Senior
HRM (Policy and
Operations) are consulted.
Key to Risk Register Ratings
Impact (Rated 1-5)
5: Catastrophic:
• University forced to cease business or loss of a substantial part of the
University [net > 20% turnover]
• Multiple major injuries or deaths
Likelihood (Rated 1-5)
5. Almost certain
>80%
4: Major
• Financial net impact of >6% of turnover Substantial regulatory consequences
• Major negative sanction by Hefce
• Major international adverse publicity
• Death of an individual or several major injuries
4. Very Likely
51%-80%
3: Serious
• Financial net impact of 3-5% of turnover
• Addressable regulatory consequences
• Adverse publicity in national papers
• Major injury
3. Likely
21%-50%
2: Moderate
• Financial net impact of 1-2% of turnover
• No regulatory consequences Adverse publicity locally or in THES
• Minor injury
2. Possible
6%-20%
1: Minor
• Financial net impact of less than 1% of turnover
• No other significant impacts
1. Rare
<5%
Control Score
1
2
3
Description
Above average - controls are considered to be adequate and highly effective in mitigating the identified risk
Average – controls are considered to be adequate to mitigate the identified risk, but could be further enhanced
Below average – controls are considered to be inadequate to mitigating the identified risk and could be further
strengthened.
24
University of East London
HR ANNUAL PLAN 2009 - 2010
Action Plan – Progress report as at 12.02.09
Action
Target
Lead Responsibility
Target Date
Dependencies
In order of HR Priority headings – note that some overlap
exists between priorities and action points – the best fit
being represented in the action plan. Current actions are
also shown for progress monitoring purposes.
Indicators of success
Supporting staff listed with
project lead underlined
Either end of project or
milestone to be achieved
Critical
success
factors
1. 82% of academic and management vacancies and 92%
of support staff vacancies to be filled on first
advertisement.
To ensure we successfully
recruit to vacancies, constant
supply of talent
Director of HR Services
Snr HR Man – policy and
ops
On-going. Review of
targets Sept 2010
2. To implement an E – recruitment system
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Ops) HR Systems
Manager
By end of March 2009
Director of HR Services &
HR Managers
On-going
4. Undertake a pilot of using the HERA competency
framework for recruitment and selection, induction and
probation purposes.
To enhance the effectiveness
and efficiency of our
recruitment process and
improve the candidate
experience
To ensure we successfully
recruit to vacancies and
achieve VFM
To improve processes listed by
improving selection and
performance criteria
School and
Services
completing
accurate person
specifications
Competence of
users – training
offered to all
users
Director of HR Services,
Reward Manager
5. To ensure job applicants are tested for all administrative
To ensure new appointees have
Senior HR Manager (Policy
Progress made by use in
recruitment and
selection. Use in
induction and probation
by July 2009
On-going
RECRUITMENT
3. Analyse recruitment data at school and service level
and act upon any issues highlighted from this analysis.
25
Leavers
responding to
invitations
Take up from
roles in both IT and drafting skills
6. Research and investigate the risks and opportunities
posed by the Olympics and Paralympics to recruitment and
retention and ensure these are factored into the HR Service
Plans
7. Deliver refresher Recruitment and Selection workshops
the requisite IT and
administrative skills
To aid future staff recruitment
and retention
and Operations), CMT
Schools and
Services
Capture ESDS
research
Director of HR Services and
Reward Manager
By 2009 / 2012
To improve the quality of
recruitment and selection,
particularly the use of probing
questions focused on essential
and desirable criteria
Learning and Development
Manager and Senior HR
Manager (Policy and
Operations)
From January 2009
Prioritising HRM
workload,
interfacing with
Lrg Dev Team
To grow more of our own,
combat an ageing academic
workforce and support E&D
To aid staff retention and
support E&D
Director of HR Services
On- going
Take up from
Schools
Director of HR Services /
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Ops) & HR Managers
From September 2008 –
then on-going
E&D Unit
To improve retention
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations) and HR
Managers
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations) and HR
Managers
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations) and HR
Managers
CMT in partnership with HR
Managers
On going from July 2008
Support from line
managers
By Oct 2008
Support from line
managers
By Nov 2008
Part of HRM
meetings with
CMT
Part of HRM
meetings with
CMT
STAFF RETENTION – SUCCESSION PLANNING
1. Encourage relevant Schools to increase the number of
Graduate Teaching Assistant and Trainee Technicians
2. Investigate the general turnover data and feedback from
exit interviews by category, such as gender, ethnicity, age
and job type to examine whether there are any trends that
should give cause for concern and to develop appropriate
action plans.
3. (a) All staff leavers will be actively encouraged to
participate in an exit interview by our HR Managers.
(b) Exit interview data will be systematically analysed and
will include primary and secondary reasons for leaving.
Any patterns or themes will be investigated
4. Analyse and report on reasons for job rejections and
premature leavers.
To improve retention
5. Schools and Services to review staff retirements or
impending changes in roles and develop an appropriate
succession plan
To effectively plan change
ensuring a future supply of
talent
To improve recruitment and
retention rates
26
STAFF PAY AND BENEFITS
1. Financial awareness seminars to be run annually
To improve financial awareness
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
On going
FSA
2. Offer preferential membership rates to Newham Leisure
Services
3. Incorporate suitable questions in the 2008 all Staff
Survey to ascertain views regarding the value of benefits
offered and general pay and conditions.
4. Further promote staff benefits to all staff
Extend range of benefits,
improve health and motivation
Evaluate the added value of
existing pay and conditions
By April 2009
Newham Leisure
services - budget
Bristol On Line
Surveys
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
and Senior HR Manager
(Policy and Operations)
Payroll manager
On going
HR website to be
improved.
5. Transfer academic and research staff in current grades to
our single pay band structure in mid-2009;
Ensure payroll runs accurately
To enhance project
management skills in UEL
Improve the quality of
Leadership and Management
Development
Enhance learning and Teaching
standards
Learning and Development
Manager
Learning and Development
Manager
On – going
Learning and Development
Manager
Throughout 2009
4. To send a small number of appropriate staff on
Leadership Foundation courses
To enhance staff skills
Learning and Development
Manager
On-going
5. To review and promote the take-up of staff on our ECDL
programme.
To enhance staff IT skills
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
6. Deliver disability awareness blended learning programme
Support E&D
Learning and Development
Manager
Present to CMT and gain
commitment, review
provision – spring 2009
Completion date tbc as
currently ascertaining
To aid staff recruitment and
retention
By October 2008.
Web Team –
Libby Norman
UCU/CMT
LEARNING AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
1. To provide institution-wide project management skills
training
2. New Leadership and Management Development
programme to be held in 2009 onwards
3. Deliver training programmes designed to support the
student experience, e.g. academic induction, PSF, PG CERT
27
By end of 2009
CMT/Line
Managers
CMT
Academic
Community,
Cass S of
Education
Schools/Field
Leaders
Library Services
UEL Connect and
IT Services
Disability Unit
delegate numbers to
date and delivery rate.
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
1 To monitor & review our Staff Grading and Promotion
Schemes
To ensure that grading and
promotion is based on HERA
dimensions, supporting staff
development and E&D
Director of HR Services &
Reward Manager
Support staff completed,
currently negotiating re
academic process
2 Obtain further information on competitors’ reward
packages
To aid retention and equality
and diversity
August 2008 and then on
going
Co-operation of
London HEis
3 To conduct an equal pay audit of all our staff
To identify and address any
inequitable pay
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations) and
Reward Manager
Reward Manager
On-going Dependant on
UCU negotiations
UCU
4To implement our Disability Equality Scheme and elearning-based Disability Awareness programme
Ensure all staff are aware of
E&D issues and to assist with
the embedding our UEL’s
culture.
Secretary and Registrar,
Learning Development
Manager
2009/10 – refer to
Learning Dev action 6
5 To implement our Gender Equality Scheme, including the
continuing Springboard programme
Ensure all staff are aware of
E&D issues and to assist with
the embedding our UEL’s
culture.
Ensure all staff are aware of
E&D issues and to assist with
the embedding our UEL’s
culture.
To implement our Equality and
Diversity Policy
Secretary and Registrar,
Learning Development
Manager
On-going
UEL Connect –
ensuring the
evaluation
package
operates
effectively
Provider –Pat
English
Secretary and Registrar,
Learning Development
Manager
2009
Provider Hugh
Dennis
Secretary and Registrar
E&D Co-ordinators now
part of SMT meetings On-going
E&D Unit
6 To continue to implement the Springboard and Navigator
Programmes
7 To monitor and develop School and Services equality &
diversity plans
 Train Equality and Diversity Leaders
 Monitor participation rates at corporate training
events
28
8 Monitor staff survey responses by ethnicity, gender,
disability, sexual orientation and part time status
9 Although a Mentoring and Equality Unit objective support
the delivery of UEL’s BME Management Development
Programme
To detect themes or issues
amongst staff groups
Improve representation at
senior level and gain insights
into any barriers to E&D
Secretary and Registrar
April 2009
Secretary and Registrar
Mentoring and Equality Unit
Oct 2009
Bristol on line
surveys
E&D Unit
10 To ensure all UEL policies and initiatives include
equality impact assessments & to train managers to
undertake them.
11 Improve the E&D management information to Schools /
Services, providing biannual reports to managers including
comparative data with other London based HEIs.
To implement our Equality and
Diversity Policy
CMT members
On-going
Line managers
Assist with better reporting on
E&D issues and to improve
awareness of these issues at a
School / Service level
Ensure that UEL is an inclusive
institution to work and study at
for people of all sexual
orientations
HR Managers and Senior
HR Manager (Policy and
Operations)
By December 2009
Trent HR
Datatabase
Secretary and Registrar,
Senior HR Manager strategy
and change
Completed to carry out
self assessment and
Action Plan April 2009
Brent
Chamberlain –
Stonewall
consultant
To enhance the skill sets of
staff undertaking managerial
roles.
To ensure our SDR scheme is
fully integrated with and
supports CPD
Learning and Development
Manager
July 2009
VCG/CMT
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy & Change)
By March 2009
PSF Working
Group
To enhance teaching & support
to our students
Director of HR Services,
Director of Learning and
Teaching, Learning and
Development Manager
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
12 Become a Stonewall Diversity Champion, undertake Self
Assessment Tool and work in partnership with a Stonewall
consultant and Newham College to develop a UEL wide
action plan.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES
1. To incorporate the CMT competencies framework into
leadership and development programme in 2008/9
2. To link our SDR forms to (a) school and service annual
plans, (b) the new national professional teaching standards
(c) Peer observation.
HEA accreditation
received in June 2008
To embed PSF in our employment policies
3. After the 2008 SDR round conduct a number of focus
groups to ascertain staff perception of the benefits and
Shape any changes to the SDR
process
29
By April 2009
April 2009
impact of the SDR process.
4. To continue to implement our bite sized training
workshops on managing staff under performance for
school and service management teams
5. Check staff perception of how effective we are at
managing under performance as an outcome of the 2009
staff survey and qualitative SDR research.
6. Implement people manager and self service Trent module
7. Continually review current policies and update / revise
them in light of changes to the law, sector best practice and
experience of using them
8. When developing employment policies HR Managers to
gather feedback from their Schools/ Services and factor
such feedback into policy development
9. Produce key point summaries of all major employment
policies and improve the accessibility of HR Services’
webpages.
To enhance the skill sets of
staff undertaking managerial
roles.
Continuously develop SDR
process to support
performance management
To empower managers and
staff to manage performance
related processes
Ensure our policies and
procedures are up to date and
of high quality
Gain staff commitment
Improve the accessibility and
usability of HR Services
website
HR Managers
Prioritising HRM
workloads
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
May 2009
HR Services Director,
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations)
HR Services Director,
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations)
HR Managers and Senior
HR Manager (Policy and
Operations)
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations)
Summer 2009
Trent HR
Database
On going
On going
Dialogue with
Schools and
Services
On going
ENHANCING LEARNING, TEACHING AND
RESEARCH
1. Ensure that the national professional standards in
learning and teaching are embedded in:
Staff probationary schemes
Academic Staff Induction
SDR’s
Peer Observation
Research Plans
Academic Staff Probation schemes
Accredited CPD programmes
2. To advertise all academic and relevant support staff
vacancies mentioning p.m., evening and weekend working
requirements.
Maximise impact and
application of PSF
Director of HR Services, Snr
HR Manager strategy and
Change, Learning and
Development Manager
To enhance our provision for
part time students
Director of HR Services,
CMT, Senior HR Manager
(Policy & Operations)
30
PSF Working
Group
On-going
3. (a) To implement permanent hourly-paid lecturer
contract of employment and
To aid staff retention and
effectiveness of student facing
staff
(b) new corporate induction for HPLs.
4. Deans of Schools to set specific research and
knowledge transfer output targets for academic staff
To help implement our
Research & Scholarly Strategy
5. To continue requiring a PhD/Professional Doctorate as
essential for appointments.
To help implement our
Research & Scholarly Strategy.
Currently 51.5%
To determine its effectiveness
Director of HR Services
On-going
Deans/Assoc
Deans
Learning and Development
Manager
PVC (Research), Deans of
Schools
TBA by VC
SDR Reviewers
Director of HR Services &
HR Managers
On-going
Deans/Assoc
Deans
Acting Vice-Chancellor,
Deans of Schools
TBA
AWAM working
Group
To ensure continuous
development of our Research
Portfolio
To develop our Research and
Scholarly Strategy
To enhance customer care to
students
Learning and Development
Manager, Head of Graduate
School
PVC (Research), Head of
Graduate School
Secretary & Registrar,
assisted by Senior HR
Manager (Strategy and
Change)
Autumn 2008
By November 2009
Customer
Service Working
Group/CMT
10. To survey the 63 UEL staff who are currently studying
studying a UEL degree programme, ascertaining their views of
the ‘student experience’.
To gain an insight into the
typical and real life student
experience
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
By October 2009 – post
semester b
UEL Staff
11. To review & publicise customer care initiatives in
schools and services
To build on the customer care
and ‘challenging academic
decision-making’ workshops
held in 2006
To improve UEL’s CSR,
impacting on the student and
staff experioence
On-going
CMT
On going
VCG support
6. To review our current Academic Workload Allocation
Model (AWAM) and implement changes
7. To implement early career researchers development
programme.
8. To develop and implement Research Fellowships
9. To prepare Customer Service Excellence (Charter Mark)
‘whole-institution’ re-accreditation action plan by November
2009
12. HR Services to lead on the implementation of UEL’s
Corporate and Social Responsibility Policy
31
Director of Student Services
Secretary and Registrar,
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
CMT members
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
TBA
13. Further explore whether the ‘Customer First’ standard
can be applied to other Services and Schools wishing to
offer consultancy and research services to external
stakeholders
To ensure we take full
advantage of the skills and
knowledge available within UEL
and improve our knowledge
transfer capability.
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change) and
Director of Knowledge Dock
Achieved for Knowledge
Dock for rest of UEL
March 2009
1. To implement second all-staff survey
To gain feedback on staff
consultation & communications
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
By March 2009
2. Monitor the responses of the 2009 Staff Survey,
investigating any negative perceptions
To gain staff feedback and
identify areas for continuous
development
Improve the quality and
consistency of change
management within UEL
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change)
By March 2009
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy and Change),
Senior HR Manager (Policy
and Operations and HR
Managers
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy & Change)
HR Services Director,
Senior HR Manager
(Strategy & Change)
Nov 09
Initial review June 2008
and then on going
Web Team –
Libby Norman
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
End of 2010
VCG/CMT
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
On going
Exhibitors to
event
STAFF CONSULTATION AND ENGAGMENT
3. HR Services to provide further guidance to managers on
managing change processes.
4. Devise and implement post re-recognition IIP action plan
5. Review and modernise HR Services’ website
Maintain IIP Status and good
practice
Improve the usability and
accessibility of the website and
therefore enhance staff
awareness of HR Policies and
Processes
Bristol on line
surveys
Line managers
being receptive
and supported
Throughout 2009
HEALTH AND SAFETY
1. The OHSU Policy and sub-policies will be further reviewed
and updated. Further policies and procedures will be developed
to ensure compliance with any new legislation
2. The Wise Up event will be held annually, on an on-going
basis. Additional, OH events to be provided in line with NHS
Improved the usability of the
policies and compliance with new
legislation.
Improved awareness of OHSU
services
32
health promotion calendar.
3. Provide H & S Co-ordinators with further training and
coaching support via their forum.
Increase the confidence and
capabilities of H&S Co-ordinators
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
On going
To monitor school/service
performance on health and safety
and to advise them of current best
practice and areas for
improvement
Improved awareness of
Occupational Health referrals
Secretary & Registrar and
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
On going
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
From Nov 2008
6. Evaluate the positive impacts of the Occupational H & S
initiatives on occupational and general sickness absence levels,
setting benchmarks for continuous improvement
7. Monitor the turnaround times for Occupational Health Reports
and the timeliness of any follow up action as an indicator of the
improved customer service offered by OHSU
8. OHSU to further promote the services that they offer including
the role of Occupational Health
9. Ensure all staff receive mandatory Health and Safety training
and that attendance is closely monitored and broken down by
School and Service
To monitor the impact of OHSU
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
On going
To improve the quality of the
service offered
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
From July 2008 and then
on going
Improved awareness of the
services offered by OHSU
Improved take up on mandatory
training and therefore overall
health and safety of staff at UEL
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
Occupational Health & Safety
Manager
10. Schools to make greater efforts to track the whereabouts of
their academic staff at all times and encourage the reporting of
sickness absence
11. Actively promote a holistic health programme, utilising
services currently offered by the School of Health and
Bioscience, e.g. podiatry particularly for our manual grade staff
such as security, catering and maintenance staff .
To enable a full and realistic
picture of academic sickness
absence rates
To help combat work related
stress and promote productivity
Deans of School / CMT
Partially linked to HR
website review
Monitored from June 2008,
all staff to receive up to
date training by December
2009
On going
4. To continue with the occupational health and safety audit
programme of schools/services using HASMAP, in conjunction
with UEL’s Secretary and Registrar.
5. Promote the revised internal and external Occupational
Health referral arrangements
33
Senior HR Manager (Strategy
and Change) and
Occupational Health and
Safety Manager
By December 2009
Support from
CMT
CMT/Line
managers
Trent HR
Database
VCG/CMT
Health and Bio
Name of School or Service: HR Services
Learning and Development Plan for HR Services
Report for 2007/08
Brief Summary of Generic Learning and Development Needs that Arose from the 2007 SDR Process
and Annual Plan.
The needs that arose were:





HR Managers (HRMs) and HR Administrators (HRAs) needed regular employment law updating to
enable them to give accurate guidance and advice to their customers.
All members of HR Services needed to update their skills and knowledge of using Windows
technology to enable them to keep up to date with technological advances and to be more
technologically competent.
Senior managers within HR Services needed to ensure regular professional engagement with
professional organisations so that they could increase their networks and share/develop good
practice.
To keep up with modern trends in the HR sector and to meet more complex and increasing business
needs/change agendas HR Services wanted to explore the value of HR business partnerships for
the university, the processes for setting up business partnering and the constraints that would need
to be addressed.
To bring on stream e-recruitment to free HRAs administrative capacity to support HRMS to develop
their business partnering roles.
What did you prioritise for implementation?
We prioritised all of the above as follows:





HRMS and HRAs attended regular employment updates via Mills and Reeves annual events; UPA
Development days; UCEA seminars and regular published guidance circulated.
All HR Services teams have committed to achieving ECDL qualification; two have completed this
and others are at various stages of completion.
Senior managers engaged with professional organisations related to their roles such as the London
staff developers regional and national group; the national organisational development group; the
Network for Black Managers in FE/HE; ECC HERA briefings; IOSH meetings and conferences; IIP
conferences and briefings; UPA conferences.
HR Services team attended a one day customised workshop on business partnering to explore the
principles, value, issues and constraints and to develop a subsequent action plan.
Decision to purchase Stonefish as the e recruitment software made and budget fixed with
development on use to follow.
Please comment on how learning and development activity as indicated above supported your Annual
Plan.
As a result of the above activities and in particular the activities based around the principles of business
partnering, HR Services was reorganised and this was approved by the Vice Chancellors group. The re
organisation freed up the capacity of HRMS to develop business partnering behaviours, give them time
resources to be more fully engaged with the needs of their internal customers and deliver “bite size” training
on our policies and procedures to ensure continuous updating and compliance with these.
The annual plan includes a detailed action plan of projects that each member of HR services is responsible
for.
What activities do you plan to take forward into 2008/09.
All the above are ongoing. All SDRS for 2007/08 are completed and aggregated needs are reflected in plans
for 2008/09. A summary of individual learning and development needs is attached.
34
Learning and Development Plan 2008/09
Planned activities for 2008/09 arising from School/Service Annual Plan and generic learning and
development needs identified from the 2008 SDR process.
Development need
Planned activity
To update all HRMs
and HRAs with points
based system
One workshop by
the Home Office
planned for August
2008
Test centre now set
up at Duncan
House to enable
colleagues to
practice and
complete tests
Each member of
the senior team will
attend events
organised for e.g.
the Learning and
Development
Manager is to
attend the annual
Staff Developers
Conference in
November 2008
September 08 Mills
and Reeves update
session for HR
team; May UPA
Development date
plus other updates
as appropriate
Continuation with
completion of ECDL
Engagement with
professional
organisations
Employment Law
updating
Indicators to use in evaluating the outcome
for planning in 2008/09
 Define and regulate our own systems
as required by the new points based
system
Financial Cost

£300

A minimum of 3 colleagues completing
the full qualification

£2,500

Feedback at SMT meetings on good
practice shared
Changes to HR Services practice

£2,000







Train HR team in
using Stonefish an
follow this up with
training for all
Schools and Services
January 09
By in house
coaching
Train HR team in
i-Trent database
April 09

By in house
coaching



HR team fully conversant with changes
in law
Able to advise and guide with accuracy
and confidence
Increased customer satisfaction
 £Nil
Part of UPA annual
subscription
A streamlined e-recruitment system
Decrease in administrative workload
More effective recruitment and selection
support for managers
Efficiencies gained via an on line
process

£Nil
Enable individuals at UEL to view
personal details, payslips; book leave
Enable managers to monitor and seek
reports on annual leave; sickness
absence for example
Supports the business partnering
approach

£Nil
35