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human resources
and organisational development strategy
2011-14
May 2011
1 Introduction
1.1 UWE wishes to develop into a new kind of university for the 21st century - one which continually strives for excellence in learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange, and one which extends educational opportunities to all who can benefit from them. The landscape of higher education is changing rapidly, and UWE needs to change with it. We aim to be adaptable, entrepreneurial and innovative in order to flourish in an increasingly competitive environment.
1.2 UWE also wishes to develop as an employer. We want to create a fair, healthy, supportive and positive working environment where staff are treated as individuals, and where diversity is welcomed. Individuals are expected to engage with the University’s strategic aims, and to contribute to the University’s and their own development; in return, individuals have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
1.3 The University has made substantial progress in improving people management over the past three years; we now need to go further. The aims of the human resources and organisational (HROD) strategy 2011-14 are to continue to improve the employment environment in pursuit of an excellent student experience.
1.4 This document describes the organisational context surrounding the HROD strategy's development, describes the strategy’s main themes, and gives details of how the strategy will be implemented and monitored.
2 Organisational context
2.1 The new HROD strategy 2011-14 has been developed within the following context:
a) external factors - changes to national education policy, HEFCE’s people management framework, and changes to employment and equality legislation;
b) internal factors - the University’s strategic plan, academic strategy, risk register, business change and innovation programme, annual financial plans, sustainability strategy and other relevant strategies and plans;
c) consultation – including feedback from governors, senior management teams, faculty and service management teams, HR managers and staff, trade unions, staff networks and student union representatives.
2.2 The consultation exercise sought views on anticipated challenges over the next three years. A summary of these views is given in appendix 1.
The University’s strategic plan 2007-12
2.3 The University’s vision is to be the UK’s best knowledge and learning partnership university. Our mission is to make a positive difference to our students, business and society. Our ethos of genuine partnership working enables UWE to successfully promote and drive opportunity, social justice, creativity and innovation.
2.4 UWE’s strategic focus is on the following themes:
· Innovation – pioneering and advancing in all we do
· Nurturing talent – providing an excellent staff experience
· Student experience – providing an excellent student experience
· Participation – raising aspirations and widen participation in HE
· Internationalisation – connecting globally through staff, students, curriculum
· Research – producing world-class research in areas of growth
· Exchange – making knowledge exchange and public engagement thrive
2.5 The HROD strategy 2011-14 will promote partnership working to achieve these strategic goals through the recruitment, development and deployment of world class staff.
University risk register
2.6 The University’s risk register identifies potential risks facing the University, and sets out actions to mitigate them. The HROD strategy 2011-14 will help to address the following employment related concerns in the University risk register:
a) attracting and retaining high calibre staff
b) building high performing teams
c) addressing staff impacts arising from organisational change and restructuring
d) complying with health and safety, employment and equality legislation
Sustainability strategy 2008-12
2.7 The University’s aim is to be recognised by students, staff and stakeholders as one of the top performing universities in the United Kingdom for its sustainability performance. The HROD strategy 2011-14 will improve people management practices (including internal communications, diversity, training and development and performance management) in support of these sustainability objectives.
Consultation events
2.8 A series of consultation events were held with different staff groups in 2010/11 to hear about people’s experiences about working for the University, and seeking feedback about the challenges they expect to face over the next three years. A summary of the feedback from these events is set out in Appendix 1.
2.9 These issues emerged as clearly the most important ones for staff, and they have therefore dictated the key themes and priorities for the HROD strategy.
3 Key themes
3.1 In response to the issues set out in the organisational context, and to support UWE’s aim to be a partnership university, the HROD strategy 2011-14 will focus on the following five key themes:
3.1 These key themes will be developed around the following activities:
· Excellence – attracting, developing and retaining world class staff, and building high performing teams across all levels within the University.
· Innovation – pioneering new approaches to working to improve service delivery to students, partners and stakeholders.
· Engagement – creating a positive and sustainable employment experience with new methods for recognising and rewarding achievement.
· Global - developing new approaches to staff procurement and deployment which meet the demands of diverse markets.
· Quality - providing new HR services which are fit for contemporary business environments and which meet customer requirements.
3.2 A summary of each theme, the consultation feedback, priority actions for the next three years, and key performance indicators is set out in appendix 2.
3.3 By 2014, the HROD strategy aims to help UWE to achieve the following key performance indicators:
· All annual PDRs will include an innovation or business improvement objective
· UWE will be a top 100 employer (measure: Sunday Times annual survey)
· 75% of staff would recommend UWE as place to work (measure: UWE staff survey)
· 70% of staff would rate HR services as good or better (measure: HR customer satisfaction survey)
· UWE will be in Stonewall’s top 100 UK diversity employers (measure: Stonewall’s annual workplace index)
4 Implementation
4.1 A detailed implementation plan will be put in place to ensure delivery of each of the strategy’s initiatives. This plan will identify lead managers, key dependencies and timeliness.
4.2 The implementation plan will be kept under review as new actions are likely to be identified over the next three years to take account of changing circumstances. The priority allocated to individual initiatives is also likely to change over time.
5 Equality impact assessment
5.1 An equality impact assessment of the HROD strategy has been carried out. A copy of the impact assessment will be published on the equality and diversity web site.
6 Monitoring arrangements
6.1 Annual progress reports on implementing the HROD strategy will be submitted to the Human Resources Committee (at the May meeting each year).
Appendix 1
Consultation feedback
Higher education context
Higher education institutes (HEIs) are no longer in a monopoly position as providers of knowledge and education. Private providers and other educational establishments are coming in to the market.
Increasing student fees will increase student demands. All HEIs face increasing competition for fewer, but more discerning students. HE cultures will need to change in order to meet raising expectations, and HE staff will need to modernise their ways of working, delivery methods and purpose in order to meet student needs.
Performance measurement and identifying and dealing with poor performance continues to be regarded as an endemic weakness in HEIs.
Pressure on university cost bases will lead to pressure on staff pay bills; staff related spending will be judged on its future rate of return.
UWE context
Securing, developing and retaining world class staff will be central to UWE’s future success. Turnover is low, however, and opportunities for attracting, promoting and advancing talented individuals will need to be improved.
All staff must align their efforts more closely to the UWE strategy, and seek ways to implement the INSPIRE vision and values statement.
Employment profiles will need to show a workforce that reflects student profiles, and the wider social and international context in which we will be operating.
We need to develop more teacher / practitioners. This can be achieved by supporting staff to pursue relevant training and qualifications. It can also be supported by bringing in practitioners on flexible contracts and by recruiting from new sectors.
Pay systems are static and are based on length of service. Opportunities to recognise or incentivise additional contribution are limited and need to be reviewed.
Staff enjoy working at UWE and are generally supportive of management. A significant proportion of staff, however, are not supportive with the pace and direction of University travel. More needs to be done to engage these staff.
Decision making is slow, is risk averse and is informed by the past not the future.
Change management at UWE is improving, but can still be better. More emphasis needs to be placed on realising benefits, and engaging all staff in implementation.
Relationships with the trade unions are ponderous and formulaic, and infused with a lack of trust. Good ideas from both parties can be deadened under the weight of employee relations procedures and meetings machinery.
Management capacity is variable. By end 2011, some 200 management roles will have been subject to selection processes. The new role holders will need both support and freedom to act in order to fulfil their new roles.
Change is here to stay. Change can be regarded, however, as the responsibility of small groups of managers. This needs to alter. All staff should be enabled to feel excited about innovation and engaged in change; they should be encouraged to seek ways of improving what they do and the service delivery to students.
Talent management is conducted on an ad hoc and piecemeal basis. People at either end of the performance spectrum need to be identified and targeted for action. Staff do not feel part of a systematic talent management and succession planning process, and this needs to be addressed.
We need to build a sustainable high-performance organisation in which individual members of staff take an active part in achieving the required outputs.
Need to align staff with the needs and value bases of an increasingly culturally diverse student population
Two way communication channels need to be improved so that information and feedback can flow vertically and horizontally through staff communities.
HR context
Management information is weak and needs to be improved.
The HR function will need to change and adapt to meet changing University requirements. HR’s purpose must align with the University business agenda.
HR structures must fit organisational needs, and HR staff will need to be more flexible and better equipped to respond to changing requirements.
Managers will need to be more closely involved in the design and testing of new HR policies, practices and systems.
HR needs better methods to assess future skills requirements, and adopt new development systems to continually up skill the workforce.
HR business support is traditional and limited. HR resources need to more closely aligned to business priorities and needs.
Appendix 2
HROD strategy 2011-14
Theme / Consultation feedback / HROD priority actionsInnovation / Recruit more graduate trainees, including graduate teaching assistant and similar early career roles
Recruit “practitioner” and similar staff with real world and business experience
Use flexible employment to engage external experts
Enable staff to move more easily between UWE and private sector / other employers
Improve systems of work to be more responsive to customer demands
Complete University change programmes
Achieve better efficiencies through new ways of working
Support continual review or organisational structures to respond to emerging demands
Introduce new contracts to support flexible employment methods
Develop more flexible work patterns to facilitate part time and other non standard working to meet university needs and facilitate work / life balance
Train staff to make better use of new teaching technologies to meet future student requirements / Set up “search” teams with faculty and service managers to identify potential new staff, and then ensure that recruitment criteria focus on assessing potential and attitude as much as experience
Develop “new blood” schemes to create headroom and improve recruitment and training of early career academics
Introduce new UWE contracts of employment to expand recruitment options and promote flexible employment in order to support UWE’s need for 24/7 working across international boundaries
Excellence / Provide better talent management
Help build high performing teams
Support better customer relations
Expand the UWE / HR score card
Improve management information / support
Embed the PDR scheme
Review HR policies (including recruitment, induction and probation)
Improve succession planning
Create “rising stars” programme to recruit newly qualified practitioners
Build UWE value, vision and strategy in to recruitment
Embed UWE standards in to staff contracts
Increase coaching / mentoring / buddying
Review management training
Provide secondments / project working
Build management capacity at all levels within organisation in order to promote distributed leadership
Develop career pathways
Develop competencies
All staff to be aligned with improving student experience
Lecturer / practitioners to be trained for professional registers
Use external benchmarks to compare ourselves
Performance needs better measurement and encouragement across all staff groups / Launch new talent management scheme to support workforce rejuvenation and succession planning at all levels
Introduce continuing professional development (CPD) records for all staff to promote annual acquisition of new skills to support UWE’s strategic objectives
Introduce new “leadership” standard in to annual PDRs for senior managers to measure and appraise management behaviours
Engagement / Reduce barriers between staff communities
Support well being / healthy university
Sustain motivation and goodwill
Support sustainability
Develop a future workforce
Conduct regular staff surveys
Improve the staff benefits package
Staff to commit to their role in delivering the “student charter”
Develop new models for trade union engagement
Improve face to face communication, and standardise frequency, consistency and content
Develop opportunities for staff to engage in project work, and secondments / Evaluate and develop new schemes for recognising and rewarding contribution and achievement
Conduct staff survey in 2011 and implement action plan to respond to survey findings
Devise new schemes for improving internal communications (including “face to face” methods) across all levels of the organisation
Global / Improve employment of overseas staff
Enable staff to be better prepared to teach international students
Employ overseas staff on local conditions
Prepare staff to work across international boundaries
Support international partnerships
Achieve workforce targets for women, BME staff and disabled staff
Publish single equality scheme
Continue equality impact assessments
Promote internationalisation
Develop positive action initiatives
Improve diversity training for all staff / Develop new recruitment and employment schemes to engage overseas staff, and implement new arrangements to support staff working across international boundaries
Publish single equality scheme
Meet UWE’s corporate workforce targets for women in top roles, BME staff and disabled staff
Quality / Speed up HR systems and make them easier to access and use
Enable speedier resolutions to casework
Provide greater clarity about who does what in HR
More support for managing stress
Establish service levels to meet customer requirements
Develop business partnering, consultancy and advice provision for managers
Provide employee and manager “self service”
Provide more “e-services”
Improve consultation and communication
Improve support for workforce planning to respond to fluctuations in demand
Review recruitment rules to enable more use of direct appointments / Develop new “self service” and “self sufficiency” tools and systems for staff and managers
Review HR structure to provide greater clarity for service users and to increase business support to managers
Work with student services to provide increasing numbers of internships and other work experience opportunities for UWE students
HROD strategy - key performance indicators