Equality and Diversity Annual

Report 2010

Monitoring data

Associate Lecturer Staff

1

Published: September 2010

Comments or queries about this report are welcomed and should be sent for the attention of the Head of Equality and Diversity.

The Equality and Diversity Office

University Secretary’s Office

The Open University

Walton Hall

Milton Keynes

MK7 6AA

Tel 01908 652867 / 652566

Minicom 01908 653074

Email

Web www.open.ac.uk/equality-diversity


Contents

General 5

About associate lecturer staff 5

Age 7

Workforce Composition 7

Recruitment 8

AL Development Fund 9

Leavers 10

Reasonable Adjustments 11

Disability 12

Workforce Composition 12

Recruitment 13

AL Development Fund 14

Leavers 15

Reasonable Adjustments 16

Ethnicity 17

Workforce Composition 17

Recruitment 19

AL Development Fund 21

Leavers 22

Reasonable Adjustments 23

Gender 24

Workforce Composition 24

Recruitment 25

AL Development Fund 26

Leavers 27

Reasonable Adjustments 27


Associate Lecturer Staff

General

About associate lecturer staff

Teaching is carried out by a network of associate lecturer (AL) staff and as at April 2010, the University had 7,388 staff in this category. Teaching is carried out through face-to-face tutorials, email, telephone, correspondence and electronic conferencing. Staff work from home and at tutorial locations throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The recruitment pool is typically local and regional/national.

Notes on the data

The 2010 reporting period is from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. Where data was available, the previous four or five years is reported.

Data is based on the applicant’s appointing region/nation. This can be different to the region/nation where the member of staff is actually working, as some low population programmes and courses are managed from hub locations.

‘Specialist tutors’ (tutors who are teaching on the Initial Teacher Education Programme) are included in this report, although they are not associate lecturer staff, having different terms and conditions of employment.

Appointments to associate lecturer jobs last for the lifetime of a course, subject to there being sufficient students on each subsequent presentation.

Workforce composition

Data for five years is included.

Data by region/nation and by faculty for the most recent year is available to staff in Excel format. Where an AL is appointed in more than one region/nation or faculty then the AL is double counted. This means the total number of ALs by region/nation and by faculty is higher than the workforce headcount.

Recruitment

There are three stages to the associate lecturer staff recruitment process (application, short listing, appointment), however data is currently not recorded for the short listing stage and is therefore not included in this report. Data for one year is included and data for five years is shown in chart format.

With effect from June 2010 the University’s current policy of internal only recruitment will be extended to include the recruitment of associate lecturers. This change will affect the ability to diversify the AL staff body further in the short to medium term.

Progression

All associate lecturer staff are appointed to the first of three points on the salary scale for the course they have been appointed to. On completion of probation staff move to the second point on the scale and to the third point once they have accumulated a specified amount of experience. It is therefore unlikely that the process can discriminate against staff on grounds of age, disability, ethnicity or gender and monitoring is therefore not carried out. However, ALs will move to a new salary structure in July 2010 and consideration will need to be given to whether the new structure will have discretionary elements that may require equality monitoring.


Associate Lecturer Staff

Training & Development

AL staff are expected to undertake the equivalent of up to two days staff development per year. The data in relation to this is not recorded consistently and has therefore been excluded. Staff are eligible to apply to a Development Fund and data is included in this report showing the proportion of staff in each group who applied and the proportions that were successful and unsuccessful. Data is available for the previous four years.

Leavers

Data for the past year is shown in detail, including a turnover calculation, breakdown of reason for leaving and whether voluntary or involuntary. Summary data for 5 years is included. Please note that although retirements have been grouped under voluntary leavers, this is not strictly accurate, as some staff may have chosen to work beyond the University’s mandatory retirement age of 65.

Grievance, Disciplinary, Bullying & Harassment

In line with the Monitoring Strategy set out in our equality scheme, data on grievances, disciplinary cases and bullying and harassment cases is monitored and reported every 2 years and is not included in this report.

Reasonable Adjustments

The data used in this report is not comprehensive and should not be relied upon for analysing trends. Regional and national centres deal with requests for reasonable adjustments as they occur and do not routinely record data where adjustments can be made easily and quickly, often without major cost. It is likely that only more complex requests are recorded due to the need for these to be escalated. There is no record of any requests being declined in 2009-10.


Associate Lecturer Staff

Age

Workforce Composition

Table 1: Distribution of staff by age (2005 – 2010)

2005-6 / 2006-7 / 2007-8 / 2008-9 / 2009-10
Age / No. / % / No. / % / No. / % / No. / % / No. / %
21 - 25 / 2 / 0.0 / 6 / 0.1 / 4 / 0.1 / 12 / 0.2% / 12 / 0.2%
26 - 30 / 72 / 0.9 / 106 / 1.4 / 110 / 1.5 / 173 / 2.3% / 174 / 2.4%
31 - 35 / 337 / 4.4 / 368 / 4.8 / 344 / 4.6 / 432 / 5.8% / 450 / 6.1%
36 - 40 / 607 / 8.0 / 679 / 8.8 / 665 / 8.8 / 702 / 9.5% / 719 / 9.7%
41 - 45 / 871 / 11.4 / 907 / 11.8 / 889 / 11.8 / 911 / 12.3% / 920 / 12.5%
46 - 50 / 1085 / 14.2 / 1140 / 14.8 / 1094 / 14.5 / 1119 / 15.1% / 1126 / 15.2%
51 - 55 / 1288 / 16.9 / 1283 / 16.7 / 1210 / 16.0 / 1220 / 16.4% / 1165 / 15.8%
56 - 60 / 1463 / 19.2 / 1447 / 18.8 / 1422 / 18.8 / 1359 / 18.3% / 1280 / 17.3%
61 - 65 / 1236 / 16.2 / 1187 / 15.4 / 1215 / 16.1 / 1098 / 14.8% / 1123 / 15.2%
66 and over / 665 / 8.7 / 560 / 7.3 / 599 / 7.9 / 399 / 5.4% / 419 / 5.7%
Grand Total / 7626 / 100.0 / 7683 / 100.0 / 7552 / 100.0 / 7425 / 100.0% / 7388 / 100.0%

The majority of ALs employed over the past five years are between 56 and 60 years of age. This is likely to be due to the fact that ALs are entitled to prior consideration for tutoring posts if they are in a potential redundancy situation and as a result the University retains ALs for longer.

In 2009-10 38.2% of ALs were aged 56 and over. However, between 2005/06 and 2009/10, there was a substantial increase in the proportion of ALs aged 26 to 35, from 5.3% to 8.5% and aged 36 to 45, from 19.4% to 22.2%. This trend is especially evident in the past 2 years.

Chart 1: Composition of staff by age (2005 – 2010)


Associate Lecturer Staff

Age

Recruitment

Table 2: Previous year applicants and appointees by age (2009-10)

Applicants / Appointees / % of applicants appointed
Age / Actual / % / Actual / %
20 & under / 1 / 0.01% / 0 / 0% / 0%
21 – 25 / 137 / 1.47% / 4 / 1.3% / 2.9
26 – 30 / 906 / 9.70% / 34 / 10.7% / 3.8
31 – 35 / 1247 / 13.36% / 47 / 14.8% / 3.8
36 – 40 / 1365 / 14.62% / 67 / 21.1% / 4.9
41 – 45 / 1285 / 13.76% / 48 / 15.1% / 3.7
46 – 50 / 1360 / 14.57% / 50 / 15.7% / 3.7
51 – 55 / 1250 / 13.39% / 42 / 13.2% / 3.4
56 – 60 / 1098 / 11.76% / 20 / 6.3% / 1.8
61 – 65 / 612 / 6.56% / 6 / 1.9% / 1.0
66 + / 75 / 0.80% / 0 / 0% / 0.0
Total / 9336 / 318 / 3.4

In 2009-10 the highest percentage of applicants were those aged 36 to 40 and aged 46 to 50. Applicants aged 36 to 40 were the most likely to be appointed, a similar pattern to previous years.

Chart 2: Five year experience of applicants appointed by age (2005 – 2010) by proportion of applicants applied and appointed


Associate Lecturer Staff

Age

AL Development Fund

A lower percentage of the workforce overall applied to the fund compared to last year, 1.9% compared to 2.2%.

For the past four years, with the exception of staff aged 56 and over, staff in all age bands were equally as likely to apply to the fund. In 2009-10 there were 133 successful applicants to the fund and 5 unsuccessful applicants, with older staff being marginally less likely to be successful, bearing in mind that the actual number of unsuccessful applicants is very small.

Table 3: Development fund applications and outcomes by age (2009-10)

Successful applicants / Unsuccessful applicants / Total number ALs / Proportion of the workforce that applied / Proportion of successful applicants / Proportion of unsuccessful applicants
No. / % / No. / % / No. / % / % / %
26 - 35 / 14 / 10.5% / 0 / 0.0% / 624 / 2.2 / 100.0 / 0.0
36 - 45 / 30 / 22.6% / 1 / 20.0% / 1639 / 1.9 / 96.8 / 3.2
46 - 55 / 51 / 38.3% / 2 / 40.0% / 2291 / 2.3 / 96.2 / 3.8
56 and over / 38 / 28.6% / 2 / 40.0% / 2822 / 1.4 / 95.0 / 5.0
Total / 133 / 100.0% / 5 / 100.0% / 7376 / 1.9 / 96.4 / 3.6

Table 4: Development fund applications and outcomes by age (four years 2006-10)

Total number ALs / Proportion of the workforce that applied / Proportion of successful applicants / Proportion of unsuccessful applicants
No. / % / % / %
26 - 35 / 2157 / 2.2 / 95.7 / 4.3
36 - 45 / 6392 / 2.1 / 97.7 / 2.3
46 - 55 / 9357 / 2.3 / 97.2 / 2.8
56 and over / 12108 / 1.6 / 97.4 / 2.6
Total / 30014 / 1.9 / 97.3 / 2.7


Associate Lecturer Staff

Age

Leavers

Table 5: Leavers by age (2009-10)

Voluntary / Involuntary / Total Leavers / Average headcount / Voluntary turnover / Involuntary turnover / Total turnover
Age / No. / % / No. / % / No. / % / No. / % / % / %
21 -25 / 0 / 0.0% / 0 / 0.0% / 0 / 0.0%
26 - 30 / 22 / 2.5% / 2 / 0.5% / 24 / 1.9% / 173.5 / 12.7 / 1.2 / 13.8
31 - 35 / 76 / 8.7% / 17 / 4.1% / 93 / 7.2% / 441 / 17.2 / 3.9 / 21.1
36 - 40 / 83 / 9.5% / 19 / 4.6% / 102 / 7.9% / 710.5 / 11.7 / 2.7 / 14.4
41 - 45 / 117 / 13.3% / 44 / 10.6% / 161 / 12.5% / 915.5 / 12.8 / 4.8 / 17.6
46 - 50 / 112 / 12.8% / 56 / 13.5% / 168 / 13.0% / 1122.5 / 10.0 / 5.0 / 15.0
51 - 55 / 119 / 13.6% / 75 / 18.0% / 194 / 15.0% / 1192.5 / 10.0 / 6.3 / 16.3
56 - 60 / 113 / 12.9% / 82 / 19.7% / 195 / 15.1% / 1319.5 / 8.6 / 6.2 / 14.8
61 - 65 / 127 / 14.5% / 102 / 24.5% / 229 / 17.7% / 1110.5 / 11.4 / 9.2 / 20.6
66+ / 108 / 12.3% / 19 / 4.6% / 127 / 9.8% / 409 / 26.4 / 4.6 / 31.1
Total / 877 / 100.0% / 416 / 100.0% / 1293 / 100.0% / 7406.5 / 11.8 / 5.6 / 17.5

In 2009-10 the highest percentage of leavers were aged 61-65 which is a change to previous years which recorded the highest percentage of leavers in the age groups 51-55 for the years 2004 to 2008 and 56-60 for 2009.

The high number of retirements in the age group 66+ is the result of the University’s mandatory retirement age at 65.

Table 6: Reasons for leaving by age (2009-10)

Involuntary / Voluntary
Redundant - course version ended / Redundant - drop in student numbers / Redundant - unknown reason / Resignation / Resignation from end of cvp* / Retirement
Age / Actual / % / Actual / % / Actual / % / Actual / % / Actual / % / Actual / %
26 - 30 / 1 / 0.4% / 1 / 0.5% / 0 / 0.0% / 22 / 3.1% / 0 / 0.0% / 0 / 0.0%
31 - 35 / 11 / 4.9% / 4 / 2.1% / 2 / 66.7% / 67 / 9.4% / 9 / 11.3% / 0 / 0.0%
36 - 40 / 12 / 5.3% / 6 / 3.2% / 1 / 33.3% / 76 / 10.6% / 7 / 8.8% / 0 / 0.0%
41 - 45 / 26 / 11.5% / 18 / 9.6% / 0 / 0.0% / 107 / 15.0% / 10 / 12.5% / 0 / 0.0%
46 - 50 / 22 / 9.7% / 34 / 18.2% / 0 / 0.0% / 106 / 14.8% / 6 / 7.5% / 0 / 0.0%
51 - 55 / 43 / 19.0% / 32 / 17.1% / 0 / 0.0% / 108 / 15.1% / 11 / 13.8% / 0 / 0.0%
56 - 60 / 46 / 20.4% / 36 / 19.3% / 0 / 0.0% / 102 / 14.3% / 11 / 13.8% / 0 / 0.0%
61 - 65 / 61 / 27.0% / 41 / 21.9% / 0 / 0.0% / 108 / 15.1% / 16 / 20.0% / 3 / 3.7%
66+ / 4 / 1.8% / 15 / 8.0% / 0 / 0.0% / 19 / 2.7% / 10 / 12.5% / 79 / 96.3%
Total / 226 / 100.0% / 187 / 100.0% / 3 / 100.0% / 715 / 100.0% / 80 / 100.0% / 82 / 100.0%

* cvp – course version presentation


Associate Lecturer Staff

Age

Table 7: Total leavers by age for five year period (2005 - 2010)

Total Leavers
Age / Actual / %
21 -25
26 - 30 / 89 / 1.4%
31 - 35 / 393 / 6.1%
36 - 40 / 595 / 9.3%
41 - 45 / 819 / 12.8%
46 - 50 / 945 / 14.7%
51 - 55 / 1067 / 16.6%
56 - 60 / 1052 / 16.4%
61 - 65 / 1051 / 16.4%
66+ / 402 / 6.3%
Total / 6414 / 100.0%

Reasonable Adjustments

Only 13 formal requests for reasonable adjustments were recorded in the past year, although it is suspected that many minor requests are met without being recorded. There is no record of any requests being declined in the past year.