The People Strategy Committee is a new senior forum dedicated to the University’s most important asset — the staff who deliver our research, teaching and professional services.

Chaired by Council member Lynette Eastman, its membership includes the Vice Chancellor, Council members, external representatives and senior representatives from our academic and professional services colleagues.

Meeting quarterly, the Committee reviews strategy, advises on approaches and drives delivery on initiatives to improve conditions, ways of working and methods of engagement.

At its meeting in February, the Committee focused on three key areas:

Our People Priorities: responding to the Staff Engagement Survey, and considering our strategic aims as a University, the Committee agreed that the key priorities for our people should be:

• improving equality and diversity in all our staff communities;
• providing the conditions to nurture our people’s talent;
• delivering effective and fair reward and recognition;
• enhancing leadership skills and their application;
• navigating the implications of Brexit;
• supporting our staff culture and wellbeing;
• reforming HR systems; and
• introducing a new approach to staff engagement.

Performance Management: the PDPR process is undergoing review, in particular looking at the staff feedback on some of its key challenges – an ineffective ratings system, the link to reward and the lack of focus on behaviours.

The Committee discussed the PDPR challenges at the University and reviewed a range of performance review approaches, aiming to encourage bold changes and be a sector leader in performance management.

• The Committee tasked the Director of Human Resources to explore the following areas as part of the PDPR review:
• evaluate how performance reviewers are selected and trained to ensure they have the skills to lead constructive conversations;
• examine if there is a need for ratings as well as the current link between PDPR and reward;consider how to introduce reward and recognition for teams, given that so many of our academic achievements are the work of teams;
• consider timescales to better reward high performers, recognise good achievers and support promotion.

The Committee suggested that certain changes could be tested through a piloted approach; and underlined the importance of engaging staff to fully understand what they seek in a new PDPR system.

Gender Pay: the Committee noted that the University’s statutory report on its gender pay gap would be published in March. While there is not an issue of equal pay by gender, there is a considerable gender pay gap caused largely by demographic factors over many years. A series of initiatives will be introduced to close the gap principally by recruiting more women into senior grades and more men into junior roles which would achieve better diversity at all levels.

The Committee will meet again on 25 April 2018.