Yes, all staff are required to participate in the scheme. This is good practice for all staff at any stage in their career. PDR is an opportunity to discuss, at least once a year, issues relating to their role and how they can contribute to the success of the department and University and for you to have dedicated time with your reviewer.

PDR forms part of the terms and conditions of employment and as such is compulsory for all staff.

Your reviewer is usually your line manager. However, where the line manager has more than 12 reviewees, the responsibility may be split amongst a group of reviewers. The formal line manager will consider who is the most appropriate reviewer for each individual and this will be agreed at a pre-PDR planning meeting. This situation is most likely to occur in academic departments, where the head of department will allocate reviewees to principal lecturer reviewers who, though not formal line managers, have a management and leadership role and have responsibility for the development of staff.

If you disagree with the choice of reviewer you should contact your head of department to discuss. The head of department will consider the objection. If the head of department agrees that a different reviewer should be appointed he or she will discuss a suitable alternative with you.

The forms are there to help structure the discussion; they also provide a record of the meeting which is important for reviewing progress. However, the most important part of the review meeting is the discussion. The information on the forms can be as detailed as you want it to be and will depend on the role you have.

If you are worried about completing the forms please contact your supervisor/ line manager in the first instance. They can help you to complete the forms. If you are not comfortable with this, contact your HR advisor or a TU representative.

Yes. It’ s more important than ever to make sure that you are clear about what is expected of you following a re-structure. Such a major change as a departmental re-structure will more often than not have impacted on the achievement of the previous year’ s objectives, so the focus may well be on the changes that have happened, the impact on you and your role, revising objectives and clarifying expectations in the coming months.

Yes. As you leave, there is a risk that the University will lose your knowledge and skills unless plans are put in place to capture and retain them. PDR also offers you the opportunity to ensure that you are aware of support which the University can offer you with regard to financial planning and making the most of your retirement.

This will depend on your notice period. However, as a minimum, you do need to plan with your manager how you are going to handover current work to ensure that your replacement or other members of team are able to pick this up. Referring to your current PDR objectives is an obvious starting point for this.

A summary of the aims and linkages can be found here.

For any members of staff who are nearing retirement, PDR objectives to ensure knowledge transfer should be considered. There is a risk that the University will lose the valuable knowledge and skills of staff reaching retirement unless plans are put in place to prevent this. For example, members of staff nearing retirement are often ideally placed to offer coaching and mentoring to other members of staff. PDR also offers an opportunity to ensure that staff nearing retirement are aware of support which the University can offer with regard to financial planning and making the most out of their retirement.

Yes. For any department which has recently gone through a re-structure, PDRs are particularly important to ensure that staff are clear on their objectives for the coming year. PDRs are a key tool for establishing work priorities with staff and this is more vital than ever following a re-structure. Such a major change as a departmental re-structure will more often than not have impacted on the achievement of the previous year’s objectives, so there may well be less of a focus on this during the meeting with the focus instead on the changes that have happened, the impact on the particular staff member and their role, and expectations in the coming months.

Yes. Evidently, the PDR will be forward looking (part 2) in considering requirements for the individual in the coming months, but the setting of objectives and understanding of development and training requirements is crucial for new members of staff. This will help to ensure that they have clarity about what is expected of them over the coming months to enable them to plan appropriately.

In the first instance, best practice is to ask the reviewee for a copy of their review. This ensures that you get the most up-to-date version from the person who knows it best: the reviewee. However, a copy of previous reviews should be held on the individual’s personal file, so you can get a copy this way.

Creating an environment in which staff feel supported and secure is very important when approaching PDRs. Therefore, if a member of staff struggles with literacy, talk through the scheme with them. Identify key questions from the Questions to support the process of reflection which you would most like them to think about before the review. Suggestions are as follows:

• What are your main achievements/which of your objectives have you met from the last 12 months?
• What problems (if any) have you had in doing your job?
• Have you had any support to help you in solving these problems? If not, what might help you?

Following the review, you should offer to write up the documentation and agree a date when you will return this to them. Do not ask them to sign the documentation immediately but give them at least a few days (suggestion of a week) to take the form away to consider before they sign it off. This gives them the opportunity to get support from elsewhere (be that from a colleague or someone at home) who will be able to check through the form with them. Often, for individuals who have literacy problems, they have someone they trust who supports them in form filling etc. and you are giving them the space for this without drawing attention to it. If the member of staff would like you to talk through what you have written, then feel free to offer this support.

Discussing literacy problems can be very sensitive. If you feel comfortable to do so, talk to the member of staff about opportunities to develop their literacy skills. They can contact a free, confidential Government helpline – Get On – for an informal chat about improving their skills, on: 0800 66 0800.

Creating an environment in which staff feel supported and secure is very important when approaching PDRs. If an individual has a disability which is going to affect how the PDR is conducted, talk this through and agree between you how this should be managed. The individual is of course the expert when it comes to their impairment, so you should take the lead from him/her about what support he/she may need. If, however, he/she is not sure, you should make suggestions, e.g. you might suggest getting copies of the paperwork in a larger print, you might offer to write up the paperwork on their behalf or booking a meeting room with suitable access.

If you and/or the reviewee would like further advice on support which might be offered, you should contact your HR advisor.

If a reviewee has more than one job at the University, a decision will need to be made by the head(s) of department about how the review will take place. If the two roles are intrinsically linked, it is likely that there will be a joint review. However, if someone carries out two quite separate roles then it should be two separate meetings.

If the decision is to do a joint review, the reviewee should share their reflections (PDR Record part 1) with the manager/supervisor from both areas and both should reflect on areas that they want to see covered during the PDR. If there is any uncertainty/disagreement about the approach to take, you should discuss this with your head of department(s) to agree the most appropriate way forward.

No, you do not need to do a typical PDR. However, you do need to plan with them how they are going to handover current work to ensure that their replacement or other members of team are able to pick this up. Discussions about this should start as soon as possible after you have received notice of their resignation and referring to their current PDR objectives is an obvious starting point for this discussion.

Decisions about reviewing associate lecturers should be made by the head of department. This will depend upon the associate lecturer’ s contract: where he/she is part of the teaching team and teaches regularly for the University, then a PDR review should be undertaken with the associate lecturer. However, if he/she is only doing a few hours of teaching a term, then a PDR review would probably not be appropriate.

If the decision is made that a PDR will be carried out with the associate lecturer, 2 teaching hours should be added to their initial contract for the time that this will take.