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Career Development for Professional Services and Technical Staff

Career Development for PSS

Unlike academic staff at UCL, who are considered for promotion to a higher grade on the basis of their personal impact and achievements in the discipline, PSS are appointed to work at a specific grade. PSS jobs are graded based on the duties and responsibilities required. For a PSS job to be re-graded there must be a significant change in the duties/responsibilities that are required of the job.  At appraisal, all PSS are encouraged to review their job description including any additional roles or responsibilities they have taken on or relinquished during the past year and discussions are held around these to help staff be considered for regrading. 

Technical Staff

UCL employs approximately 1000 highly skilled technical staff with a diverse range of expertise essential to delivering the university’s research, education and knowledge transfer mission.

To recognise the contribution made by this group of staff, the university has joined a sector wide campaign led by a steering group of sector bodies, with support from the Science Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Technicians Make It Happen campaign, called the Technician Commitment, which aims to ensure visibility, training and career development for technicians working in all disciplines. This national group has identified a need for greater coordination and collective action across the sector to improve the status and profile of technicians and to ensure sustainability of the technical workforce in academia and research.

To find out more about what the University has done and is planning to do under these themes, please take a look at our 24-month action plan.

PDF icon Technician Commitment - Self-assessment and action plan.pdf


For further information, contact Zara Chaudhry, Senior Organisational Development Consultant. 

 

Secondments at UCL

 Secondment allows UCL to maintain critical services across the University, and to deploy skills where they are most needed, on a temporary basis and without making a permanent commitment. Secondment may be utilised for a variety of reasons, for example, to cover vacant roles, to undertake specific projects, or to assist areas where there are peaks in workload. 

The opportunity also allows the secondee to broaden their experience and develop skills while retaining the right to return to their substantive post at the end of the secondment. This can be a valuable asset when applying for incremental spine points or re-grading. 

Accelerated Incremental Progression
UCL Policy for regrading PSS jobs

Unlike academic staff at UCL, who are considered for promotion to a higher grade on the basis of their personal impact and achievements in the discipline, professional services staff are appointed to work at a specific grade. Professional services jobs are placed in a grade on the basis of the duties and responsibilities that are required to be undertaken by UCL. For a professional services job to be re-graded there needs to be a significant change in the duties and responsibilities that are required of the job.

Grading process for existing jobs (Agreed Route)
Where a member of staff, their line manager and FM/HPS (or delegate) agree that the duties and responsibilities required to perform a job have changed significantly such that the job may require a re-grading check, they should amend the relevant JD to reflect the changed duties and responsibilities of the job. Once a member of staff, their manager and FM/ HPS (or delegate) have reached agreement on a re-drafted JD and recommended grade, by reference to an agreed existing job description (examples available), they should revert to step four in the Grading process for new jobs and follow the remainder of that process. The HR Business Partnering contact will advise on any grading and fairness issues arising during this process. This might include an assessment of the impact on other post holders. If a new grade for the job is agreed and there are no apparent knock-on fairness issues for other post holders (e.g. others with the same JD), the assigned HR Business Partnering contact will inform the HR Services team so that the regrading can be processed.

 

Grading process for existing jobs (Direct Route)
Where a line manager or FM/ HPS (or delegate) are unable to agree that changes to duties and responsibilities are needed or merit a re-grading, they should discuss this with the member of staff. Following this the member of staff may still propose revisions to the relevant job description, to reflect their view of the changed duties and responsibilities of the job, showing the tracked changes. The member of staff should submit the amended job description and recommended grade to their line who will either confirm that the job description reflects the duties and responsibilities required to perform the job, or will return the amended job description to the member of staff for further amendment. Once the member of staff and their line manager have reached agreement that the re-drafted job description is accurate, the manager should submit the draft job description along with the recommended grade to the FM or HPS (or delegate) for approval. Such submissions should be copied for information to HoDs in academic faculties or relevant departmental contacts in Professional Services divisions. The FM/ HPS (or delegate) should endeavour to assist the manager and the member of staff to reach agreement on the appropriate grade for the job. If it is still not possible to reach agreement on the relevant grade for an agreed job description, the member of staff may submit the job description and their recommended grade to their HR Business Partnering contact, along with details of the JD that the role has been matched to, if applicable. The HR Business Partnering contact will review the amended job description and determine the appropriate grade. The HR Business Partnering contact will advise on any grading and fairness issues arising during this process. This might include an assessment of the impact on other post holders. If a new grade for the job is the outcome, the assigned HR Business Partnering contact will discuss this with the line manager in the first instance. If a higher grade is the agreed action (rather than a reallocation of additional duties taken on), then the HR Services team will be asked to process the regrading. The HR Business Partnering contact will send the approved job description, including its grade, to the generic job evaluation email address. It will then be logged on the database of agreed job descriptions for future reference.
Workshops and supporting materials

Career Development Workshop for Professional Services & Technical Staff

In 20 November 2024 we organised our first IoN Career Development Workshop for Technical and Professional Services Staff. This workshop was designed for all technical and professional services staff at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology who are interested in advancing their careers, as well as managers and mentors supporting their teams' development. It aimed to explore career development options, opportunities, and rewards for professional services and technical staff, providing practical guidance and support.

Workshop Agenda:
14:00: Welcome and Introduction;
14:05: Overview of UCL career development processes - Laura Allum, IoN HR Manager;
14:55: Overview of UCL apprenticeships - Paula Sandamas, Apprenticeship Manager, UCL Organisational Development;
15:10: Case Study Panels and Q&A.

The group split into two: 

  • Speakers for Technical staff: Steffy Czieso, Lab Operations Manager, UCL IoN; Sam Crawford, PhD Student (former Research Technician) ; 
  • Speakers for Professional Services staff: Geoff Dunk, Director of Operations, UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences; Dimitrios Zachos, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Project Manager, UCL IoN.

The following areas were covered:

  • Different career paths;
  • Benefits of training, secondments, shadowing, and other developmental opportunities;
  • Guidance on the criteria and process for performance-based accelerated incremental progression;
  • Process for re-grading;
  • Redeployment;
  • Resources and support available.

Recording of the main workshop session

Professional Services case studies that followed the main session

The Technician case studies weren’t recorded, but you may

.