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Consultation on changes to UCL Recruitment, Selection and Appointments Policy and UCL Secondment Procedures

19 October 2016

As part of an ongoing review of UCL's HR policies and procedures, a

Quad lit ucl.ac.uk/hr/consultation/index-recruitement.php">new UCL Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy and new Secondment procedures have been drafted in consultation with the campus trade unions. It is proposed that these will replace the existing Recruitment and Selection Policy and the Secondment guidance.

The new policy and procedures have been drafted in the new standard template, which aims to provide clarity and ensure that policies and procedures are more accessible and easier to understand for staff and managers. This effectively separates core policy from detailed process and guidance. Policy is clearly identified and procedures and additional guidance, including flowcharts and forms, are now generally included as appendices to the main policy document.

The Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy determines the procedures to be followed when conducting the recruitment, selection, and appointment of new staff and facilitates consistency amongst recruiting managers. It also provides managers with more flexibility in workforce planning, and supports the development and promotion of people in under-represented groups. The new Secondment procedures have been drafted in conjunction with the Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy to provide better clarity on the advertisement of secondments. The new secondment agreements are legally binding and cover the necessary information required by UCL and any external organisations concerned. The procedures have been drafted to be compliant with the ACAS Code of Practice.

High level changes proposed include:

Recruitment, selection and appointment

  • addition of a recruitment checklist
  • addition of Chair's guidance when conducting recruitment exercises
  • new templates for interview notes (important if recruitment decisions are challenged)
  • improved job description and person specification template for consistency of style and to aide job matching
  • Raised awareness of unconscious bias, included to support UCL's equality aims of increased BME and senior female appointments
  • Changes to advertising requirements and options for appointment following secondment, long term acting up, or fixed term appointments to promote internal career development opportunities (in conjunction with the secondment procedure).

Secondment

  • clarification on advertising internal secondments
  • streamlined procedure for short term secondments
  • changes to advertising requirements and options for appointment following secondment to promote internal career development opportunities (in conjunction with the Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy)
  • new templates for the secondment agreement

It is proposed that this new policy will apply to all current and new UCL staff.

All employees are now invited and encouraged to review the proposed documents and share their comments to feed into final discussions before formal approval is sought for the policy. The all staff consultation is open from 17-30 October 2016.

To participate, please visit the consultation website

Ben Webb, Senior Employment Policy Adviser, UCL Human Resources