Pay & Conditions: next steps
Professor Dame Kay Davies, Chair of the Pay & Conditions Steering Committee, provides an update on next steps for the review, after Council received the Committee’s findings earlier this month
Kay Davies chairs the Pay & Conditions Steering Committee. She completed her undergraduate studies at Somerville College and worked as a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College. In 1998, she was elected as Dr Lee’s Professor of Anatomy and a Fellow of Hertford College. Kay was Head of the Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics (DPAG) from 2008 to 2011, where she continues to run a research group. She is also a founding fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
I am pleased to confirm that the Pay & Conditions Steering Committee reported to Council on schedule, on 5 February. As Anne Trefethen, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, People & Digital, outlined in her blog last month, Council members will be discussing the findings and recommendations, and their implications for the University, at the Council away-day on 4 March.
Much has been achieved since committee work on this project got underway in June 2023. The scope of our review, which was informed by input from colleagues across the University from the outset, has been necessarily broad. We have looked at pay, reward and recognition, the full range of benefits the University offers, and how the University invests in people more generally.
This has involved a huge amount of data gathering and analysis, benchmarking for different staff groups and against a range of comparators. We have considered feedback from colleagues provided through a range of forums. In 2023, there were two all-staff events (including an Open Forum in May, and a Town Hall-style meeting in October which attracted more than 730 registrations) and we held nine 90-minute staff focus groups in October. As well as more than 200 questions raised before and during the Town Hall event, we have reviewed 229 pieces of input shared via the staff feedback form which was actively promoted between August and November.
In the course of our review, we have also considered a range of related projects already underway, including, amongst others, the work of the Academic Career and Reward Framework, Digital Transformation, the Strategic Review of Professional Services, the evolving People Plan, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion strategies, and the wellbeing support provided by Thriving at Oxford.
Along with my colleagues on the Committee who are drawn from across the collegiate University, we have benefited from the expertise of members from a range of sectors outside of the University and the support of independent reward specialists. I am extremely grateful for all the input they have provided, and to my colleagues in the Pay & Conditions project team.
Consultation and governance
So, what’s next? After Council have had a chance to discuss our recommendations in March, its members will need time to engage with divisional leadership around prioritisation and implementation, and with the Conference of Colleges where there may be implications for colleges.
As part of this process, and in line with the University’s committee governance structure, there is likely to be further discussion by colleagues at Planning and Resource Allocation Committee (PRAC), People Committee and Finance Committee meetings in the second half of April and early May.
Publishing outcomes
Our expectation is that Council should be in a position to agree next steps when it reconvenes on 13 May. In that case, the findings and outcomes of the review will be published and shared with all staff later that month, as work gets underway on implementation.
In the meantime, you can find an archive of news and updates on the Pay & Conditions webpages, which are regularly updated and will soon be expanded to include more information about the review phase and what’s next. There are also more than 35 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the scope and activity of the review. Additional FAQs will be added in the weeks and months ahead, to keep everyone informed.
As a committee, we have set out an ambitious vision for pay and conditions at the University and we believe there is much to be done. I am looking forward to supporting this next phase of the review and to seeing how our recommendations can be taken forward.
