August 2024 bulletin

Pay and Conditions review

We would like to confirm that the Oxford University Weighting (OUW) will be applied to all eligible staff, effective from 1 August 2024. This adjustment will be backdated and reflected in payroll from September 2024 payday onwards. 

Further details about the OUW application, its impact, and other outcomes - such as changes to Grades 1 - 3 and the introduction of the new Researcher grading scale - will be communicated to HR staff in the coming weeks. This update will include any actions required by departments.

News and updates

Details of upcoming Main and Casual payroll deadlines can be found on the Payroll website.   

Visit the Payroll deadlines and cycles page to learn more about the monthly payroll cycle, including the key monthly payroll dates for People Management users. 

Visit the Payroll website

Please click the links below to download the invites as a calendar reminder for the upcoming payroll deadlines and ‘no user input’ days:

We are thrilled to announce outstanding data quality results across the University this year! A huge thank you to everyone who has worked really hard to help us reach this milestone - 93% of management units achieved 95% or higher data quality. As of 13 August, we can report that:

  • 59% of administrative teams (split by 'Management Unit' in the org chart) across the University achieved a flawless 100% data quality within their areas.
  • 20% achieved over 99% accuracy.
  • 14% achieved between 95% and 99% accuracy.

This is an incredible accomplishment, and we are deeply grateful. Thanks to your dedication, the next steps that are highly laborious, extracting, manipulating and deriving further datasets - should be smoother and less time-consuming. We will keep you updated on our progress and will contact individual HESA data quality contacts to share results and achievements.

HESA completeness visual 13 Aug

Due to the increasing number of cases where individuals move from one appointment to another with an unpaid period between contracts, while keeping their continuous service, we have introduced a new PeopleXD appointment 'Reason code': 'TRANSFER GAP UNPAID (CONT SERV)'. This code should be used alongside the 'Action code' 'UNPAID LEAVE' and can be recorded by either the department the individual is leaving or the department they are joining. 

The appointing guidance has been updated to include this scenario.

Thanks to recent system improvements, we can now deactivate certain 'reference data' in PeopleXD that is no longer active and is prefixed with 'Z'. In collaboration with our Product Ownership Groups (POGs), we reviewed and identified data items beginning with 'Z' that can be disabled, eg ZZ - PATERNITY LEAVE DATES CHANGE.

We are pleased to report that we have now deactivated 14 items from the following dropdown lists in PeopleXD: 

  • Reason code
  • Applicant status
  • Employee status

Further reviews of additional data items are planned for the future.

  • 30 August: Clear errors for the Athena Swan recruitment dashboards.
  • 25 September: No HR Systems Support available due to 'Professional Service Conference'.
  • Throughout September: Be prepared to respond to any queries as we undertake rigorous HESA checks and prepare our submission.
  • 1 October: Prepare for the October increments for eligible academic-related staff. Ensure that:
    • a) the 'Increment due' dates are populated and accurate; and
    • b) the correct salary is approved prior to the increment date. (Further details will follow in September's bulletin).

Reminders

As we prepare for the wider rollout of the Leave and Absence functionality in PeopleXD, where employees will use HR Self-Service to manage their leave requests and absences, it's important to ensure that staff are comfortable with accessing and using HR Self-Service beforehand. To support this, please encourage staff to: 

  • Regularly log into HR Self-Service
  • Check and update their details (where possible)
  • Access their payslips

In addition, line managers can use Manager Self-Service to view their team and reporting structure. 

Comprehensive guidance on using HR Self-Service is available at: https://staff.web.ox.ac.uk/hr-self-service-user-guides. 

If you haven't yet done so, please ensure to record all Reward and Recognition Scheme nomination details, (for all awards), following the Reward and Recognition Scheme guide. Please refer to May 2024 bulletin for guidance.

The extract for the Athena Swan recruitment data dashboards will be taken on 1 September. To ensure accurate Athena Swan reporting, please clear all errors from Step 1 and Step 2 in the HRINFO21 Vacancy and applicant data quality reports by 30 August 2024, at the very latest. This may involve the need to add applicant status history data. 

Only vacancies with the status 'Closed' and with complete and valid recruitment data are reported in the Athena Swan recruitment dashboards and for recruitment monitoring purposes.

Further notes:

  • Where vacancies resulted in an appointment being made, only closed vacancies with complete applicant status history (ie Applied; Shortlisted; Offer Made - Personnel; Offer Accepted - Personnel) are included.
  • Any vacancies set to 'appointment made' where a mandatory stage of applicant status history is missing are not included.
  • The ‘Applicant Statuses’ section of Manage recruitment statuses and events illustrates the mandatory applicant statuses in a table by recruitment stage.

For help with any data errors or queries, please email hris.dataquality@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Project updates

The Workforce Management project team will begin rolling out the Leave and Absence and Timesheet functionality in waves of around 25 departments, starting in October 2024.

To support this process, we have produced an Overview webpage that outlines the rollout stages, what to expect, and FAQs. We encourage you to review it. 

Departments in the first wave, going live in October 2024, are already preparing. They have received training on managing work groups in PeopleXD and 'reference data collection' templates for implementation.  

The project team is continuing to develop training, guidance and communication toolkits to support departments as they go live. We are in regular contact with your team's representatives to ensure a smooth implementation. 

Action required by departments using TeamSeer by 30 August

To assist with a smooth transition, we are requesting copies of the latest TeamSeer invoices from all departments using this software. This information will help determine the overall expenditure on TeamSeer licences across the University. We thank the departments that have already submitted their invoices.  

If your department has not yet provided a copy of your latest TeamSeer invoice, please send it to the Workforce Management Project Mailbox, by Friday 30 August.

Details of current, in-scope projects under the HR Systems Programme can be found on our dedicated webpage. This includes latest updates and timelines, where available. Note: These pages are updated regularly.

HR Systems Programme projects

New and updated guidance

Guide Update
None  

 

The following reports can now be filtered by 'Division' as well as by 'Department'. 

PERDEP41 Visa Expiry Dates
PERDEP02 List of FTCs Due to End
PERDEP02 List of FTCs
PERDEP20 Appointment Changes
PERDEP20 Approved Allowance Changes
PERDEP20 Approved Salary Changes
PERDEP20 Changes made in Employee Self-Service
PERDEP20 Cost Allocation Changes
PERDEP20 Ended Appointments
PERDEP20 Leavers
PERDEP20 New Starters
PERDEP20 Person Changes