October 2025 bulletin
News and updates
We’re pleased to announce that the team successfully met the first HESA staff return submit milestone three days ahead of schedule. After completing a period of data assurance, the second milestone was achieved six days ahead of the deadline. The team is now focussed on meeting the final deadline in November.
We would like to thank all those in departments that helped us achieve this with their improved data quality and timely responses to our recent queries.
We are pleased to share that the new PDR/CDR talent management module templates 2025/26 (review year) are now available for cloning:
- CLONE ONLY - 2025-26 Researcher CDR – Template
- CLONE ONLY - 2025-26 Researcher PDR – Template
These templates are available for cloning only, please ensure that you save your own departmental copy before assigning employees.
Further guidance: Create Career Development Review
The Athena Staff Data workbook's staff in post, turnover, reasons for leaving, and recognition of distinction dashboards now include 2024/25 figures. Maternity leave return rates, statutory paternity leave and shared parental leave are to follow in early 2026.
The 2024/25 Athena Swan recruitment data dashboards are also live. Only vacancies with valid, complete data, and a full applicant status history (ie Applied, Shortlisted, Offer Made – Personnel, Offer Accepted – Personnel) that resulted in an appointment are included. Vacancies set to 'Appointment Made' with a missing mandatory status are excluded. Further guidance on mandatory statuses: Manage Recruitment Statuses and Events - Applicant Status
To improve data availability for Athena Swan applications and University-wide monitoring, please continue clearing errors from the 2024/25 HRINFO21 reports.
For access to Athena Swan data in Tableau, follow the user access process. For queries, email: athena.staffdata@admin.ox.ac.uk.
- 18 November - VC sign-off for HESA staff return 2025 submission
Reminders
The final demonstration for 'My Development' took place in September 2025. While no further demonstrations are planned, a recording is now available for anyone who missed the sessions or would like a refresher.
You can access the recording on the HR Systems Guide pages: My Development - Introduction and demo.
As outlined in the recent HR Systems briefing, all divisions and departments are now required to submit sickness absence data annually as part of the University’s submission to the UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association) sickness absence reporting survey.
The UCEA Sickness Absence Survey webpage includes all the information covered in the briefing, along with a new FAQ section answering questions raised during the session.
If you haven’t already, please nominate a single point of contact for your department to coordinate submissions and handle any related queries.
Project updates
We’re pleased to share that this month 20 departments have now fully transitioned to PeopleXD for leave and absence, a major milestone! Another 14 are on track to go live by the end of October, bringing us to 82% of the University now using PeopleXD. A huge thank you to all HR teams and the WFM project team for making this success possible!
The project team is busy transitioning the next 14 areas, providing early-life support for all existing and new users, and working to launch the 'Co-workers Calendars' for all staff. Thank you for your patience and collaboration as we move forward.
For areas already live, please continue to direct any queries to hr.systems@admin.ox.ac.uk (emails to workforcemanagement.project@it.ox.ac.uk may cause delays).
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.
