0Hi All,
I want to ask about your experiences with PDPs, PDRs and HERA role re-evaluations. I want to know if my short (bad) experience is common, or if there are places where there is good practical career development and appraisal structures that work and if so how? If there are really good examples out there, I'd like to try and get them on the table for discussion.
In my short experience (just shy of 2.5yrs) the completion of PDPs, PDRs and appraisal are rare in the extreme - its taken me and two other who are intered, over two years of pestering to get our first appraisal (next week!). However, having spoken to other personnel both within my department and beyond, it's apparent that the policy for conducting PDPs, PDRs etc is not uniformily applied (if at all) and not taken seriously by anyone. The reason? Dead Mans's Shoes, i.e. being in a role from which you can not advance or be promoted through any merit or effort of your own, but have to wait for someone else to die or retire or a new post to be created so you can step into that place. It creates, in some circumstances, mediocrity and the staus quo, in others such as myself ,shear frustration. Had I know all this before getting the job, I wouldn't have applied.
Of course, I accept it's also my responsibility too, and my appraisal next week will be my opportunity to discuss these issues. I'm just not sure anything will get done. It seems astonishing to me that something that's clear in Uni policy has no structure, is not measured/monitored/policed in anyway, has absolutly no consequences if not applied and fails even if applied, to allow the individual to progress (of course it also makes it difficult to get rid of someone too, if you cannot or are unwilling to assess their performance!).
Additionally, many Uni's have undertaken to assess the technician Role, rather than the person in the role, thus the only way that an individial can 'progress' is by completing the rather involved and complicated HERA application, again this only accounts for the 'size’ of jobs and allocates them to a particular grade, it doesn't assess the persons potential or performance. I have seen examples however, where there are clear levels of measurable competency at each grade (see Exeter http://www.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/humanresources/document...) so you know what it is that you need to do and accomplish to move onwards and upwards.
Be graetful to hear peoples thoughts.
Let me know what you think