PERFORMANCE REVIEW POLICY
CATEGORY People and Culture
POLICY OWNER Director of People and Culture
DATE & VERSION August 2024 - Version 4
APPROVED BY Operations Leadership Team
REVIEW FREQUENCY Annual
1. Policy Purpose
This policy establishes the framework for agreeing performance goals and the associated performance review process of all staff. It is designed to ensure that all employees are clear as to how their work contributes to the achievement of UWC Atlantic’s strategic priorities and goals
The purpose of the performance review process is to drive high standards of performance, enable evaluation of past performance and to enable and encourage behaviour that will sustain performance in the future.
The policy supports the management and development of staff within the context of UWC Atlantic’s (the College) Strategic Development Plan and the identified learning and professional development needs of staff All staff at UWC Atlantic are encouraged and supported to learn and develop effectively and to access appropriate learning and development opportunities based on identified need
UWC Atlantic’s Performance Review Policy is designed to:
● Help ensure employees are aware of the required standards of performance
● Align individual goals and objectives with the overall goals and objectives of UWC Atlantic
● Promote regular continuous feedback on performance and progress
● Improve staff morale and motivation
● Lead to professional development according to needs
● Be seen by staff as enabling
● Encourage the development of confident and professional judgement amongst staff
● Increase staff participation in decision-making and developing a sense of control over their own work and personal growth
● Identify the resources and facilities needed to support staff
● Be manageable and have regard for the work/life balance of staff
● Be non-discriminatory
In summary, the performance review process has two key functions:
● A performance management tool: performance management is the ongoing responsibility of line managers; the performance review process is the forum where feedback on performance is formally discussed and objectives are identified and
agreed for the year ahead.
● A personal development tool: the performance review process enables employees and line managers to identify, discuss, agree and evaluate professional development needs
2. Policy Statement
In order to achieve its mission statement, strategic plan and related objectives UWC Atlantic must recruit, develop and maintain highly skilled professional staff To do this the College has developed a performance management approach which includes many elements such as induction, probation and learning and development that collectively contribute to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance An integral element of this performance management approach is the performance review process This requires collaborative goal-setting between individuals and their line managers at the beginning of each performance cycle.
The Performance Review Policy applies to all staff employed by the College excluding:
● Staff within their probationary periods
● Those who are the subject of capability procedures where action plans may take precedence
3. Policy implementation
The procedure to follow for performance review can be found in appendix 1.
5 Policy Measurement and Reporting
The Performance Review Policy will be reviewed annually by the People and Culture Committee of the Board and the Director of People and Culture as part of the annual review cycle and as part of the whole College development plan Part of this review process will consider to what extent the policy is being used as an active working document.
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Effective measurement of this policy will include;
● Number of employees VS Number of reviews submitted each year
● Monitoring and evaluating the level of professional development and training requests
● Feedback from staff and line managers on the process
The policy is communicated to the school community electronically on Every
Appendix 1 - Policy Implementation
1.1 Roles and Responsibilities
Individual
● participate fully in the performance review process;
● work with their line manager to develop goals and objectives;
● take action to ensure delivery of agreed goals and objectives;
● be open to not only receiving but giving feedback;
● be prepared to undertake learning to continue developing in their role; and
● be honest and work towards developing and maintaining a culture of trust
Line Manager
● ensure people are clear how their work aligns to UWC Atlantic’s priorities;
● ensure individuals understand their roles and responsibilities and have clear goals and/or objectives in place, working with their team member to establish these;
● give and receive feedback in a timely and appropriate manner;
● consider seeking feedback and information from various sources to support discussions;
● formally review delivery of goals and objectives at least twice a year;
● take action to ensure high standards of service and delivery;
● be honest and work towards developing and maintaining a culture of trust;
● be open to receiving as well as giving feedback; and
● record annual goals and objectives together with dates of mid and end year reviews onto the people management system
People and Culture
● support members of staff and their managers with the process as needed;
● ensure the quality assurance of the goals and objectives set;
● support people to identify and access relevant professional development and training;
● be honest and work towards developing and maintaining a culture of trust
1.2 The Performance Review Cycle
The performance of all staff must be reviewed formally a minimum of twice a year via the performance review process. The performance review cycle will run from 01 August to 31 July, (or to the end of the Academic Year for teaching staff)
Academic staff and their line managers are expected to meet to discuss and agree objectives and development goals at the beginning of term. A mid year review of objectives should take place in January and confirmation of this added to the people management system All performance reviews should be completed by academic staff by the end of Spring term.
Operational and support staff are expected to agree objectives and development goals with their managers by the end of September with a mid year review in March All performance reviews should be completed by this body of staff by the end of August
It is expected that line managers undertake regular check-in’s and 1:1’s throughout the year and highlight any support, training or development individuals may need to reach their goals.
When setting objectives for the forthcoming academic year at least one objective should focus on the reviewee’s personal learning and development.
The formal performance review cycle has three distinct stages:
● Initial Goal and Objective setting
● Mid stage review
● Final review
Whilst these are the minimum requirements, managers and their teams are expected and encouraged to meet more frequently. This presents the opportunity for people to discuss issues, feedback and progress in ‘real time’ with a formalising of performance reflections and discussions at an individual’s Mid and Final stage review The performance review is a performance management tool, but it is important that performance management is something that happens not only twice a year Performance management is an ongoing function of leadership Regular check ins and 1:1’s help build open communication and trust between managers and team members Where professional development and training needs are identified as part of discussions, the professional development form should be completed The People and Culture team can also provide
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advice on development and training options.
As much notice as possible of a formal stage review meeting should be provided by the line manager to the individual in order to allow both parties adequate time to prepare. Ideally a minimum of 5 working days’ notice should be given
Dependent on the nature of the team member’s role, information could be incorporated from other sources, e.g lesson observation, 360 feedback, stakeholder feedback, peer review.
Where team members report to different managers for delivery of specific work or roles, then a wider review process is needed. A contribution from all relevant managers is needed in goal or objective setting, development and feedback to ensure a well rounded performance review is undertaken Feedback may also be sought from regular stakeholders the individual may engage with
1.3 Barriers to achieving goals and objectives
There may be circumstances that prevent an individual from achieving some goals and objectives and these, ideally, should be raised over the course of the year to afford them and their manager the opportunity to establish what actions may be needed to address this (such as re-prioritisation, amendments to objectives, time frames etc). Individuals should be given the opportunity to raise concerns and re-prioritise throughout the year in consultation with their manager, if it is appropriate to do so
It should be noted that where there are no clear external contributory factors preventing an individual from delivery, failure of an employee to meet performance expectations as part of the performance review process may mean that a line manager has no option other than to invoke the formal Capability Procedure
Appendix 2 - Performance Management Forms
The following forms should be used to conduct annual performance reviews
Annual Performance Review Form (Academic)
Annual Performance Review Form (Academic Leaders)
Annual Performance Review From (Operational)
1 4 Retention of
Statements
Documents should be uploaded onto the People Management system and forwarded to People & Culture and for completeness