Joint Communication –
National Framework Agreement
and Job Evaluation

January 2006

From:    Philip Dewe, Vice Master
              Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick, President AUT Birkbeck

Job Evaluation of Academic Roles – Consultation Process

Introduction

Since the National Framework Agreement and Job Evaluation October Update was issued, there has been ongoing consultation between the College and the trade unions: AUT, Unison and Amicus as part of the Framework Negotiation Group (FNG).  Discussions have centred on the mechanics of the implementation of the National Framework Agreement.

At a meeting held in June 2005 and during subsequent meetings, the job evaluation process for academic staff has been finalised. It has been agreed that four generic job descriptions documents (JDDs) will be presented for Hay job evaluation, which will cover the four current levels of academic staff, as outlined in the table below:

For academic staff, the JDD comprises the job description and person specification.

We would welcome your observations and comments about these JDDs and are therefore inviting you to participate in the consultation process outlined below.  Please note that participation in the consultation process is voluntary.

Consultation Period

The consultation period commences on Wednesday 11 January 2006 and will close on Friday 27 January 2006.

Consultation Process

1. The 4 JDDs can be viewed here. The documents are based on the national Academic Role Profiles as agreed by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Further and Higher Education (JNCHES). These profiles have been placed into the standard Birkbeck Job Description Document template, which is being used for all other job evaluations across the College. The JDDs have been written to cover the general span of duties that an academic at each level may undertake. They do not, therefore, give details of the work of specific disciplines, etc. The original Academic Role Profiles can be downloaded from the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) website www.ucea.ac.uk.
2. As part of the consultation process, you are invited to comment on the job description that is relevant to you and your current job.  For instance, if you are a Lecturer A, you should comment on the Level 1 Lecturer A JDD.
3. A consultation form has been developed to provide the format for your feedback. The form and further instructions on its completion can be found here.
4. The FNG will consider any feedback from the consultation, and amend the JDDs as appropriate
5. The finalised JDDs, as ratified by the FNG, will be uploaded to the intranet such that you will be able to see the documents to be presented to a Hay Job Evaluation panel.
6. The JDDs will then be evaluated twice by separate Hay job evaluation panels.
7. Academic staff will be transferred to the new pay structure at their current level, and will be notified of the new grade and salary outcomes prior to implementation. Any future progression between grades will be by application to the appropriate College Promotions panel.

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The latest information on the NFA and job evaluation project can be found at http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hr/jobevaluation.html.  Further information can also be found on the Birkbeck AUT web site www.bbk.ac.uk/aut.

If you have any queries regarding this process, or the project in general, please do not hesitate to contact the project team:

• Email: jobevaluation@bbk.ac.uk
• Roland Baskeyfield, Projects Officer, extension 0734
• Vicky Booker, Human Resources Policy Adviser, extension 0712

Or for AUT:

• Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick, President AUT Birkbeck, extension 6777 or email r.gumbrell-mccormick@bbk.ac.uk

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