This guidance and process will take effect from Wednesday, January 31st.
This page contains information on redeployment for recruiting managers.
It is recommended that recruiting managers read the redeployment guidance for employees at risk of redundancy.
The University has a legal obligation to find alternative employment for employees at risk of redundancy, or who need to be redeployed due to health and/or disability.
To facilitate this, all open ended and fixed term vacancies must be advertised on the University’s redeployment job board for 5 working days.
These five days will need to be built into your recruitment timeline.
On occasion, there may be reason to operate outside of this five-day window when:
- The role requires a specialist skill set that is known not to exist elsewhere in the University.
- Where there are multiple vacancies of the same role and contract terms.
If your vacancy meets one or both conditions, you should discuss this with your HR Business Partner.
Any questions on the redeployment process should be directed to your Resourcing Business Partner.
The recruiting manager and selection panel are responsible for deciding if a candidate is suitable for a job.
Recruiting managers have a role in supporting redeployees by ensuring proper consideration of suitability against the skills, knowledge and experience for a given job.
Applications received at the redeployment stage should be treated in the same way as any other main staff recruitment. This includes:
- An evaluated job description and advert being available.
- Being available to discuss details of the vacancy with a redeployee.
- Careful assessment of applications from redeployees, matching the individual's skills, abilities and experience against the essential criteria and job requirements.
- Fully considering the transferability of redeployees skills and experience.
- Considering whether a short period of relevant training could bring the individual up to the required skill level for the job.
- The offer of a trial period, if there are material differences between the redeployees at risk role, and the vacancy.
- Making sure the grounds for reaching a decision are reasonable and defensible and relate to the essential criteria and job requirements.
- Accurately recording the reasons for the decision made.
- Providing feedback on any unsuccessful application or interview.
- Your HR Business Partner will be able to advise on individual cases where required.
Trial periods are period spent on the job and helps the employee and recruiting manager assess if it is right for both sides.
A trial period should be considered when:
- The new job is different from the redeployees at-risk position.
- The redeployee could be suitable for the job after receiving reasonable training.
Trial periods can last between four and twelve weeks. The length of the trial depends on the type and duration of any training needed. Your HR Business Partner can help to assess what is considered ‘reasonable training’.
Further information on trial periods is covered in Trial periods
Employees that are pregnant or take some types of family leave (maternity, adoption or shared parental leave) have a priority status in the URP once selected for redundancy, as required by law. Where an employee has priority status in the URP, they have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy at the same grade, if one is available.
Resourcing Business Partners work with priority status employees to gain an understanding of their skills and experience when they enter the URP. Where a priority status employee expresses interest in a vacancy you are recruiting to, the Resourcing Business Partner will liaise with you to determine whether your vacancy is suitable for the employee.
Priority status employees do not complete a full application form, but the Resourcing Business Partner will have information about the employee that can be used in forming a view. If only one priority status employee expresses interest in the role, and you agree that they are suitable, then an offer of employment is made without a selection process taking place.
If multiple priority status employees express interest in the role, and you agree that more than one is suitable, then a selection process should take place as described in this guidance.
If you do not agree that a priority status employee is suitable for a role, you need to explain to the Resourcing Business Partner why this is the case. An informal discussion with the employee may be held to find out more about them, but it is important to note that this is not a selection process. If there is still disagreement about an employee’s suitability, your Human Resources Business Partner will provide bespoke advice to help resolve the situation.
Any expressions of interest from priority status employees will be put to you separately and ahead of any other applications that have been received in the URP. Priority status expressions of interest must be dealt with before any other applications can be considered.
On some occasions, the priority status employee may still be on family leave. This must not be taken into consideration in determining the employee’s suitability. If the employee is suitable and accepts the offer of employment, the Resourcing Business Partner can assist with planning for cover until the employee returns from family leave.
