FAQs

If you have any questions about the e-appraisal system, contact the IT Helpdesk at its-helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk. 

If you have other questions about appraisal, contact the Organisational & Professional Development Team at opd@qmul.ac.uk.

The key is regular conversations. By having regular conversations throughout the year, instead of just annually, you should be able to track whether the objectives are still relevant or achievable. As the picture changes in the year, objectives may need to be adjusted.

It’s not always an easy balance between providing some clear, planned focus – which objectives provide – and being flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances.  If opportunities come up, then the appraiser and appraisee should agree how they should be addressed, and then what reprioritisation there needs to be to previously agreed objectives.  

If your final objective has a longer timescale than 12 months, you should be able to establish shorter, 12 month milestones for when particular phases of the work are due to be completed.

Applications for grants are completed on the basis of anticipated outcomes, and objectives can be framed in a similar way. You may need to have further conversations to update the objectives throughout the year, so this scheme is flexible enough to adjust to your findings. The intention is to help focus the work rather than to pre-determine outcomes.  

Not necessarily. The conversation around the four themes (objectives, learning from past contribution, resources and support, and career) should be ongoing. These conversations should be integrated into existing conversations.

Collaborative working is central to much of QMUL’s success and discussions with individuals should emphasise this.  Individuals can share objectives with other members of the team.  Team meetings are a forum to address these collaborative elements.  Nevertheless, the individual remains an individual and the appraisal is the opportunity to give them direct and focused attention.

The career and personal development part of the conversation often gets less attention than looking at past and future objectives, but is a key part of the whole appraisal.

The conversation focuses on both the present (looking at the development the appraisee needs to become more effective in their current role) and the future (looking to the development that will enable them to fulfil their career ambitions).

Present-focused career and personal development conversations.  The attention is on development within the current role and the conversation is structured around:

• Training that is mandatory to the role.  Are both appraiser and appraisee clear what this is and whether it has been done?
• Areas of knowledge or skill development that would improve the appraisee’s effectiveness in their current role. Roles are rarely static, they evolve over time and we need to keep challenging ourselves on becoming more effective.

Future-focused career and personal development conversations.  There are three possible scenarios here:

• The appraisee is clear about their ambition for the future – s/he knows what s/he wants to do.  The role of the appraiser is to help the appraisee by testing that the ambition and timescale are realistic and then discussing: what is the gap (of knowledge / of skill / of attitude) from where they are now to where they need to be?  What are the opportunities and steps for bridging the gap?
• The appraisee is not looking in the future for a role different from the one they have now. This may be a perfectly legitimate position for the appraisee: as a result of an assessment of their circumstances or skill or ambition levels, s/he may decide that their current role is sufficient for them at the present time.  An appraisee should not be considered in any way unfavourably as a result of this type of decision. Help them explore what continuing development they may need to keep their current knowledge and skills up-to-date and stay motivated in their present role.
• The appraisee has got ambitions for the future but there needs to be different opportunities in order to achieve them. Identify what opportunities there are to develop themselves in their current role through, for example, engaging with different people or on different projects.  Identify what opportunities may be possible through “sideways” moves – taking on roles that are adjacent to their current role but demand different knowledge or skills.  Career progress is increasingly a matter of a “zigzag” path, combining upwards with sideways moves.

Significant opportunity for learning is lost if thinking about development is confined to thinking about training courses.   In terms of learning, training is only one of a range of options, and alternatives can be grouped roughly into two other categories:

• Coaching-type learning.   This includes formal coaching and mentoring through to less formal conversations with a more experienced colleague in a particular area of work.  It also incorporates meetings in small groups that focus on solving problems or developing new opportunities, often rich occasions for learning.
• Job experience-type learning.  This includes a variety of types of exposure to situations whilst doing a job.  Examples include participation in projects; secondments and shadowing to experience alternative work or ways of working; opportunities within the current role to work with different people or processes or technologies.

When training courses form a part of the development, it is important to ensure the job experience-based learning opportunities are provided.  Training loses effectiveness rapidly when there is a lack of skills practice opportunity.

The line manager is the default appraiser, although they should delegate this role and authority where they have more than about eight direct reports. An appraisee may, for a serious reason beyond simple preference, request a different appraiser. Line managers will try to accommodate reasonable challenges. In the unusual event that this is not sufficient, the appraisee may appeal up the chain of line management.

Appraisers will be credible with both appraisee and line managers, and at least of similar seniority to the appraisee. They will complete specified training and periodically participate in refresher events. They can be relied upon to:

• Translate the wider needs of the Department/School/Institute to be applicable to the individual.
• Be informed about the overall resourcing of the Department/School/Institute.
• Understand enough of the appraisee’s work and environment to make comments that are constructive as well as challenging and supportive.
• Give informed advice on the resourcing implications of objectives and feed these back to the line manager.

Where a line manager delegates responsibility, they retain overall responsibility to:

• Clarify strategic priorities to appraisers and keep them up to date with budgets, staffing, training/secondment opportunities, and other aspects of resourcing that might affect appraisals.
• Lead decision-making on support and resource requests emerging from appraisals, creating overall development plans, and ensuring decisions are communicated back to appraisees.
• Review the outcomes of discussions for fairness.

You may want to frame the question differently: what conversation would be most helpful to have with a member of staff retiring in the next few months? Then have that conversation.

The line manager is the default appraiser, although they should delegate this role and authority where they have more than about eight direct reports. An appraisee may, for a serious reason beyond simple preference, request a different appraiser. Line managers will try to accommodate reasonable challenges. In the unusual event that this is not sufficient, the appraisee may appeal up the chain of line management.

Appraisers will be credible with both appraisee and line managers, and at least of similar seniority to the appraisee. They will complete specified training and periodically participate in refresher events. They can be relied upon to:

• Translate the wider needs of the Department/School/Institute to be applicable to the individual.
• Be informed about the overall resourcing of the Department/School/Institute.
• Understand enough of the appraisee’s work and environment to make comments that are constructive as well as challenging and supportive.
• Give informed advice on the resourcing implications of objectives and feed these back to the line manager.

Where a line manager delegates responsibility, they retain overall responsibility to:

• Clarify strategic priorities to appraisers and keep them up to date with budgets, staffing, training/secondment opportunities, and other aspects of resourcing that might affect appraisals.
• Lead decision-making on support and resource requests emerging from appraisals, creating overall development plans, and ensuring decisions are communicated back to appraisees.
• Review the outcomes of discussions for fairness.

• The aim is a positive conversation.  It helps raise contribution.  It doesn’t avoid difficult issues or disappointing results – that would only be a dishonest conversation.  However, where outcomes disappoint, this is looked at in the positive context of what can be learned and how can this experience be used for the future.
• A rhythm of questioning, listening and comment is likely to encourage a positive conversation.  The art is in getting it about right: too fast can become a machine gun-like interrogation, whilst too slow robs the talk of energy.
• Good listening.  Listen more than speak.
• Constructive questioning. Be clear on the purpose of the questions.  Questions can be to:
• Get the facts, e.g. what happened?
• Evaluate e.g. how good was the result?
• Move forward e.g. what are our next steps?
• Constructive commenting.  Be clear, as the appraiser, on the purpose of your comments: they are to enable development and progress in the future and to express your confidence in the appraisee’s ability to achieve the objectives.
• Replacing a complaint about something done in the past (“you didn’t do…”) with a request directed to the future (“this year, I want you to…”) turns a possible resentment into a constructive conversation about the future.

You login to the e-Appraisal system using your QMUL username and password.

• Appraisers will have access to the Appraisal forms for all of their Appraisee’s through the e-Appraisal system. Appraiser / Appraisee roles will be based on the Line Management structure within MyHR.
• Upon initial completion of the form the Appraisee should click on the Share and Close link within the Share box at the top of the page. This will create a notification to the Appraiser and enable them to view all form content. The Appraiser will then be able to make any amendments and add their comments to the form. When they are happy with the content they will share the form with the Appraisee. This will create a notification email informing them of this action.
• The amend and Share process should continue until both the Appraisee and Appraiser are happy with the final form content.

Alerts within the e-Appraisal system are divided into ‘Actions’ and ‘Notifications’. ‘Actions’ require the user to perform a task, Notifications are for information only. Both will be included on alert emails. Please see the chart below which details the associated alert for each process step:

To save and exit the form at any time click the Save and Close icon in the bottom right - hand corner of the Appraisal form. This will Save the form and return to your Me page.

Yes. A PDF copy of your Appraisal form can be printed by clicking on the green Save as print-friendly PDF icon within the Appraisal form.

Direct Reports can be viewed within the My Team tab. If you cannot see a direct report please log a call via the IT helpdesk (+44 (0)20 7882 8888) or self-service or Email.

There are no character limits within any section of the e-Appraisal forms.

Click on the Support link in the top right-hand corner. This will generate an email pre-populated with your username and email address. Explain the issue in the body of the email and click send. The email will be sent to the HR Systems Team for investigation and action.

You can request for an appraisal form to be re-opened with the IT helpdesk by raising a self-service ticket.

Under My Appraisals click on ‘View previous Appraisals’ | view image here.