Further Detail

Engagement Levels in Year 1 and Insight Into Identified Performance, Development Needs and Promotion Readiness

As is the case with implementing most appraisal approaches there was a focus during year one on ensuring colleagues familiarised themselves with the process, supporting tools and documentation. Engagement and completion rates were good, and Appendix 1 provides extracts from the MyCareer Engagement Report with highlights noted below.

Engagement/Participation Levels

At the end of the first cycle participation rates were:

• 92% (15,276) of officers and 83.1% (5,184) of staff had engaged in the MyCareer process = 89.56% combined
• 76.2% of officers (12,661) and 66.6% (4,158) of staff had completed their MyCareer Discussions = 73.6% combined
• 15.7% of officers (2,615) and 16.4% (1,026) of staff had started but not yet completed their MyCareer Discussions = 15.9% combined

Use of Reflection Logs and Assessed Performance Against the CVF Levels

Whilst MyCareer is a mandatory people process, completion of Reflection Logs is not. All are encouraged to use this facility however this part of the process is mandatory only for Police Officers seeking promotion.

Feedback indicates that this influenced the uptake of the Reflection Log facility with 19,273 completed of which 17,245 were by Police Officers with the majority of Reflection Logs completed by Police Officers seeking promotion.

The assessed levels within the Reflection Logs provides a view on how our people are performing against the CVF with most participants performing at the level required of them in their current role. Appendix A provides a closer analysis of performance against different job role levels.

Development Routes Identified Plus Link To Promotion ‘Readiness’ Assessed By Line Manager.

MyCareer recognises that everyone is different, with different motivations and long-term career goals. As part of the MyCareer Discussion colleagues will also explore their desired ‘Development Route’ for the following year in respect of current role and their readiness for future roles and development, including promotions where relevant. A large population of colleagues have chosen to remain in their current role:

• 71% (9,095) of officers chose ‘Maintain and Develop in Current Role’
• 88% (3,682) of staff chose ‘Maintain and Develop in Current Role’.
• 13% (1,615) of officers chose to ‘Develop to a New Role’.
• 6% (238) of staff chose to ‘Develop to a New Role’.
• 16% (2,094) of officers chose ‘Develop to Lead’*
• 6% (252) of staff chose ‘Develop to Lead’

This gateway to the National Police Promotion Process opened April 2023, where officers used MyCareer for the first time. The data indicates that those Police Officers and Police Staff who selected ‘Develop to Lead’ were then assessed by their line managers as either ‘Ready Now’ or ‘Not ready Now’ as detailed in the table in the PDF.

It should be noted that the number of ‘Ready Now’ officers being supported for promotion consideration is far greater than the current organisation need based on workforce planning projections. This would either indicate that we have a greater pipeline of suitable colleagues in relation to promotion opportunities or that the discussions could have been more robust in relation to promotion readiness.

Colleagues were asked to consider and select the development actions required for their current and future roles, with a large proportion indicating an interest in some form of development. Most selected formal training and CPD as their preferred option. See Appendix A for more detail.

Feedback About MyCareer - As An Overall Approach and Audit Insights

Through on-line surveys, focus groups, training course feedback and other formal feedback mechanisms there arekey findings about how colleagues view the overall approach to MyCareer and the training provided to support it (all feedback reports and raw data are available on request, however a summary of results from the on line survey about MyCareer is in Appendix B).

It was also important to measure the quality of the discussion summaries and Reflection Logs to understand if the expectations of managers and colleagues following their training was met. To enable this a 10% sample of all documentation was audited.

Key themes emerging from the feedback:

• Purpose of MyCareer and value of a standardised appraisal approach is recognised - most understand the purpose of MyCareer Discussions and there is recognition of the value of a standardised approach, including the facility to document and store examples of good work on an on-going basis throughout the year.

• Need to improve our culture of valuing and having frequent, meaningful 1:2:1 discussions with people so they have a voice about their delivery, day to day wellbeing and their aspirations - there is strong support and value by individuals for having regular 1:2:1 MyCareer discussions/recognition with their line manager and support for increasing connections with first and second line managers. However only 57.7% felt supported by their manager during the process in year one which means we now need to focus on this aspect with pace. It was also noted that a substantial number of recorded discussions were held in the last month of the formal cycle (and into the two months extension) rather than throughout the year as intended. With less than 40% saying it was an effective use of their time, we need to work hard to change this, so it is valuable and impactful.

• MyCareer evolution now needs to be about embedding the relationship between managers and their people, and empowering people to drive their performance and development - insight suggests that the focus in year one had been on completing the training to understand the process and how to complete the documentation, with 91% completing their CVF training and 88% completing their MyCareer training. The summary MyCareer documents were completed to a good standard, with the majority of line Managers and second line managers providing visible written support to colleagues. 98% were completed with appropriate first- and second-line manager comments and only a small percentage of forms did not meet expectations. This suggests that this aspect of training was effective. The use of ‘Empower Hours’ and ‘MyCareer Gateway to NPPP Surgeries’ for line managers’ development was highlighted as particularly effective in supporting managers with behaviour change and mindset change.

• Ensuring that MyCareer is straightforward; removing bureaucracy and barriers, and ensuring an inclusive approach at all times - following the training, a number of colleagues concluded that MyCareer is a complex topic with a lot to take in – it is time to review and simplify where this is the right thing, to do so that MyCareer is easily integrated into day-to-day activity whilst acknowledging the need to document and recognise great performance, and to support development where needed. There is some concern about the length of time it takes to complete the Reflection Logs and a desire to explore whether there is a different way to achieve the same outcome.

A high proportion of colleagues understand the CVF and links with MyCareer however there is feedback that the CVF can be a challenge to apply to everyday policing for some and this was echoed in feedback from the training where a number of colleagues continued to be less comfortable with the CVF language despite completing their training.

It is important to ensure the tools and documentation that supports MyCareer are accessible to all regardless of role (e.g. Special Constables), access to toolkit and specific needs e.g. neurodiversity impacts.

• Recognising, Rewarding and Developing for high performance - most understood the purpose of Reflection Logs, however less than 40% said they understood how to complete them properly with 30% believing they are a great way to record and recognise good work. Despite this, 78.9% were completed to the required standard with a notable higher quality of Reflection Logs from those who were applying for promotion. Feedback from the training around this topic indicates that colleagues required more development using this tool to capture feedback and reflections on ‘what’ and ‘how’ they deliver in role.

91% of Reflection Logs were submitted by the appraisee themselves; 6% by the line manager and 3% by a colleague. This helps reinforce the ‘Your Career in Your Hands’ ethos indicating that this objective from the training was achieved. It does however indicate that we need to evolve the culture of giving and receiving feedback in terms of peer-to-peer feedback. There was also a notable lack of Reflection Logs that recognised where there has been learning from mistakes and situations; how to develop from that learning and to move forward as a result.

• Purpose of MyCareer and link to National Promotion Processes/future promotion – there was positive feedback that MyCareer provides ongoing day to day evidence to use as part of NPPP. Concern has been highlighted about the driver of MyCareer and how it has now become focused on the NPPP rather than its intended purpose of recognising every-day contributions, performance, and development. This is impacting Police Officers and Police Staff engagement - feedback indicates that it is being perceived as less valuable for Police Staff as, unlike Police Officers, it is not required for promotion purposes. Police Staff have also identified the lack of published career pathways to support outcomes from MyCareer Discussions. (This links to highlighted gaps in Strategic Workforce Plan 2024-2027).

There is feedback indicating that assessment of Reflection Logs and assessment of MyCareer linking to NPPP is concerning some colleagues due to perceived inconsistency of assessment approach. This was highlighted in the training evaluation with some indicating they would have liked more content about Line Manager Assessment skills.

Feedback also demonstrates that colleagues need more clarity about the use of MyCareer and its link to the NPPP in connection with a range of topics such as criteria for sifting and the requirement to complete particular parts of the documentation when being considered for promotion e.g. 78% completed the Skills and Experience section appropriately whilst 22% did not complete it appropriately. This suggests that aspects of the training relating to the link with NPPP was not as effective as intended and training evaluation supports this point for improvement.

Overall, the MyCareer link to NPPP needs to be reviewed following the learning and feedback from year 1, in order that we provide clarity and transparency of both approaches.