Pay & Conditions review methodology

Committee work for the Pay & Conditions review got underway in spring 2023, with the first Steering Committee meeting held in June 2023.

A large quantity of quantitative and qualitative data was subsequently gathered and analysed in the course of 2023. This was drawn both from within the University and across the wider Higher Education sector and other sectors, at the local, national and international scales as appropriate.

This page summarises key aspects of the review methodology which supported the committee's report to Council in February 2024.

Data analysis and benchmarking

In addition to regular meetings, Steering Committee members attended a series of deep-dive workshops focused on data gathering and benchmarking, during the summer and autumn of 2023. These included:

• Professional services pay benchmarking workshop – 22 August 2023
• Academic pay benchmarking workshop – 13 September 2023
• Benefits workshop – 9 October 2023
• Investing in people workshop – 19 October 2023
• Pay benchmarking & reward policies and procedures workshop – 16 November 2023

Benchmarking data were analysed and reviewed with support from two external reward consultants. The committee also reviewed a range of existing data from within the University, including the 2021 and 2023 Staff Experience Survey results. This work helped to form the basis for its recommendations, along with data gathered directly from colleagues across the University in the course of the review itself.

Staff engagement

The committee considered a large volume of new data gathered directly from colleagues as part of this review. To ensure that a wide range of ideas and perspectives were heard, all staff were invited to volunteer for a series of focus groups and two all-staff events were organised around pay and conditions, and a feedback form was shared to gather further insight across the breadth of the review. This input from colleagues helped to inform the development of Frequently Asked Questions about the review.

Feedback form 

An online staff feedback form opened on 7 August 2023, for colleagues to share input and comments for consideration. This form closed on 10 November 2023 to allow committee members time to consider all the feedback received before drafting findings and recommendations to present to the Vice-Chancellor before Christmas 2023. In total, 229 individual pieces of feedback were received and fed into the review. Each item of feedback was anonymised and shared with the committee.

Focus groups 

Nine focus groups were held in October 2023, giving colleagues the opportunity to engage with the committee’s work, and share ideas, perspectives and examples to inform the progress of the Pay & Conditions review. These were led by an experienced independent facilitator. The sessions focused on topics such as salary structures and pay progression, staff wellbeing and development, employee benefits and reward and recognition.  

Following calls for participation announced in the University Bulletin and on the Pay & Conditions webpages during summer 2023, as well as via other communications channels, 284 members of staff self-nominated as focus group volunteers. Of these, more than 150 were invited to join a focus group and 97 completed a session. Analysis of these discussions was shared with the committee for consideration during the data gathering phase of the review.

All-staff events 

Pay & Conditions ‘Town Hall’ event 

A Town Hall-style event was held at the Oxford Martin School and online on 11 October 2023. All University staff were invited to attend and more than 730 people registered. Colleagues were invited to submit questions to the panel in advance, as well as during the event.

This event began with a short update on the Pay & Conditions review from Professor Dame Kay Davies, Chair of the Steering Committee, before opening up for questions in four categories: pay, employee benefits, how we invest in our people at Oxford (including staff wellbeing and development), and reward and recognition. You can watch a recording of this event and see the presentation slides on Panopto here.

Open Forum: People, Pay and Conditions 

On 22 May 2023, before committee work got underway on the review, Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anne Trefethen, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (People & Digital), Dr Markos Koumaditis, HR Director, and Professor Tim Soutphommasane, Chief Diversity Officer, hosted an Open Forum to discuss people, pay and conditions and gather insight on challenges and opportunities for the review to address.

You can watch a recording of this Open Forum on Panopto.