New appointments for new and existing staff (not for online applicants) - Pre-appointing guidance

Regrade applications must be submitted to the Reward team via a staff request. If a regrade is successful, create a new appointment by following the steps in the 'Replace existing appointment in a department you can access' section of this guide.

Departments can typically decide whether to create a record for a non-employee, except for agency workers who must be set up in PeopleXD as non-employees to comply with employment law. Key considerations for creating non-employee records are outlined in the appointing guidance.

Note: Non-employees are not entitled to holiday leave or absence monitoring.

The table below provides examples and details of non-employees.

Note * Any type of non-employee that requires an R12 record will need a non-employee record in PeopleXD.

Where an individual's application to work beyond their 'Employer Justified Retirement Age' (EJRA) is approved, the individual must be appointed into a new, fixed-term appointment in PeopleXD. Follow the appointing steps in this guide.

Details of the request and the approval must be recorded in the EJRA UDF.

The previous appointment must be ended - follow the guidance on ending appointments.

Secondments within the University

• Always set up secondments as an additional appointment, keeping the original appointment active. Both the 'seconding' and original departments must take system actions.
• For cross-department secondments, HR Administrators from both departments should agree on details off-system before updating in People Management.
• If the individual has Manager Self-Service access, submit a Service Request to remove it during the secondment and reinstate it upon their return.
• If the secondment becomes a permanent appointment, process it as a transfer (or as a 'contract replacement' if within the same department) between the original and a new appointment. Follow this guide's steps as applicable. 

Workforce Management considerations (participating departments only):

Before recording secondments, refer to Managing annual leave when an employee starts and ends a secondment. Full system steps are outlined in the appointing guidance.

System guidance:

1. To create a secondment appointment, see the 'Create additional appointment' section of this guide.

2. To amend the original appointment, follow the guidance here.

Secondments outside the University

• For secondments to external organisations, amend the current appointment following the guidance here.

Appointing at a lower grade

In some cases, new starters (grades 1-10) may be appointed one grade lower than the substantive post grade. Refer to the HR Support website for detailed guidance.

• Once the candidate is identified, email the Reward Team to request an update to the planned appointment at the lower grade.
• Wait for email confirmation from the Reward Team before proceeding with the appointment.
• Ensure the issued employment contract reflects the correct grade.

Follow this appointing guide which includes the specific notes on underfills.

Promoting to the substantive grade

When the employee is eligible for promotion to the substantive grade:

1. Raise a staff request to create a new planned appointment at the higher grade. Refer to the Create and approve staff request guide.
2. Appoint the employee to the new role following the Replace existing appointment in a department you can access section of this guide.

Before commencing the engagement, please familiarise yourself with guidance on PSCs on the Payroll webpages. Where appropriate, PSC contractors should be paid via University's payroll, and have a non-employee record created in PeopleXD.

There are three groups of Marie Curie staff:

1. Marie Curie Fellows (MCF):
   • Post-docs paid against a spot salary, on grade MCF
   • Employed for a minimum of three, maximum of 24 months.
2. Marie Curie Researchers (MCR): 
   • Early career researchers, post-graduate without a DPhil
   • Paid against a spot salary, on grade MCR
   • Employed for a minimum of three, maximum of 36 months.
3. Marie Curie Students (MCS early career researcher/student):
   • Normally, three-year studentships with worker status.
   • Non-employees, but have some employment rights.
   • To request a post for them, do not use the staff request process. Instead, email HR Systems with the required details and they will create the post for you:
     • Expected Start Date
     • Expected End Date
     • Department and Pay Administered by (usually the department)
     • Location
     • Default cost centre for the department (cost allocations can be added later)
     • Hours to be worked
     • Whether a vacancy is required
   • Receive a Student Living Allowance and possibly, other Marie Curie allowances:
     • Follow the steps in the add and manage allowances guide, noting the following: 

• Inform Payroll in advance if an employee will be working overseas. This is to ascertain their UK residence status for pension auto-enrolment, which applies only to staff working or ordinarily working in the UK.
  • Employees temporarily overseas but expected to return to the UK are considered ‘ordinarily working in the UK’.
  • Employees permanently overseas may not be subject to auto-enrolment. If unsure, treat the employee as working in the UK. 
• Obtain necessary approvals before agreeing overseas working arrangements. Refer to the University’s overseas working policy for details.
• Document approved overseas working arrangements in the Overseas working UDF in PeopleXD.

If post was advertised on a permanent basis and successful applicant must have fixed-term contract due to visa restrictions, use the permanent post and ensure the following is recorded when completing the Contract Information on the Appointment Wizard:

If the individual's right to work status changes in the future and they later have indefinite right to remain, their appointment will need to be updated, refer to Make appointment and salary changes guidance.   

If a gap between appointments is agreed while maintaining continuous service, email HR Systems Support for guidance on the required system steps. Depending on the situation, updates may be made by either the leaving or the new department.

Ensure you consult your HR Business Partner to address all considerations and implications, including annual leave accrual and implicit contract terms, in line with University HR policy.  

Due to data feed issues between the Card Office, IT and PeopleXD systems, existing University students will not normally be identified for HR Self-Service account creation when they are appointed in PeopleXD. This is because they already have a University card and SSO and therefore at the point of their appointment, there is no data feed triggered between the systems. 

To ensure HR Self-Service accounts are created in a timely manner, contact hr.systems@admin.ox.ac.uk when appointing existing University students. In your email, please provide the:

• Employee number (PeopleXD) and name
• Email address
• SSO (eg admn1234)

There are ongoing discussions with IT Services and the Card Office for a longer-term solution.

Note: Please check whether an HR Self-Service account already exists by running the PERDEP01 Home Address and Contact Details report in HR Reporting.

This guidance is for recording approved flexible retirement for employees, the full full policy, including approval guidance, is available from the University’s HR Support web pages.

When an employee who is a 'work group' manager changes roles, departments must update their work group details to reflect this change. This ensures GDPR compliance and maintains the accuracy of workforce management processes, such as annual leave approvals.

To update the employee's assignment as a work group manager, please submit a self-service request.