Union Mail – September 2012

Interim Performance Reviews

The interim performance process starts this month with managers being required to key indicative ratings by 21 September 2012 in advance of calibration and individual review meetings, which will take place through October and early November. Therefore we’d recommend that members start thinking about their forthcoming review meeting and start to collect evidence relating to their performance for discussion with their manager. Interim performance ratings are important in helping to determine your annual performance rating so it is worth taking the time to prepare thoroughly.

No Right of Appeal

There is no general right of appeal for interim ratings. However, if you believe your rating is unfair then it is very important that you record why you disagree with the rating on your review form. This could be important if you have to appeal your annual performance rating at the end of the performance year – failure to do so could imply that you accepted that the interim rating was a fair reflection of your performance. You should also ask your manager to be clear about what you need to do in the remaining part of the performance year to improve your rating. You should keep a record of this as evidence for your annual review.

Your performance rating should be a balanced assessment of your performance and contribution over the review period. The Performance Management intranet site describes this as an assessment of “What you did” plus “How you did it”. Your rating should not just be directly linked to the achievement of targets.

Calibration and Distribution of Ratings

The indicative ratings and the calibration process are intended to help managers agree a consistent approach to assessing performance in their area of the business. However, your final rating should be influenced by the two-way discussion of your performance between you and your manager. Indicative ratings can be changed where an employee is able to demonstrate they are performing to the standards described by each of the ratings.

Performance ratings should not be simply imposed from above and we’d be interested to hear from members if they are told that ratings cannot be changed following the calibration process.

If you have any concerns about the interim review process and would like some further advice, please call us on 01295 710767.

Tim Poil
General Secretary

Branch Bonuses

We have been contacted by a number of members regarding the level of bonuses paid to high performing branch Customer Representatives and Hosts in quarter 1. It seems that some bonus payments have been significantly lower than quarter 4 payments despite delivering a better performance. We have asked the business to review the situation and expect a communication to be sent to branch employees shortly setting out some revised arrangements.

O2 Open – Mobile Offer to NGSU Members

NGSU members (and family and friends) can take advantage of these offers from O2 when they take out a new agreement or upgrade their existing mobile account.

Offer 1
IPhone 4s: £70 handset cost, £36 a month, unlimited calls, unlimited texts, unlimited internet*.
Free accessory pack. £75 free credit to mobile account.

Offer 2
Samsung S3: £30 handset cost, £36 a month, unlimited calls, unlimited texts, unlimited internet*. Free accessory pack. £75 free credit to mobile account.

Offer 3
12 month Simplicity Offer: 300 any network minutes, 500 O2-O2 minutes, unlimited texts, 100mb internet, £25 free credit
or
30 day Simplicity Offer: 100 any network minutes, unlimited texts, £10 free credit.

For more information call the open team on 0800 9878 047
or e-mail rachael.parry-jones@retail.o2.com

*Terms and Conditions apply, internet fair usage policy applies.

SU Credit Card

NGSU members who have an SU credit card, issued by Bank of Scotland (now part of Lloyds TSB) through our participation in the TUC Affinity Credit Card scheme will be receiving a new credit card some time after October 2012. The new credit card will no longer be issued under the affinity scheme and will not be branded as an SU Card but members will be able to use their new card as before – there will be no change to account or PIN numbers or to the current APR.

This follows a decision by Lloyds to withdraw from the TUC Affinity scheme. This scheme provided participating Unions with the opportunity to offer members a competitively priced credit card and to receive royalties from the bank based on card usage by its members. Over the years this has provided the Union with a very modest but useful additional income to support our provision of services to members and we’d like to thank everyone who supported this scheme.

September Draw Winners

First Prize: £10,764
109369: Louise Duffy of Northampton (Weston Favell)

Second Prize: £5,000
083516: Tina Pearce of Plymouth

Third Prize: £2,000
110659: Karen Tuckwell of Ret IT & Infrastructure

Fourth Prizes: £500
111347: Rakhee Dattani of High Holborn
107427: Debra Leigh of Sevenoaks
076881: Anne Dixon of Associate Members