University of Oxford Technician Commitment Action Plan

1.1 Hold termly networking/information/showcasing events for Oxford's technical staff and enable all grades (including junior staff) to attend. Invite senior University leaders to attend the events and ensure time is dedicated to developing technical professional communities (e.g. facility technical professionals, research technical professionals).
Who is responsible: Technician Commitment Programme Manager (TCPM); divisional comms leads
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.2 Continue Technician Commitment Steering Group meetings with input from technical staff and share high-level output of the meetings with technical staff.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Steering Group
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.3 Update generic job descriptions and produce standardised role descriptors/JDs for technical staff as part of wider work in HR on JDs.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Reward Team; divisional HR teams
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.4 Work to create a simpler current classification of technical staff reported in HR databases.
Who is responsible: TCPM and HR Systems team; divisional HR teams
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.5 Recruit a new cohort of Technician Champions for 2024/25 to help raise the profile and support the career development of their peers. Ensure that successful projects from the 2023/24 cohort are continued and expanded where possible.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Steering Group; divisional research culture facilitator
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.6 Promote representation on committees via a divisional pilot: encourage committees (departmental, divisional and central) to ensure technical staff are represented, including through communications from the Registrar and meetings with key stakeholders.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Registrar's office; divisional and departmental committee chairs
Identified as priority up to July 2026

1.7 Maintain the Technician Teams group: to share news, events and development opportunities.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Technician Champions, with divisional comms leads

1.8 Promote national events: promote attendance at national technician events and networking meetings via the Teams group, and enable at least one person from Oxford to attend the events.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Technician Champions; divisional comms leads

1.9 Share career profiles of technical staff: produce and publish remaining 5 videos in the Oxford Technicians: Stories from the Hidden Experts series - showcasing the work of a wide range of technical staff and the valuable contribution they make to the University.
Who is responsible: TCPM and filmmaker; divisional comms leads
Identified as priority up to July 2026

2.1 Introduce annual Technical Staff Awards - either an additional category in VC awards or stand-alone. 
Who is responsible: TCPM and VC's office; internal comms team
Identified as priority up to July 2026

2.2 Encourage applications to national technician awards - e.g. THE 'Outstanding Technician of the Year' - via Technician Teams group; cascade via managers.
Who is responsible: TCPM and divisional comms leads
Identified as priority up to July 2026

2.3 Promote professional registration and raise awareness of the benefits. Continue to offer 1:1 advice through our Technician Champion for professional registration. Investigate funding options for professional registration.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Technician Champion(s)
Identified as priority up to July 2026

2.4 Further communicate the University's Reward and Recognition scheme, and encourage all technical managers to consider nominating staff.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Reward team, with divisional comms leads

2.5 Promote fair acknowledgement via a divisional pilot: regularly communicate the importance of recognising technical staff contributions to research outputs and teaching excellence and innovation.
Who is responsible: TCPM and PVC Research office; HoDs; Heads of Research in divisions and departments
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.1 Set up a working group for Technical Professional Career Pathways that provide greater clarity about career progression options and the skills technical staff need to develop for their next step. Research and produce a brief report on how other universities have approached career pathways. Explore opportunities to work closely with POD, NTDC and ITSS.
Who is responsible: TCPM and People and Organisational Development (POD), working with divisional HR teams
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.2 Promote short-term job shadowing and secondments via a divisional pilot in 2024/25 and widen in 2025/26.
Who is responsible: TCPM and POD, with input from divisions 
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.3 Improve and increase communication about existing career development support: raise awareness and provide more clarity about the career development opportunities already available to technical staff.
Who is responsible: TCPM, POD and divisional comms leads
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.4 Create a learning and development pilot programme for technical staff up to July 2025, guided by the training needs identified in the Technical Skills Survey, and filling gaps in existing University training provision - e.g. use our subscription to HEaTED to hold workshops in Oxford designed by and for technical staff.
Who is responsible: TCPM and POD
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.5 Support and promote Professional Communities: establish 3 new professional communities for technical staff.
Who is responsible: TCPM and POD
Identified as priority up to July 2026

3.6 Offer careers advice to technical staff via termly Careers Club sessions specifically for technical professionals. Promote the support offered by HEaTED for support with writing CVs.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Careers Service; Oxford Coaching Network

3.7 Promote and encourage annual Personal Development Reviews (PDRs) for all technical staff (ideally with a technical manager) and provide guidance on what to cover in the discussions and how to make the most of PDRs.
Who is responsible: TCPM and POD, with departmental HR teams

3.8 Improve communications about regrading to technical staff: provide greater clarity about the regrading process and how to apply. 
Who is responsible: TCPM and Reward Team
Identified as priority up to July 2026

4.1 Work with Apprenticeship Team to collaborate to make technical apprenticeships as successful as possible. Explore setting up an 'apprenticeships for technical staff' working group to share feedback and collaborate between apprenticeships team and technical professionals.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Apprenticeships Team

4.2 Ensure technical staff are included in the University's workforce planning and succession planning, working with the Director of Talent.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Director of Talent
Identified as priority up to July 2026

5.1 Technician Commitment Steering Group to review action plan progress at the end of each academic year.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Steering Group
Identified as priority up to July 2026

5.2 New action plan to be developed during the 2026/27 academic year, with a view to submitting this in July 2027.
Who is responsible: TCPM and Steering Group