Evaluating Impact

Criteria Reference V1: How does your institution ensure technicians are visible internally to staff and students and externally through websites, press releases, articles, blogs, institutional social media, newsletters etc. 

• Embryonic: No discernible presence: Technicians are absent from internal and external web pages, communications, and social media.
• Emerging: Limited internal visibility: Technicians have an internal web presence and some internal communication mentions, but external visibility is minimal.
• Evolving: Growing visibility: Technicians are featured on external web pages and have strong internal visibility, with increasing external communication presence.
• Embedded: Comprehensive visibility: Technicians have robust internal and external web presence, consistent communication across the institution, with evidence of significant internal visibility at unit and institutional level internal communications and proactive communication campaigns.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation (tbc)

Criteria Reference V2: How does your institution demonstrate an understanding of the number, level and location of technicians within the organisation and collect, analyse and report on technician staff data? 

• Embryonic: No data clarity: The institution lacks clear identification of technician numbers, locations, and levels.
• Emerging: Basic count: The institution identifies the number of technicians but has limited understanding of their organisation and location.
• Evolving: Detailed mapping: The institution understands the number, location, FTE, and line management structure of technicians.
• Embedded: Accessible data: The institution maintains and readily shares comprehensive data on technician numbers, locations, FTE, and line management structures and clearly shares this information internally and, if appropriate, externally with HESA

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 3

Criteria Reference V3: How does your institution support outreach and public engagement activities regarding technical careers in local schools and colleges, to increase visibility of technical career opportunities to young people?

• Embryonic: No outreach support: The institution provides no support for technician involvement in outreach activities.
• Emerging: Minimal time allowance: The institution allows limited time for outreach but offers no financial or systematic support.
• Evolving: Active encouragement: The institution allocates time and actively encourages technician participation in existing outreach activities.
• Embedded: Dedicated programme: The institution provides dedicated time, develops technician-specific outreach programs, and invests in supporting these initiatives across the institution.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 6

Criteria Reference V4: What is the scope of your institutional commitment to ensuring technical staff sit on appropriate institution- and/or sector level decision-making committees and boards, including those that discuss policy developments and develop institutional strategy? 

• Embryonic: No strategic involvement: Technicians are excluded from strategic decision-making processes at all levels.
• Emerging: Departmental influence: Technicians participate in departmental/faculty/college committees, influencing local policy and strategy.
• Evolving: Partial institutional involvement: Technicians participate in some institutional committees, with evidence of their voice in policy and strategy development.
• Embedded: Core institutional influence: Technicians are integral to core institutional committees, with clear evidence of their voice being valued and impacting policy and strategy

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 12

Criteria Reference V5: How are technicians at your institution engaging positively with current and future opportunities that are available to them, highlighting positive impacts? Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 15

• Embryonic: No engagement: Technicians show no engagement with new or existing opportunities.
• Emerging: Basic compliance: Technicians access standard development opportunities (e.g., performance reviews, role-specific training) but show limited engagement beyond despite awareness raising of opportunities by the institution.
• Evolving: Proactive development: Technicians pursue development opportunities beyond expectations, such as secondments, mentoring, and advanced CPD beyond their current role.
• Embedded: Extensive advancement: Technicians demonstrate widespread engagement with significant CPD opportunities, including regional/national networks and conferences.

Criteria Reference R1: How does your institution include technical expertise within end-to-end recruitment processes when hiring for technical roles, including through the job description development stage and on the interview panel?

• Embryonic: No technician involvement: Technicians are excluded from all recruitment processes for technical roles.
• Emerging: Partial contribution: Technicians contribute to some aspects of technical role recruitment.
• Evolving: Full recruitment engagement: Technicians are actively involved in all stages of technical role recruitment.
• Embedded: Strategic recruitment influence: Technicians actively participate in recruiting both technical and senior management roles impacting technical functions, consistently across the institution.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 8

Criteria Reference R2: What internal award schemes are available to technicians at your institution, and to what extent are technical colleagues supported in applications to these and/or external award schemes?

• Embryonic: No award recognition: There are no internal awards for which technicians are eligible and technicians receive no support for engagement with external awards
• Emerging: General staff awards: Technicians are eligible for general staff awards with signposting of external awards like the Papin Prizes
• Evolving: Technicians are eligible for general staff awards and there is evidence of encouragement of technicians to apply and/or being successful in these. There is evidence of institutional support for engagement with of external awards like the Papin Prizes
• Embedded: Comprehensive award recognition: The institution has an award scheme for which technicians are eligible and there is evidence of good engagement. The institution actively supports applications for regional/national awards, including professional body and prestigious awards like the Papin Prizes.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation (TBC)

Criteria Reference R3: How does your institution ensure technical colleagues are encouraged and supported to be principal investigators/co-investigators on teaching/research/other grants and ensure technicians are costed appropriately?

• Embryonic: No funding support: Technicians receive no support to become PIs/Co-Is, and there are no technician PIs/CIs. No evidence of costing guidance
• Emerging: Passive inclusion: Technicians have been included as PI/Co-Is on funding applications, but without institutional support or awareness raising. Little evidence of costing guidance
• Evolving: Departmental awareness: Technicians are informed of funding opportunities and have been included as PIs/Co-Is, with some departmental support and oversight of costing models
• Embedded: Active institutional support: Technicians are actively engaged with funding opportunities, serving as PIs/Co-Is, with strong institutional support and encouragement for technician-led applications and institutional costing models

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 11

Criteria Reference R4: How does your institution ensure technical staff are appropriately named on all research/teaching/other outputs as authors, inventors, etc. and how much evidence is there of this?

• Embryonic: No attribution policy (or equivalent): There is no policy or process for fair attribution.
• Emerging: Policy without awareness: The institution has a fair attribution policy, but there is low awareness and compliance.
• Evolving: Promoted policy: The institution has a fair attribution policy that is actively promoted, with evidence of departmental compliance.
• Embedded: Embedded attribution: The institution has a fair attribution policy with high institutional awareness, integrated into output generation processes, and consistent compliance.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 11

Criteria Reference R5: How does your institution support technical staff gaining professional accreditation and what impact has this had in terms of numbers of technicians applying for and/or successfully achieving professional accreditation?

• Embryonic: No activity. The institution provides no evidence of support for technician professional accreditation
• Emerging: The institution signposts opportunities for technicians to become professionally accredited through its regular comms channels and there are limited numbers of technicians applying to and/or gaining professionally registration
• Evolving: The institution has dedicated comms activities or workshops to encourage technicians to become professionally registered with moderate numbers of technicians applying to and/or gaining professionally registration
• Embedded: The institution has a clear and consistent programme of activities supporting technician professional accreditation demonstrating impact through significant numbers of technicians applying to and/or gaining professionally registration

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation (tbc)

Criteria Reference CD1: Does your institution have accurate and standardised role descriptors for technical staff across the institution and how are they used?

• Embryonic: No descriptors: The institution lacks standardised role descriptors.
• Emerging: Initial development: The institution is developing standardised role descriptors with early-stage communication plans.
• Evolving: The institution has developed role descriptors and actively promoted these to the technical community and there is evidence of their use for technical roles in several areas of the organisation
• Embedded: The institution has developed role descriptors and there is clear evidence of these being actively used in recruitment and job evaluation for all technical roles across the entire organisation

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 2

Criteria Reference CD2: Does your institution have a career pathway for technicians and if so, how is it being delivered?

• Embryonic: No career pathway: The institution has no evidence of a career pathway for technicians.
• Emerging: Pathway development: The institution is developing a career pathway for technicians with a clear plan for future implementation.
• Evolving: Pathway implementation: The institution has a documented career pathway or pilot programme for technicians, with demonstrated engagement.
• Embedded: Established, impactful pathway: The institution has a comprehensive career pathway, including promotional opportunities, with significant technician engagement and positive career development outcomes.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 9

Criteria Reference CD3: What opportunities and mechanisms are in place in your institution to enable movement between disciplines, career pathways and across sectors, encouraging more movement and collaboration between academia, industry and other sectors?

• Embryonic: No career porosity: The institution does not promote career mobility.
• Emerging: Proposal development: The institution has developed proposals to improve career mobility for technicians.
• Evolving: Planned mobility: The institution has developed robust plans with stakeholders to increase career mobility, with some demonstrated engagement.
• Embedded: Demonstrated career mobility: The institution demonstrates strong evidence of career mobility, with technicians moving between departments, disciplines, sectors, and job families

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation (tbc)

Criteria Reference CD4: How does your institution enable technicians to upskill within the workplace through mechanisms such as mentoring, job shadowing, job swaps, secondments etc. and what impact has this had on the institution?

• Embryonic: No upskilling mechanisms: The institution lacks mechanisms for job shadowing and secondment opportunities.
• Emerging: Mechanisms in place: The institution has mechanisms for job shadowing and secondment opportunities.
• Evolving: Engaged upskilling: The institution has mechanisms for upskilling, with evidence of technician engagement and positive institutional impact.
• Embedded: Mature, impactful upskilling: The institution has a mature upskilling system with substantial technician engagement and clearly articulated positive institutional impact.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 9

Criteria Reference CD5: How does your institution provide support for technical staff to undertake continuous professional development including external professional development activities?

• Embryonic: No CPD support: The institution provides no evidence of CPD support for technicians.
• Emerging: Ad-hoc CPD support, with plans for improved coordination and time allocation.
• Evolving: Departmental CPD commitment: Departments demonstrate commitment through time allocation and budgets for internal/external training, with technician engagement.
• Embedded: Institutional CPD commitment: The institution demonstrates strong commitment through initiatives like Science Council Employer Champion status, dedicated time allocation, and an institutional training budget appropriate to the size and shape of the technician community.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 10

Criteria Reference S1: How does your institution take a strategic approach to leadership and direction of technical skills and careers at the institution, including but not limited to, the appointment of a Strategic Technical Lead?

• Embryonic: No strategic direction: There is no evidence of a strategic approach to technical skills or staff.
• Emerging: Inconsistent departmental representation: Some departments/faculties have technician representation in management teams.
• Evolving: Departmental strategic planning: All departments/faculties have technical community representation, skills assessments, and development plans.
• Embedded: Institution-wide strategic leadership: There is a strong, institution-wide strategic approach with technician voices at all levels, including senior executive, and comprehensive succession, skills, recruitment, and retention plans.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 1

Criteria Reference S2: How does your institution demonstrate investment in their technical talent pipeline through targeted activities such as, but not limited to, T Level placements, apprenticeships and mid-career skills development?

• Embryonic: No talent pipeline support: There is no evidence of support for the technical talent pipeline.
• Emerging: Planned early-stage engagement: The institution plans to support early-stage talent development through T Levels and apprenticeships (or similar in devolved nations).
• Evolving: Developing talent pipeline: The institution is implementing plans for early-stage talent and developing mid-career skills for emerging technologies.
• Embedded: Comprehensive talent pipeline investment: The institution has invested significantly in all stages of the talent pipeline, aligning investments with emerging technologies, consistently across the institution.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation (tbc)

Criteria Reference S3: How has your institution addressed equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) challenges within the technical community?

• Embryonic: No EDI action: There is no evidence of actions to address EDI challenges for technicians
• Emerging: Standard inclusive practices: Technical staff recruitment and development follow standard institutional inclusive practices.
• Evolving: Targeted EDI interventions: The institution has identified specific EDI challenges and implemented targeted interventions, such as leadership programs for women.
• Embedded: Comprehensive EDI strategy: The institution has a suite of EDI interventions for recruitment and development, demonstrating a commitment to belonging and uniqueness for all technical colleagues alongside active promotion of support for existing staff in these categories to develop and grow professionally.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 4

Criteria Reference S4: How does your institution ensure that new roles and career pathways remain accessible through both vocational and academic routes?

• Embryonic: Lack of diverse entry routes: There is no evidence of diverse entry routes, and recruitment practices may exhibit bias.
• Emerging: Transparent entry routes: Career pathways and job adverts show clear academic and vocational requirements, attracting a wider applicant pool.
• Evolving: Consistent implementation: The institution has a career pathway and recruitment strategy consistently attracting candidates from both academic and vocational backgrounds.
• Embedded: Impactful diverse recruitment: A wide field of applicants demonstrates the impact of the institution's diverse recruitment strategy demonstrably attracting candidates from an academic and/or a vocational pathway.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 7

Criteria Reference S5: How does your institution maintain partnerships with organisations and initiatives, for example those that provide technical and vocational training to ensure knowledge and skills sharing?

• Embryonic: No training partnerships: There is no evidence of institutional training partnerships.
• Emerging: Early-stage local partnerships: The institution has begun partnerships with local training providers, such as for apprenticeships.
• Evolving: Operational regional/national partnerships: The institution has operational partnerships with neighbouring institutions and accesses regional/national training, with plans for in-house training.
• Embedded: Strategic, comprehensive partnerships: The institution has strategic partnerships with local, regional, and national institutions, both accessing and providing training to the wider technical community.

Aligned to TALENT Commission policy recommendation 13