Appraisal advice for BBC members

BECTU has told members to refuse appraisal interviews as soon as they are scheduled.

BBC unions are currently running a boycott of the interviews following the collapse of talks on the Corporation's pay and reward structure.

Since BECTU's boycott began on July 9, shortly after the NUJ commenced similar action, members have been threatened with deductions of pay for failing to show up for appraisals.

The union is now advising members in the BBC and BBC Technology Limited to tell their schedulers or managers that they will not be attending interviews as soon as they are scheduled.

This will ensure that members supporting the appraisal boycott are available for normal duties, and will prevent managers from accusing them of unauthorised absence.

Unions plan to continue the boycott indefinitely until the BBC is prepared to break the link between appraisals and performance pay awards. Next year's appraisal round could be badly affected.

Since the current performance pay system was introduced in 1995, staff have complained that the awards are inconsistent and often unfair. The unions had hoped that the talks on pay and reward, initiated as part of last year's pay settlement, would result in a more acceptable arrangements.

However, the BBC insisted that individual performance against targets should still play a part in determining the distribution of performance pay increases.

Members employed by BBC Worldwide Limited and BBC Resources Limited are not involved in the boycott.