Room for everyone’s talent: that is the basic principle of the Recognition & Rewards programme. In November 2019, the Dutch knowledge institutions and research funders called for a new balance in the recognition and rewards of academics. We jointly advocate that, in addition to conducting research, academics should be given room to distinguish themselves in the domains of education, impact, leadership and patient care. In addition, we place greater emphasis on quality and less of an emphasis on quantitative results.
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From the outset, the Recognition & Rewards programme has focused on academics. Several institutions have called for a broadening of the national programme. In the Room for everyone’s talent in practice road map, the national Recognition & Rewards steering group promised that it would look into how the programme might help other groups within the institutions. In close consultation with – and on the advice of – the Recognition & Rewards project leaders, the steering group does not consider it appropriate in the current phase of the programme to apply steering at the national level regarding developments relevant to (academic) support staff. We have noticed that several institutions are deliberately opting for a broad change approach by also involving other groups in the implementation of Recognition & Rewards. At the same time, we are seeing that some of the other institutions are reluctant about such a broadening, as they feel it would lead to a dilution of the original programme. However, these institutions do regularly organise initiatives for their (academic) support staff, often under the banner of good employership.
The national steering group feels that both approaches deserve support, as they both fit in with the basic principle that good employership is primarily the responsibility of the institutions themselves. Moreover, the challenges faced by academic staff are in many respects different from those facing the various other target groups. We therefore take the view that (academic) support staff are entitled to a separate approach that fits in with their situation. After all, if we were to include support staff in the current Recognition & Rewards programme, we would risk losing sight of the issues that are unique to this group of staff members.
As the same time, the national steering group is convinced that the basic principles of the programme apply to all staff members who are affiliated with our institutions. All staff members deserve recognition and rewards for their talents and the work they do. This undeniably also applies to support staff and the colleagues working at the interface of research and support, as the work of these staff members is indispensable to research and teaching activities. For this reason, we encourage the boards to continue to focus on the talents and contributions of both academic and support staff, although this does not necessarily need to happen under the banner of Recognition & Rewards. To this end, we advise applying a change approach that fits in with your institution, simultaneous with or subsequent to the implementation of the Recognition & Rewards programme. As employers, let us jointly ensure that we make room for everyone’s talent.
