Our Time to Talk schedule in now

Important reminder for managers!

The end of the financial year is fast approaching, so if you haven’t managed to schedule in your Our Time to Talk conversations, now is the time to get them planned in to the diary before the end of March deadline.

The Our Time to Talk process exists to ensure that managers and employees take some time out, at least once per year, to check-in, reflect and most importantly talk about how the employee is getting on at work. The discussion may also include career aspirations and support for these, where appropriate.

One Our Time to Talk per year is mandatory for all employees.

For a reminder of how these conversations should flow – check out the sample scripts on the Our Time to Talk page on Connects. You’ll also find the instructions of how to nominate on CHRIS for upcoming training courses.

If you are in need of some inspiration of what development is available you can find details of this on the Training and Development Opportunities page or if you are a manager or an aspiring manager, development that is appropriate to you can be found within the Leadership Academy.

• New Employees – your Our Time to Talk discussion should be done about 3 months from your start date. If you haven’t had your Our Time to Talk, ask your line manager about it.
• All other Employees – this must be done annually but can be done at any point in the financial year. Make sure you have at least one conversation scheduled in this year with your manager.
• Managers – ensure you get these in the diary for all of your team. Spread them out over a few weeks/months’ dependant on how many employees you are responsible for.
• Teaching Staff and Psychologists – it is your own Professional Review and Development (PRD) process that applies. Remember that these conversations can be conducted in person but can just as easily be conducted virtually via Teams.

Also if you’ve completed the learning applicable to your role and are looking for other ideas to expand your knowledge and skills, why not look at OpenLearn – The Open University’s free online suite of courses.

Share your successes!

If someone in your time is a shining example of our staff values – focus, passion and inspiration – and you’d like to give them a shout-out for going the extra mile or achieving a career milestone, get in touch by emailing the Communications team as we are always on the lookout for good news stories across our council services.

Published February 16, 2026