We have had some discussions with BT but the new approach has not been agreed with Prospect or the CWU. BT has confirmed our existing agreement made in 2010 – our approach to performance - remains in place.

We know the practice and experience of performance management in BT is very mixed with welcome improvements in some areas. In others, we are concerned that there are still too many reports of covert attempts at forcing distributions.

Some of the new approach is positive. For example, managers should mark for absolute levels of performance but coach for relative. So, if you were asked to make 100 widgets when standards were set and delivered that, you should be rated as AS. That is a simple, clear message reaffirming the principle of no surprises. However, some of that strong, positive message could potentially, in our view, be undermined by too much emphasis on differentiation which has been used effectively to force ratings in the past. That, in turn, means it is harder to justify marks on the basis of evidence and discrimination and unfairness easily creep in.

Talk of a 'natural curve' could also imply that there is an expected outturn though BT is at pains to say that there should not be any expected % of people for each rating. Instead of levelling there are now fairness and sense checks at different levels. Distributions should only be reviewed across groups of more than 100 as part of the sense check. Whilst there is a general principle that people should not have their rating lowered if they meet the standards, in our view these checks could well be seen as a continuation of past behaviour. Key to this will be the verbal messages given by HR and senior operational managers.

We will continue to have discussions with BT about performance management at both Group and LOB level. Those talks aren't easy but we know that rebuilding trust in performance management is not just immensely challenging but also critical. The lack of trust doesn't just affect performance management; it affects every aspect of work in BT. It's at the back of people's mind all the time and creates suspicion and mistrust. Change is viewed more negatively and teamwork suffers.

We are really keen to hear from all of you – but especially line managers – about how the new process feels on the ground. For Prospect the only real test of this will be how this operates in practice. We are especially keen to hear any positive news from areas where we know we've had lots of reports of bad practice in the recent past – notably in both Openreach and TSO. If it feels better or different then do tell us on [email protected]

This will be a key topic for debate at our BT conference in June and we will be able to review progress there.