Concluding the recruitment process

When the recruiting manager has decided to recommend an appointment, they write an opinion. Please refer to the template for the design of opinions. The opinion should be attached to the case in Primula, as it is an important document should someone choose to appeal against the decision.

An offer of employment must be sent to the successful candidate to confirm the agreed terms of employment. The recruiting manager must clarify matters of significance to the appointment, such as salary, form and scope of employment, applicable collective agreement and department/division. The offer is dispatched via ReachMee. Within the university administration, the recruiting manager is responsible for filling in an offer of employment and sending it to the successful candidate via ReachMee.

A digital onboarding portal for new SLU employees was launched on 11 May.

Purpose and objective

The portal is intended to support new employees by providing a good start in our organisation.

The onboarding portal ensures that all new employees receive the same basic information about SLU’s mission, goals and core values as a complement to the local introduction to the organisation. The objective is to give new employees a good start, and to make it easier for them to quickly get to work.

All new recruits will receive login details for the portal, where among other things they will find a welcome message from the vice-chancellor, information about the organisation, checklists in preparation for employment, as well as text and video presentations of SLU.

As Malin Björnstad and Christoffer Thell, who managed the project to develop and launch the onboarding portal, put it:

‘The onboarding portal is intended to support SLU through the transition to a more digital working method, in which digital preboarding and onboarding is a natural element of the employee journey.’

The purpose of a central onboarding portal is to provide new employees with a positive and realistic image of SLU as an employer, as well as to create a sense of being well cared for from day one.

The onboarding portal makes it easier for employees to assimilate and understand SLU’s mission, goals and core values, reducing the ramp-up period before they reach full productivity. It is also intended to quality-assure onboarding by ensuring that the process is uniform, structured, simple and efficient, thereby reducing the burden on the organisation.

Complementing the local introduction

We would also like to emphasise that the central onboarding portal is not intended to replace local onboarding or the university-wide introduction day; rather, these are intended to complement one another.

Invitation and access

All new recruits are invited to log in to our digital onboarding portal when an offer of employment is dispatched via ReachMee. People who are not employed by SLU, such as scholarship holders and external consultants, can also be invited to log in to the portal.

An invitation may be sent at any time from six months prior to the start of employment, and the portal can be accessed for up to three months after employment begins. Access is then deactivated. 

Responsibilities and administration in ReachMee

The HR specialist at the department/division is responsible for activating the onboardee’s login to ReachMee and inviting the responsible manager and any mentor into the module.

In the university administration, the Administrative Services Unit handles activation of logins for onboardees after the recruiting manager submits information on the new appointment in Primula.

The HR specialist registers details of the onboardee’s line manager and any mentor, and selects the relevant onboarding category: Standard, International or Non-employee. This choice determines the content that individual has access to in the portal.

How information is sent out

Once onboarding is activated in ReachMee, an invitation is sent to the onboardee by email, and the registered line manager and any mentor receive an email with information about the onboardee.

Follow-up for managers

Managers can follow the progress of their new employees (onboardees) via the ReachMee boarding module throughout the onboarding process.

An employment case is opened in Primula: contact your departmental administrator or the HR administrator at your department/division to proceed with the appointment.

The employer informs the trade unions of the intended decision and the salary offered. This is always done via SLU’s negotiation system through the HR Unit. The unions are informed one week before a decision is reached. This takes place on Tuesdays, meaning that cases submitted after Tuesday will be posted the week after the next.

If the trade unions wish to negotiate the intended appointment, they will notify the HR Unit. Negotiations will take place on the following Tuesday. No information is required if the duration of the appointment is no more than three months.

Pursuant to Section 11 of the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act (SFS 1976:580), the primary responsibility for negotiation regarding the appointment of managers rests with the employer, i.e. the employer must initiate negotiation.

The appointment decision is drawn up by the HR administrator in conjunction with preparing information pursuant to the Employment (Co-Determination in the Workplace) Act. The HR administrator signs the decision on behalf of the head of department/equivalent. The appointee does not sign the decision, although it is legally binding in the same way as an employment contract entered into with any other employer.

Once information has been provided and any negotiations are concluded, the HR administrator will send the appointment decision and a letter of welcome to the successful candidate. A copy of the decision is stored in the employee’s personnel file. In conjunction with sending the appointment decision, the HR administrator announces the decision. See below for more information.

The notification will state either that a person has been appointed to the position or that it has been decided not to fill the advertised position. It includes information on who has been appointed and how the decision can be appealed. An appeal against an appointment decision must be lodged no later than 15 working days after the date on which the decision was announced.

Once the recruitment process is concluded, the HR administrator will email notification of the appointment decision to all unsuccessful candidates. SLU’s appointment decisions can be read on the university’s official notice board outside the SLU University Library on Campus Ultuna. While it is therefore not necessary for the recruiting manager to contact all applicants, they must telephone all candidates who were interviewed for the position.

All appointment decisions by government agencies can be appealed, with the exception of decisions to employ a doctoral student and decisions on promotion to senior lecturer. Only those who have applied for the position can appeal against the decision, and any appeal must be received no later than three (3) weeks from the date on which the decision was posted on the agency’s notice board.

Appeals against appointment decisions are heard by the Higher Education Appeals Board. However, all appeals must be sent to the registrar at SLU. SLU will forward appeals that arrive by the deadline to the Higher Education Appeals Board. An applicant always retains the right to access the application documents submitted by fellow applicants. This applies both prior to and after any appeal. 

Questions concerning appeals should be addressed to the Legal Affairs Unit.