Agenda item

HR Policy Review

To review and agree the following revised policies and procedure:

1)    Paternity and Maternity Support Leave Procedure

2)    Agile Working Policy

3)    Smoke Free Workplace Policy

4)    Maternity Pay & Leave Policy

5)    Organisational Change Policy

6)    Flexitime Scheme Procedure

7)    Managing Absence Policy 

 

Minutes:

The Committee received the latest revised policies from the HR Policy Review for consideration. The HR team have an established programme in place to review/update existing HR policies/procedures and guidance. As part of this process, policies and procedures are being consolidated, wherever possible, and new policies and procedures created to reflect changes to legislation or best practice.

 

The process for reviewing the policies had included engagement with; stakeholders, trade unions, the equalities group and DMT.

 

The following amendments had been made to HR policies:

 

Paternity & Maternity Support Leave Procedure:

 

·       Procedure created to consolidate different guidance documents.

·       Moved to new template, which includes the BFC equality statement.

·       Amended to reflect changes to legislative changes on the taking of paternity leave and notice required which are effective from April 2024: Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024.

·       Inclusion of reference to Parental Bereavement Leave – Section 9.0.

Agile Working Policy:

·       Moved to new template, which includes the BFC equality statement.

·       Guidance on working abroad (Section 12 of the policy) expanded to include the requirement for employees to check if the country is safe and that ICT may restrict countries from which it is considered safe to work due to security information.

·       The requirement that new starters/leavers are required to attend Time Square to collect/return ICT equipment being added, following cases where IT equipment has been shipped at the Council’s expense to employee’s homes.

·       Strengthened wording around departments that cannot Agile Work. 

·       Reference to Lone Working policy.

 

Smoke Free Workplace Policy:

·       The policy has been renamed from No Smoking Policy to reflect the greater scope of the policy. 

·       Moved to new template, which includes the BFC equality statement

·       Inclusion of other forms of smoking within the policy, such as vaping, e-cigarettes.

·       To reflect increase agile working, policy amended to include requirement to refrain from smoking/vaping when working away from office and attending virtual meetings on Teams/Zoom, etc.

 

Maternity Pay & Leave Policy 

·       The policy has been created to provide more concise guidance - previously two separate guidance documents existed.

·       Moved to new template, which includes the BFC equality statement

·       Amendment have been made to reflect legislative changes for the taking of  neonatal leave and parental bereavement leave.

·       Breastfeeding guidance incorporated.

 

Organisational Change Policy

·       Moved to new template which incorporates the BFC equality statement

·       Amendments to reflect legislative changes to give greater protection for employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

·       Clarification on the selection process and when At Risk letters are issued

·       A draft consultation document template and a Sequence of Events timeline added for greater clarity.

·       Guidance added on employee support and family leave protection. 

·       Organisational design principles included.

 

Flexitime Scheme Procedure

·       A procedure has been created to supplement the intranet page, which was previously the only source of reference/guidance for the Council’s Flexitime scheme.

·       Procedure is on the BFC standard template, which incorporates an equality statement.

·       Amendment to the requirement to take breaks which are in line with Working Time Regulations (1998) i.e. a minimum 20-minute break after 6 hours working. The BFC Flexitime procedure requires a 30-minute break after 6 hours to support employees’ health and wellbeing.

·       Simplifying of the rules around number of hours required to work in a day

·       Referenced to Agile Working policy.

 

Managing Absence Policy

·       Moved to new template which incorporates the BFC equality statement

·       Additional guidance included on reasonable adjustments for employees with a disability/long-term condition – Section 7.0.  This includes the recording of time off for medical treatment (Section 7.1).

·       Updated guidance on handling repeated long-term sickness i.e., 20 days or more, and the handling of such absences under performance improvement and capability procedure.

 

 

 

In discussion the following point was raised:

  • The early implementation of paid neonatal leave ahead of new legislation was welcomed.
  • A minor change in wording of paragraph 6.1 of the Smoke Free Workplace Policy was needed to clarify that the policy did not apply to those working from home. 
  • The abbreviations OML and AML would be added throughout the Maternity Pay and Leave Policy, to ensure continuity in language.

 

RESOLVED, that having reviewed the policies, the Employment Committee agrees the revised policies for: 

 

1)    Paternity and Maternity Support Leave Procedure

2)    Agile Working Policy

3)    Smoke Free Workplace Policy

4)    Maternity Pay & Leave Policy

5)    Organisational Change Policy

6)    Flexitime Scheme Procedure

7)    Managing Absence Policy

 

Supporting documents: