Equality Impact Assessment - Employee Involvement Policy and Arrangements

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• Equality Impact Assessment - Employee Involvement Policy and Arrangements

Function being assessed:

Employee Involvement Policy and Arrangements

Is this a new function or a review of an existing function?

This is a review of an existing function

What are the aims / purpose of the function?

The Council has a clear policy on communication and consultation with staff members. Our employee involvement policy sets out expectations and responsibilities, ensuring that all staff are aware of the organisations key messages.

The aims of this policy are:

• To contribute to the strategic objectives of the Council and enable RBK better to meet the needs of its local communities;
• To generate the commitment of all employees to the success of the organisation;
• To give employees the opportunity to influence and be involved in decisions which are likely to affect them;
• To help RBK improve performance, drawing on the resources and skills of all its employees;
• To establish appropriate structures for communication and consultation so that employees are informed and able to represent their views to their employer.

Further more, we have introduced a range of initiatives that facilitate two way communication across the organisation and support staff engagement. These tools ensure that staff are kept well informed and engaged with developments at a corporate and departmental level.

They include:

Ask Bruce sessions

Induction programme

Directorate Consultative Groups (DCGs)

Staff Surveys

Staff Consultative Committee

Health and Safety Committee

Networks

• DCG
• BME Staff
• Fast Forward
• Disabled Staff
• Monthly Staff Update Newsletter

Is the function designed to meet specific needs such as the needs of minority ethnic groups, older people, disabled people etc?

Most of our functions relate to all employees. Some of our functions meet specific needs – for example BME, Disabled and Fast Forward networks are in place to help promote equality of opportunity and value diversity. Examples include annual events for the International Day of Disabled people and Black History Month.

In addition, Kingston Interpreting Services (KIS) offer assistance in helping RBK to communicate more clearly with staff. Their services include:

• Interpreting
• Translation
• Plain / Clear English
• Audio
• Sign Language / Makaton
• Braille

All members of staff can request the service to enable them to provide an appropriate and sensitive service to current or potential service users

What information has been gathered on this function? (Indicate the type of information gathered e.g. statistics, consultation, other monitoring information)? Attach a summary or refer to where the evidence is found.

Kingston has retained its Investors in People (IiP) status at a re-assessment in 2008. It is a national award given to employers who can show that they help their staff improve their skills, learn new things and try new ways of working. In addition, the award measures if staff are clear about what their job is and whether they get information about the impact of what they do, including how it fits into team and RBK goals.

In September 2008, RBK was awarded a place on The Times UK’s 25 Best Councils to Work for List 2008. The most positive factor was ‘My Company’ which focuses on how much people value their organisation, how proud they are to work there and whether they make a difference.  The evidence for the awards was provided by random staff surveys. A number of our employment policies and practices were highlighted for comment including our employee engagement arrangements and development opportunities.   

Our 2007 staff survey had the best ever response rate (66%) and showed that levels of engagement of RBK staff and attitudes towards work were found to be higher than other organisations (2006 CIPD survey).

All staff receive a monthly newsletter updating them on recent developments within the organisation.

Existing primary data for many of our engagement initiatives includes information on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief and age.

Does your analysis of the information show different groups (higher or lower uptake/failure to access/ receive a poorer or inferior service) If yes, indicate which groups and which aspects of the policy or function contribute to inequality?

Comparisons were made on the RBK employee engagement initiatives to the overall RBK non-schools workforce. In analysing the results, it was found that there were no 16-24 year olds (RBK workforce - 3.62%) or over 64 year olds (RBK workforce 2.27%) acting as staff side DCG representatives. Our DCG networks are the main source of consultation across the council.

All other analysis showed diverse representation within all employee engagement initiatives.

Are these differences justified (e.g. are there legislative or other constraints)? If they are, explain in what way.

There is no obvious reason as to why these age groups are not represented. Both these age groups have the least representation across the organisation. The current DCG network is made up of just 51 individuals whilst the non-schools workforce makes up 2053.  It is possible that if the DCG network was bigger in size, there may be more representation from these groups.

What action needs to be taken as a result of this Equality Impact Assessment to address any detrimental impacts or meet previously unidentified need? Include here any reasonable adjustments for access by disabled people. Include dates by which action will be taken. Attach an action plan if necessary.

- Continued monitoring on our staff engagement initiatives
- A re-fresh of our Employee Involvement Policy to include all engagement initiatives
- Promotion of our policy to staff to encourage wider participation

When will you evaluate the impact of action taken? Give review dates

March 2010

Assessment completed by:

Ose Enobakhare, HR Adviser

Human Resources

6 March 2009