Employee Engagement Forum Minutes
10th April 2018 at 2:00pm at the Bradbury Centre North Shields.
Elected Members Present –Emily Sinclair,Becky Rutter, Fran Chubb,Cat Brookes, Helen Hajek and Nicola Bushell
Chair - Alma Caldwell, Group Chief Executive
Apologies –Trish James,Dawn Barker, Elaine Foster, Viv Kirby
Taking Notes – Mandy Gill
ACTION1 / NOTES FROM LAST MEETING
The notes from the last meeting were agreed as a true record.
2 / Welcome and Introductions
Apologies were given as stated above. Alma welcomed Nicola Bushell, Social Prescribing Coordinator, as a new Representative to her first meeting.
3 / Action Points
‘You Said, We Did’ Newsletter- Although little feedback had been received by Reps, the few comments that had come back were positive.This will be produced and circulated following every EEF meeting.
EEF Badges – Following discussion it was decidedthat new style badges won’t be ordered. Reps were encouraged to wear their current badges at appropriate times when they wanted to raise awareness or speak to people in their EEF role and when attending Staff Team Meetings to prompt staff to talk to them.
Staff Handbook – This is now being distributed by Mandy at staff team meetings, staff will be asked to sign a receipt form and this will be logged by HR
Air Quality in Bradbury – Alma has set a maximum budget of £75 to purchase suitable oxygenating plants for the Centre which will help improve air quality. Nicola Bushel to lead
Identify Training Needs – AD had to postpone due to preparing for ISO quality audit but will be hoping to rearrange for May.
Refer a Friend Scheme – HR to inform Alma of staff who have ‘referred a friend’ for her monthly CE briefing to raise awareness and recognition.
Care Staff Recruitment Plan – HR has advertised for a Graduate Intern from Newcastle University who will hopefully commence in the summer and would be charged with looking at Recruitment as a project in terms of reviewing the methods we are currently using, reasons staff are leaving, total reward, costs per hire and identify new campaign ideas.
Fun/Dress Down Fridays–Further to discussion,it was agreed that“Dress AsYou Please Fridays” should be trialled and commence from 27th April 2018. Care Staff will still be required to wear purple tunics but could for example choose alternative leg wear. Other staff would need to use their discretion about appropriateness of chosen dress dependent on what meetings or people they were meeting that day.
Improving Communications–A new Facebook page (EveryDay Staff) has now been set up as a closed Group for internal communication purposes only. Reps to encourage staff to join.
Alma to also promote throughher Chief Executive briefing
Mindfulness Training –Following staff request,it was agreed that we would run aMindfulness taster session. CB to ask in Managers Meeting toidentify who/how many want to attend.
Initial taster session will be 1 hour to introduce mindfulness and get an indication of interest from staff via feedback forms. Organisation will pay this Initial session cost of £50 + VAT. There will be a shared cost to run a course of Mindfulness Sessions thereafter.
Signing off policies is not always relevant to job roles- Introduction to key policies that are relevant to all staff are in the Staff Handbook. Managers should be prioritising the relevant policies for their team to be read and signed off.
Increasing Cost of post/Certificates –Sonya has circulated an email with a list of cost centres codes. These should now be noted on each envelope so that costs per service area can be monitored.
Request for Sick Pay for hourly paid staff PLANNED absences –The Board has agreed that as we are only projecting a breakeven budget again this year it is too early to agree any changes to staff terms and conditions. They are committed to reviewing the situation againwhen they see the half year budget results in October.Hourly paid staff will receive a 4.3% increase in line with the National Minimum Wage.
Mobile App- Alma has been informed thatthe issue with apps not working has been resolved with purchase of new handsets. Sonya has not been told of any new problems since. She will check situation with Team Leaders. / REPS
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4 / GDPR Update
Angie Dawson has been delivering awareness training sessions for all salaried staff and will be attending Care Staff Team Meetings in May to do the same.
The organisation has Action Plans in place to ensure we meet the GDPR guidelines for the May deadline.
5 / HR Update
National Minimum Data Set (NMDS)- We are waiting for an update from our partner in Gateshead regarding grant availability. Patrick is now an accredited trainer. The training could be sold externally to others and help raise income for the organisation.
Long Term Staff Sickness -HR has partnered with a new Occupational Health Provider (Black and Banton). Staff on long term sick will be referred to this company for health assessments where necessary to help determine their ability to return to work and any adjustments we, as the employer, need to make to support them. This costs us £90 per referral which is the samecost as the previous GP report but much more detailed and helpful.
Going Paperless- HR has scanned in 270 Personal files since 2016. Managers now have access to their staff team files electronically.
Employee Survey –There was only 64 responses out of a possible 260 which is only a 24% return rate and disappointing.However, it was important to consider the views of those that did respond and it was agreed that the Forum Reps will consider some of the responses at the next meeting to see how we can improve satisfaction. Cat gave the meeting an overview of some of the individual comments:
-Training and support in past year has been good
-Employee Forum is an excellent idea
-Communication with managers and carers is good
-Recognition is good
-Centres need promotion getting asked where Cedar Grove is
-Team meetings needed
-Lack of Communication between departments
-Encourage Staff to take breaks
-Encourage a healthy work place culture
-Review bereavement and leave policy
National Minimum Wage Uplift to Hourly Paid Staff Salaries-the following changes will come into effect from 1April 2018.
7.83 / PSA Grade 1 - Day, Catering Grade 1
8.09 / Catering Grade 2
8.15 / PSA Grade 2 - Day
8.25 / PSA Grade 2 - Night
8.25 / Catering Grade 3
8.52 / PSA Grade 3
Staff Leavers – it was noted thatseveral care staff had left from the North Shields Community Team recently. Reps wereasked again to push the ‘Refer a Friend Scheme’.
Annual Leave- has now been reviewed for all Hourly Paid staff, annual leave cards have been issued and letters have been sent to staff.
Keeping in Touch Email- It was noted that someStaff on long term sick or maternity leave had not been kept up to date with business changes, vacancies etc. HR have created an “Keeping in Touch” email which will go to all absent staff to keep them informed of changes. / Agenda Item next meeting
REPS
6 / Better Health at Work Award
Health Advocates attended the Awards event at the Crown Plaza to receive our Bronze Award.
The postponed Staff Health Checks with the Admiral Nurse team is being rearranged. New dates will be circulated once confirmed.
In May we have Walking Month and will be promoting Walking Meetings. There will be a competition for the most active team. Reps are asked to help promote this. HR will send Reps the details.
A Bereavement Workshop is being held at the Whitley Bay Centre on 14th May for Customers and the General Public which will run from 10:30-1pm. There is a booking sheet on the Common Drive for sign ups.
Reps to promote the Workshop at Team Meetings
Leah Phillips, Customer Services Coordinator has joined as a new Health Advocateand will take a particular interest promoting the Health Events to our Care Staff as she has the most regularcontact with them. / HR
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7 / Feedback from Reps
Reducing Customer Numbers in Wellbeing Centres - Rowen Croft is concerned about the low number ofattendees and referrals to the Centre. Some days they only have 6 out of 25 customers attending. They used to run two taster sessions/week previously.
It was noted that the Wellbeing Centre Manager and Team Leaders should be maintaining contact and building relationships with Social Workers for their area. This was not the Customer Coordinator role as they only processed the referrals that were made. This would be raised with Head of Service.
Nicola suggested that Wellbeing Centre Manager could attend Northumbria University event that she attendsto promote Social Prescribing to nurses and GPs. Nicola to send information to Wellbeing Centre Manager. / AC/KP
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8 / Any Other Business
EEF Communicating across Wellbeing Centres
Helen explained how it was difficult for her as EEF Rep to attend the three Wellbeing Centre Team Meetings to communicate with staff. It was queried whether there was the possibility of the three Teams meeting together once/month or so. Kerry Parker to be asked to consider.
2018-19 Budget
Alma emphasised that April was the start to the new financial year and another tough ‘breakeven’ budget had been set and could only be achieved if the (£170,000) fundraising target was achieved.
It was therefore imperative that new charitable grant income was raised to support the income generated through the Everyday business to maintain services.
Alma informed the meeting that a large 4 year grant had been submitted, as part of a consortium bid with other organisations, to extend our prison work. Other grant funding opportunities were being looked for. / AC/KP
9 / FUTURE PLANNING FOR 2017-2018
Dates for future meetings: Please add to your Diary’s
3rd July @ 2.00pm
9Th October @ 2.00pm / REPS
Employee Representatives
Cat Brookes / HR Advisor / Bradbury Centre / Charity / / 0191 280 8484Mandy Gill / HR Officer / Bradbury Centre / Charity / / 0191 280 8484
Dawn Barker / Team Leader / Extra Care Housing Schemes / EveryDay / / Top of Form
07570 035 115Bottom of Form
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Fran Chubb / Customer Services Coordinator / Bradbury Centre / Charity / / 0191 280 8484
Elaine Foster / PSA 2 / Community / EveryDay / Top of Form
07739 265 483Bottom of Form
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Helen Hajek / PSA 2 / Wellbeing Centres / Charity / Top of Form
ottom of Form / Bottom of Form
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07847 882 067Bottom of Form
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Patricia James / PSA 2 / Community / EveryDay / / Top of Form
07746 107904Bottom of Form
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Rebecca Rutter / Information & Advice Manager / Bradbury Centre/Outreach / Charity / / 0191 280 8484
Viv Kirby / Assistant Manager South Tyneside / Bradbury Centre/
Quadrus / EveryDay / / 07464 677 280
Emily Sinclair / Community Services Senior Officer / Bradbury Centre / Charity / / 0191 2808 480
Nicola Bushell / Social Prescribing Coordinator / Bradbury Centre / Charity / / 0191 280 8484
Vacancy / PSA / EveryDay Living
Vacancy / PSA / EveryDay Living
Vacancy / PSA / EveryDay Living
Vacancy / PSA / Wellbeing
Vacancy / Team Leader / Team Leader