Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit

Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit

(April 2014)

Section 1:Your details

EIA lead Officer:Jenny Woods

Email address:

Head of Section:Tony Williams (Acting)

Chief Officer:Joe Blott

Directorate:Transformation and Resources

Date:4December2015

Section2:What Council proposal is being assessed?

This EIA assesses the impact of the Council’s Social Media Policy

Section2a:Will this EIA be submitted to a Cabinet or Policy & PerformanceCommittee? Yes

Yes / No If ‘yes’ please state which meeting and what date

Transformation and Resources Policy and Performance Committee 3 December 2015

Council 14 December 2015

Please select hyperlink to where your EIA is/will be published on the Council’swebsite

Transformation & Resources(Resources, Pensions, Legal / Member Services, Human Resources & Organisational Development, Business Processes)

Section 3:Does the proposal have the potential to affect…… (please tick relevant boxes)

Services

The workforce

Communities

Other(please state eg: Partners, Private Sector, Voluntary & Community Sector)

If you have ticked one or more of above, please go to section 4.

None(please stop here and email this form to your Chief Officer who needs to email it to r publishing)

Section4:Could the proposal have a positive or negative impact on any protected groups (race, gender, disability, gender reassignment, age, pregnancy and maternity, religion and belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership)?

You may also want to consider socio-economic status of individuals.

Please list in the table below and include actions required to mitigate any potential negative impact.

Which group(s) of people could be affected / Potential positive or negative impact / Action required to mitigate any potential negative impact / Lead person / Timescale / Resource implications
All / Positive:
The Social Media Policy protects employees and service users from the risks posed by inappropriate use of social media, both within and outside of the workplace.
The Policy provides a framework and guidance on the use of social media and thereby supports the organisation in effectively managing the corporate use of social media.
All / Positive:
Establishes a process for allowing an employee access to social media in the workplace for work purposes, and provides guidance on the personal use of social media.
All / Positive
The policy applies to all employees, irrespective of protected characteristics.

Section 4a:Where and how will the above actions be monitored?

Following Policy launch, the impact on employees will be monitored by managers with support from Human Resources and Organisational Development.

Section 4b:If you think there is no negative impact, what is your reasoning behind this?

The Policy promotes an environment of trust, and an opportunity to increase staff moralthrough the opening up of access to social media in the workplace. This presents an opportunity to promote staff engagement through the sharing of Council news and information.

The Policy provides guidance on the use and misuse of social media both in the workplace and in a personal capacity.

The main aim of thePolicy is to safeguard staff while using social media, to protect the Council from the legal risks of social media, and also to ensure the reputation of the Council is protected at all times.

Section 5:What research / data / information have you used in support of this

process?

The Policy is based on best practice guidance and has been benchmarked against other local authority policies. The Communications and Marketing team have provided valuable information and contribution to the development of the Policy.

Section 6:Are you intending to carry out any consultation with regard to this Council proposal?

Yes

If ‘yes’ please continue to section 8.

If ‘no’ please state your reason(s) why:

(please stop here and email this form to your Chief Officer who needs toemail it to for publishing)

Section 7:How will consultation take place and by when?

The Council has consulted with the Trade Unions and taken feedback on the Policy.