Issue - meetings

The Committee is asked to consider and endorse the updated policies.

By means of a report by the Strategic HR Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee was acquainted with the outcome of reviews of the Hybrid Working and Disciplinary policies.

Councillor Cawley suggested that a definition should be added for Hybrid working effectiveness, such as measuring productivity. Reference was made to the use of discretion and it was further suggested that changes to office days should be discussed in advance with HR or Managers to ensure fairness to all colleagues. It was queried who would be reviewing the Hybrid Policy moving forward and the Panel were advised this would be reviewed under the Policy Review and by the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) in six months.

Councillor Davenport-Ray suggested that the Policy should be adopted and then brought back to the Panel for further review after a year.

Councillor Cawley suggested that a distinction should be made between serious misconduct and gross misconduct. Examples of each would be beneficial.

Councillor Lowe enquired what support was available to employees during the disciplinary process. The Committee was advised that the ERG had expanded and all Representatives had been trained in supporting employees throughout the process.

Further clarification was sought regarding mitigating circumstances and whether these were taken into account. It was confirmed that mitigation was considered throughout the process. The question was asked of an employee during the initial investigation interview to ascertain if there were circumstances which should be taken into account.

After a further question, it was confirmed that the Code of Conduct was available on the Council’s Intranet for all employees to access and there was an acknowledgement box to tick confirming this had been read and understood by employees. Employees who did not have access to the Intranet had hard copies on site and Managers have explained this via Tool Box Talks..

A question was raised relating to the Policy around password protection of sensitive information. The Panel heard that this was overseen by the Information Governance Team who worked with staff directly on this.

It was

RESOLVED

that, subject to the comments outlined above the Hybrid Working and the Disciplinary Policies be endorsed.