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June 04, 2008
THE REVISED CODE OF CONDUCT 2008
Today there was an email from HR notifying staff of three revised policies that are now on the database. The policies – disciplinary, capability and codes of conduct – are policies that should be agreed with the trade unions as they form part of your contract of employment. We have agreed to revisions in the first two, but not the code of conduct.
Napo wrote to the HR director on 16 April and made the following point:
‘We have issues relating to the revised code of conduct, which in part relates to content, but we are also concerned with how intelligible parts of the proposed policy will be to staff.’ (Email 16/4/08).
We were therefore surprised to see it added to the database as this policy is not agreed. The first page of the policy says:
‘We have agreed the code [of conduct] with the relevant trade unions and it applies to all staff, whether you are permanent, temporary or voluntary.’ This statement is untrue – the code of conduct has not been agreed.
As regards ‘intelligible’ we were referring to that part of the code which relates to email, internet use and data protection issues. Sections in the codes of conduct have been ‘cut and pasted’ from the Email and Internet Communications Policy – March 2006). We suspect many members may not be familiar with that policy. That policy also says, (this is not in the codes of conduct):
‘Ensure all authorised users read this policy, are provided with adequate training and are both regularly reminded to comply and do comply with all “authorised user responsibilities” contained within this policy;’
Napo does not recognise this revised code of conduct. We don’t have problems with the bulk of the policy, but we strongly believe that new areas need to be agreed and other aspects need clarifying. We also say that members need to have a clear understanding of the rules otherwise they will be vulnerable to disciplinary action through mere inadvertence. And we also believe there is a need for training so as to ensure as far as possible that users of email and the internet understand their responsibilities.
Posted by Hampshire at June 4, 2008 07:02 PM