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July 01, 2008
CODE OF CONDUCT: FOUL PLAY
If you read the chief officer’s briefing today you will be aware of his comments on the revised code of conduct policy. Here they are:
‘A revised Code of Conduct has now been approved. The Trade Unions have been consulted about it, but have not yet agreed the document. Nonetheless all HPA staff are expected to comply with its requirements. The Code of Conduct can be accessed via the HR database. All staff are urged to revisit and remind themselves of the Code of Conduct and become familiar with its changes.’
There is an entry on this website – 4th June – where we set out our concerns about this policy being unilaterally imposed by Barrie Crook. In fact we wrote to him last week urging that the policy be subject to further negotiations. We had hoped that some good sense would prevail, but the briefing scotched our hopes of further discussion. The code of conduct now joins another policy that was imposed - the forced retirement policy - on the database. Napo does not recognise the legitimacy of these policies and will register a formal dispute at the next meeting of the JNCC.
The chief officer is basically saying to Napo members that your contact of employment is being changed and he writes: ‘All staff are urged to revisit and remind themselves of the code of conduct and become familiar with its changes’. One of Napo’s major concerns about this policy was its intelligibility in relation to data protection and use of email. It is incredible that how the onus falls on staff and never on HPA to actually explain and communicate effectively when it comes to policy changes. The mantra seems to be always, ‘it’s on the database’. We also hold that the language of theft and fraud in relation to using email is draconian and wrong-headed. This has already been pointed out by a national Napo representative but to no avail.
Members have contacted Napo to complain. One member complained directly to Barrie Crook, describing the action taken as ‘arrogant’ and ‘disrespectful’ of him as an individual as well as his union. He added that such arrogant actions contribute to poor relations between management and the workforce and contributes to poor morale.
Interestingly in the same briefing we are told that some 229 members of staff completed the staff survey – that is a figure lower than Napo’s membership and yet the chief officer sees justification in disregarding protocols and imposing a policy. Incidentally the staff survey may well run to a 1000 pages but a summary report is already published and we say that it should be shared with staff forthwith instead of waiting for ‘key messages’ to be determined. The 2004 survey never saw the light of day.
Posted by Hampshire at July 1, 2008 08:50 PM