Human Resources

Human Resources (HR) supports the requirements of the Equality Act throughout its work and the overall force objective of embedding Fairness and Equality throughout the constabulary.

At the outset of the Equality Act in 2010, Employee Relations arranged an input from an Employment barrister targeted at relevant specialists throughout HR, Learning and Development, senior managers and staff associations to focus on the new requirements of the act and particularly differences with the previous equality legislation.

This built on work between Employee Relations and the Fairness and Equality lead, Chief Inspector Scipio, identifying both internal and external actions required from the legislation.

In March 2010 a comprehensive Police Staff Equal Pay Audit was completed following eight months work.  The Audit was overseen by a steering group composed of all relevant stakeholders.  As well as doing an overall analysis the audit also did sector reviews for departments identified by the Steering Group where it was known there was a disproportionate gender balance in the workforce. The Audit concluded that the pay system was essentially fair and no major problems were identified.  There were a number of recommendations which are being taken forward primarily focused on policy issues and job evaluation.  It is intended to do a further audit in 2013 based on end of year 2012/13 pay data.  Work has been undertaken nationally on a police officer equal pay audit and the Constabulary will look to do a local audit for officers but this will now wait until the new HR IT system has been introduced which will also act as a useful data checking exercise.

Employee Relations support the first line leadership courses providing specialist input in attendance, grievance, conduct and performance management improving the capacity of our leaders to manage their staff.

Over the last 2 years HR has provided resources to support and maintain development in the fields of sexual orientation (e.g. supporting the Stonewall submission) and disability (e.g. with the Disability Standard) which have contributed to positive results.

A specific target HR set was to reduce the proportion of Employment Tribunal claims related to disability which was running at 50% of all claims during 2007 and 2008.  Through a range of measures including supporting local training events set up by Fairness and Equality Action groups and providing better guidance, this has been achieved with the total number of disability related claims for the 3 years 2009-11 being half that of the previous three year period.  That said we are never complacent and a disability claim that was lost in 2011 has been reviewed and learning taken forward both within the relevant Department and HR in how to deal with similar circumstances in the future.

This builds on an overall effort to reduce Employment Tribunal claims particularly those related to equality issues.  This is progressing well with the figures for the years 2010 and 2011 showing a 50% reduction on 2008 and 2009.  A number of factors have contributed to this.  One example is having regular informal meetings with staff associations to identify emerging issues quickly so they can be addressed at an early stage.  An example of this is the identification of issues surrounding flexible working which have been addressed initially through discussion and further work is being done led by Inspire that will build on this.

In the field of gender the Force has consistently produced high rates for return from maternity leave and to further support this within the last year HR have introduced half day workshops for staff during their maternity leave.  These supplement information given, support return to work issues and have received positive feedback. In addition an e-learning package for managers of staff on maternity leave has been produced.  This is supported by a family care expert within Occupational Health and Wellbeing.  With changing demographics and staff needs further work has been done to focus on elder care issues and support for our staff supporting elderly relatives.

The grievance figures compliment the trends outlined above.  There has been a significant reduction in the overall number of grievances and a 50% drop in grievances related to discriminatory issues.  These are reviewed to identify learning that is then fed back into the Force depending on the issues identified either at an individual level or a wider force level through training.    An internal mediation service was set up in 2009 to support the resolution of internal conflict.  The service has developed and is working well and may be a contributory element to the overall reduction in grievances.

HR is working closely with partner departments in the field of fairness and equality.  One example of this is with PSD and a recent example of a case that involved investigation of discrimination and bullying claims enabled HR input to support the investigation approach.

Good progress is being by the Constabulary overall but it is recognised this is a dynamic and on-going requirement.  Following the HR change programme it is envisaged the new structure will promote greater consistency and deliver a centre of excellence approach that will continue to support the embedding of Fairness and Equality throughout the Force.