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Urban Vision HR Annual StatementFinancial year 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2011 ContentsPage TOC \o "1-1" \h \z \u 1.Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc296452955 \h 22.Absence Management PAGEREF _Toc296452956 \h 33.Headcount PAGEREF _Toc296452957 \h 64.Appraisal Update PAGEREF _Toc296452958 \h 75.Internal Communications PAGEREF _Toc296452959 \h anisational Development PAGEREF _Toc296452960 \h munity involvement PAGEREF _Toc296452961 \h 158.Induction PAGEREF _Toc296452962 \h 179.Reward and recognition (Employee benefits) PAGEREF _Toc296452963 \h 1810.Training & development PAGEREF _Toc296452964 \h 2011.Investing In People award PAGEREF _Toc296452965 \h 22 Executive SummaryThis annual statement provides a detailed summary of how Urban Vision as a company manages and supports Salford City Council employees who have been seconded into the joint venture company. This is the first of what will in the future become an annual statement to the Urban Vision Partnership Forum, the purpose of which is to provide Members with some background of how the HR issues relating to Salford City Council employees seconded to Urban Vision are managed. Although this is an annual statement there is some 'historic detail' included within the report to set the background but going forward the annual statements will focus more as an annual position statement. This report details how Urban Vision supports its people, manages its people policies and puts processes in place to support and develop its staff. One of the ongoing challenges for Urban Vision is the fact that the company does not employ people directly; employees are seconded to the company through the three partner organisations and their associated terms and conditions of employment. This mechanism for employment has brought some additional HR challenges such as a consistency of approach to appraisal and sickness absence monitoring procedures and flexi time, and with it the problem of conveying fairness and communicating these messages to all staff.A great deal of progress has been accomplished within Urban Vision, a unified approach for delivering appraisals and managing attendance management has been imbedded into the culture of Urban Vision and this consistency of approach has been recognised with the award of Investing In People accreditation.It’s been a long journey but a great deal has been accomplished along the way including focused staff training, investment in accommodation and technology and a number of staff benefits that have added to the value of working within Urban Vision.A guide to Urban Vision has been included as appendix 1 to help illustrate Urban Vision’s management structure and range of services. Absence ManagementAttendance management is as important indicator of wellbeing and Urban Vision provides monthly attendance management information to the Urban Vision Board, the Urban Vision Management Team and the partner organisations. Attendance management is discussed at all team meetings on a monthly basis.The Integrated Services Team was formed in July 2010 to centralise the Urban Vision admin functions for all business units and absence management was identified as one of the functions which needed to be centrally managed to deliver a consistent approach. The Integrated Services Team initially carried out the task of collating all the sickness records from the past twelve months for the whole of Urban Vision. A spreadsheet was developed which recorded all aspects of absence management including the number of sick days, reason for absence, percentage of absence per business unit, when absence stages have been triggered and to record all information that is required to be entered onto both Salford and Capita SAP systems.The spreadsheet is also used to create long and short term absence figures to assist managers to be proactive in their approach to absence management. Processes and procedures were also developed to manage the absence management process and to report statistics to the various management boards.Sickness absence figures are calculated by entering the data from the attendance management system spreadsheet into a matrix which then gives us the figures shown in the grid below.The following table illustrates the sickness statistics for all of the staff within Urban Vision; this includes Salford City Council, Galliford Try and Capita Symonds secondees. The sickness period represented in this table is 1st April, 2010 to 31st March, 2011.Business Unit1st April 2010 –31st March 2011Short Term Sickness %1st April 2010 – 31st March 2011Long Term Sickness %1st April 2010 – 31st March 2011Sickness Total %ArchitectsZUVA0.90.21.1SurveyingZUVB1.73.55.2Estates ManagementZUVE0.91.92.8Construction ServicesZUVW APT&C (SCC)0.70.00.7Construction ServicesZUVW Galiford Try0.46.56.9Construction ServicesZUVW Manual (SCC)2.05.27.2Construction Services total1.64.35.9Engineering ZUVI1.82.84.6RegulatoryZUVR0.70.20.9Business SupportZUVX1.21.52.7Total Sickness %Consultancy (ZUVA, B, E, I, R & X)Total Sickness %Constructing (ZUVW)2.85.9Attendance performance Period April 2010 – March 2011Urban Vision Sickness absence target 2010/11 2.5%Cumulative performance in the year3.27%Total number of lost days due to absence 3468Total number of available days in the year = number of days X average number of staff. 106007Number of Staff who have triggered short term Stage One in the financial yearThe integrated Service team use the sickness absence information to identify staff who have triggered the various stages within the attendance management policy and have the responsibility for notifying managers and recording when the back to work interviews take place and to record when the various stage meeting have occurred.It needs to be noted that each of the partner organisations have their own trigger points, however the policies are managed in a consistent way and the various forms are sent to the line manager when it is appropriate. There is no differential in the management of all Urban Vision secondees, however the partner organisations to have minor differences in their terms absence trigger points. Business UnitContractNumber of StaffZUVACAPITA5ZUVASCC1ZUVBCAPITA3ZUVBSCC1ZUVECAPITA1ZUVESCC1ZUVWSCC MANUAL8ZUVICAPITA4ZUVISCC8ZUVRCAPITA1ZUVRSCC1ZUVXCAPITA4ZUVXSCC1TOTAL:39Number of Staff who have been on Long Term Absence in the financial yearAll individuals who have had an absence of more than 20 days are added to the list below. As with the stage one process all the sickness information is monitored on the spreadsheet and the business unit managers will be notified of the long term sickness to enable a welfare visit to be undertaken.Business UnitContractNumber of StaffZUVASCC1ZUVBSCC3ZUVWSCC MANUAL8ZUVWGALLIFORD TRY2ZUVICAPITA1ZUVISCC5ZUVXSCC1TOTAL:21In summary the attendance management policy is actively managed and managers are reminded of their responsibilities where appropriate. All sickness statistics are reported to the Urban Vision Operations meeting and the Urban Vision Board meeting on a monthly basis.Headcount The table below provided information on the total headcount by partner organisation in the period 1st April, 2010 to 31st March, 2011.Contract Type (period 1st April, 2010 to 31st March, 2011)TypeApr 10May 10Jun 10Jul 10Aug 10Sep 10Oct10Nov 10Dec10Jan11Feb11Mar 11Salford City Council298297297293289287283284281280277276Capita Symonds139137138136121120117119121122118117Galiford Try778888888888Agency414140454551433330303746Zero Hr810101099556889TOTAL494492493492472475456448446446448456Can you please note that the high level of agency staff relates to agency staff employed at the Highways depot, these are manual workers employed to manage the peaks and troughs in workload. Zero hours contracts relate to office based staff. These are staff that are employed by Capita but only get paid when they are required to work. This is a method of dealing with increases in capacity without going through the expense of recruiting contractors. Appraisal UpdateA robust appraisal process is in place and every member of staff within Urban Vision can expect an annual appraisal followed by a six month mid-year appraisal.A consultation process was undertaken with all three partners and it was agreed that a generic appraisal system would be developed. A standardised approach to the delivery of appraisals was agreed and a series of workshops arranged to brief staff on how to manage the appraisal process.At the beginning of 2010, historic information on past appraisal dates was collected for all Business Units. From this a series of ‘tracker’ sheets were produced for each business unit and stored in secure appraisals folders on the network. The tracker sheets set out a timetable for appraisals and mid-year reviews over a twelve month period with a view to rolling out the agreed single format of appraisals for all employees from April 2010.At the outset, each business unit had a nominated appraisals co-ordinator (usually an admin support officer) whose role was to monitor and update the appraisals tracker within their own business area and to support managers during the appraisal process, issuing reminders and collecting completed paperwork. A workflow document was produced to assist co-ordinators with this process (attached). There was also a nominated central appraisals co-ordinator who role was to collate data from each business unit tracker and report on a monthly basis to the UV Operations Board via the Organisational Development report. The report breaks down completions rates for annual and mid-year appraisals by business unit, lists overdue appraisals including naming the individual appraisee and appraising manager as well as recording appraisals due in the current month.Following the introduction of the Integrated Services Team, the tracking and reporting of appraisals has been centralised further so that there is now a single point of contact for all appraising managers. In order to work within the Data Protection Act, access to information contained within the appraisals folder is controlled and limited only to those acting in a co-ordinator role. Completed appraisal paperwork is stored electronically within the secured appraisal folders. Information is not released to individuals other than the appraisee or appraiser without authorisation from the business unit manager. In the period April 2010 to March 2011, 283 out of 309 annual appraisals have taken place, a 92% completion rate. Completion rate for mid-year reviews stands at 78% in the same periodAn example of the appraisal tracker is provided in Appendix 2 Urban Vision Performance Management ProcessAs the Appraisals Coordinator for your profit centre, you are responsible for following the steps outlined below to support managers during the appraisal process, reminding managers when annual appraisals and six monthly reviews are due to take place, and following this up for requests for completed paperwork.If the completed appraisal form is not returned within 2 weeks of the appraisal taking place, a reminder email is sent to the managerAppraisals Coordinator consults the Appraisal Tracker at the start of the every month to ascertain which employees are due to have an appraisal (either annual or mid yearly) during that monthAppraisals Coordinator then updates the Appraisal Tracker with relevant details (i.e. date sent to Group HR, date appraisal took place etc.)For staff employed on a Capita contract, the Appraisals Coordinator must also send a copy of the completed appraisal form to Group HR (instructions below)APPRAISAL TAKES PLACE Appraising Manager sets up appraisal with employee and informs Appraisals Coordinator of the appraisal date, who then updates the Appraisal TrackerManager then returns completed and signed appraisal form to Appraisals Coordinator within 2 weeks of the appraisal taking place The completed appraisal form (both annual and mid year) must be scanned into PDF format, utilising the employee’s payroll number and full name e.g. 1000000 smith.john and saved in the secure profit centre appraisals folder.Appraisals Coordinator then notifies the appropriate appraising manager of any appraisals due to take place that month (via a standard email template which includes the relevant instructions and appraisal documentsInternal CommunicationsUrban Vision has many delivery channels for communicating with its staff, both at a local level and from a senior management perspective. The constant challenge for the senior management team is to ensure that a consistent message is conveyed to all Urban Vision’s seconded staff. The mix in professions is also a challenge from a communications perspective; we do have some teams within Urban Vision who do not have daily access to electronic forms of communication. Vision and ValuesPrior to the start of Urban Vision in February 2005, a number of workshops were held to develop a business plan for the fledgling company and paramount to this was the adoption of a vision and values statement which included a description of what Urban Vision wanted to achieve, its mission, and the behaviours it expected from its staff. Our Vision-To be the first choice provider for integrated built environment solutions.Our Values Enjoying success through:putting our customers first;developing creative and innovative solutions for our customers;empowering our people;collaboration and team work;a positive “can do” culture;respecting and valuing our people;applying sustainable solutions that take into account social, economic, environmental and community issues.Urban Vision is very proud of its vision and values and at induction all staff are provided with a visions and values card explaining what the company wants to achieve and what behaviours it expect from its people.The establishment of a communications planDuring the first months of Urban Vision a staff communication plan was developed to help staff integrate into the new organisation and to understand their roles and responsibilities. The plan had many work streams including the following activities:Staff briefing sessions prior to commencement.Focus groupsVision and ValuesDevelopment of the Intranet pages.Creation of the staff rep group.Creation of the rewards and recognition package.Launch event.News letterEstablishing the FAQ’s and,” Ask the boss site”.Office re-branding.Posters and information leaflets.Introduction of a staff survey.Creation of an induction programme.Team building events.Audit of current practices.Audit of current practices.During the middle of 2005 it became apparent that team meetings/.briefings were not taking place on a consistent basis, therefore Graham Cowley, The Chief Operating officer for Capita Symonds, asked that an audit be carried out to establish the position. The audit did confirm that team meeting were not taking place on a consistent basis in some cost centres, therefore the senior management team took the action to put a mechanism in place to ensure that team meetings did take place. The format of team meetings are not prescriptive, each cost centre manager has the responsibility for managing and communicating with their staff but it is the responsibility of the senior management team to ensure and check that these team briefing sessions take place.Under the current practices scheduled team meetings do take place across Urban Vision, as a reality check the Staff Representatives are encouraged to report on the regularity of team meetings at the staff reps group that is held on a monthly basis. The role of the Staff Representative GroupThe staff representative group is a very dynamic forum; in fact Urban Vision’s group has been recognised as the best forum across the Capita Symonds Regions business. Dave Spencer, the Executive Director for Capita Symonds Regional business, attended the Staff representative group meeting in February 2011 as part of a programme to audit and comment on the performance of the various staff forums across the Capita Regions group. The staff representative group meet on a monthly basis to discuss any issues that may be affecting the staff; the agenda was re-shaped twelve months ago following feedback from the staff but is constantly reviewed. The Operations Director attends all the meetings, along with a staff representative from each business within Urban Vision (including the construction side)The staff representative represent the staff in their particular part of the business and their responsibility is to bring issues or concerns to the table for consideration. The Operations Director, Jonathan Ellis, actively seeks the opinions of the staff reps, whether these are positive or negative, and these concerns are minuted and an action plan developed after each meeting.The staff representative group acts as a safety valve, it allows staff direct access to the Operations Director on a monthly basis, if staff feel that they can’t approach their manager, then issues can be brought up in an open environment. Matters do not need to be announced or placed on an agenda prior to any meeting.The staff representative have the responsibility for co-ordinating events for our charity of the year, Christie, the target for 2011 is to raise ?6000 for this important charity. Jonathan Ellis has also encouraged the staff representatives to be involved in business development and to bring ideas from the staff to the monthly meetings. The staff reps are directly involved in developing a staff survey action plan generated from the annual staff satisfaction survey with their respective profit centre managers and for co-hosting the growing our business workshops. IN Vision, the Staff news letterIn vision, the staff newsletter was developed to provide a point of interest for all Urban Vision staff; the news letter provides a mix of stories ranging from personal achievements to notable business stories. In vision is published on a bi-monthly basis. In Vision helps to keep staff in touch by profiling a member of staff in each issue and detailing the comings and goings in the period. News stories from Urban Vision are actively encouraged.Intranet PageAll Urban Vision staff have access to the Urban Vision intranet site hosted by Salford City Council, this provides access to the Urban Vision home page in addition to the pages maintained by Salford City Council. A computer has been made available in the training room for the manual staff based at Swinton Hall Road.All Urban Vision staff have access to the Capita Symonds intranet site which includes Capita Connections which provides all the policy information and Onsite which provided a link into the Capita business news.A SharePoint intranet site has been developed and all staff provided with access. SharePoint provides a depository for Urban Vision documents stored in cost centre order. What’s new in Urban VisionNew initiatives, news and company information is published on the home page of the Urban Vision intranet, this provides an opportunity to provide up to date information for Urban Vision staff. This information is listed in chronological order by month. Rough Guide and information.A rough guide to Urban Vision has been produced and issued to all staff. This guide provides useful information on the history of Urban Vision, its structure, its services and its relationships. This documented can be down loaded from the Urban Vision intranet.Staff benefitsA dedicated people development office is in place within Urban Vision. This individual has the role of supporting staff initiatives and projects to make Urban Vision a better place to work. Sarah also supports the Staff rep meeting and our CSR policy (responsible Business)E-mail bulletinsEvery month an e-mail bulletin is circulated to all staff providing an update of the key issues coming from the Operation Board meeting. This medium is used on a regular basis by the Communications/marketing team to convey information about events and issues that may affect or be of interest to all Urban Vision staff.Jonathan Ellis E-mail BulletinJonathan Ellis, the Operation Director sends out a monthly communication to all staff informing them about the business performance in the period. This e-mail message from Jonathan includes financial info for the month, a staff representative update, Urban Vision Board Update and an organisational development review.UV Communications Messages-A dedicated e-mail template has been designed and deployed to communicate instant messages to all Urban Vision StaffUV BoardThe Urban Vision Board meeting takes place on the last Friday of each month. The Board consists of seven Directors, one representing the interests of Salford City Council, two from Galiford Try and four from Capita Symonds. A non- executive Director also attends the Board and the meeting is chaired by Ian Buckley, representing Urban Vision as an organisation. All meetings are minuted and an action sheet developed after each Board meeting. The purpose of the Board meeting is to set out the high level strategy for the company and to approve the annual business plan. Risk management is also an important role of the Board and important issues such as health and safety are discussed at every Board meeting.UV Operations BoardThe UV Operation meeting takes place every second Monday of the month, the meetings are attended by each of the profit centre managers, the finance manager, the Operations Director, The IT manager and the Quality manager. The purpose of the meeting is to ensure that Urban Vision is operating in accordance with the agreed business plan and to ensure that statutory responsibilities such as health, safety and the environment are being managed and controlled in a correct manner.At each meeting the profit centre managers table a key risk and opportunities report outlining all the key risk and opportunities that may affect the business. An organisation development report is tabled and discussed at each meeting which details the HR issues such as sickness absence, turnover, appraisals and people development.A robust project review process is in operation within Urban Vision and these projects are reviewed at the Operations Board meeting looking at key risks to the projects that have been selected for audit.A monthly health and safety internal audit programme is in place which is reported at the Operations Board, each month an Assistant Director has to carry out a health and safety cross audit of another business unit ensuring that an independent review has been undertaken.Business Development BoardThe business development meeting takes place every first Wednesday of each month with the purpose of identifying work and opportunities for each of the cost centres to meet the forecasts agreed within the business plan. A system called pipeline is used to factor the wins and opportunities for the various teams across Urban Vision.Strategic Health and safety Board.The strategic health, safety and environment group sit every quarter to discuss the Health and safety performance of the Company, Morgan Foster, Senior Health and Safety Officer representing the Sustainable Regeneration Directorate attends the meetings. In terms of staff induction every new member of staff receives a health and safety induction and is provided with the Urban Vision Health and safety manual.SummaryIn summary there are many forms of communication in Urban Vision and a hierarchy of meetings that enable staff at all levels within the organisation to be informed. You can’t always engage with people, it’s a personal choice; however what you must do is provide a robust mechanism to ensure that they have an opportunity both to learn and to have a method of providing feedback to their managers and to the senior management team.Regular team meetings do take place across Urban Vision and the staff representative group does provide the staff with direct access to Jonathan Ellis, the Operations Director. Organisational Development Every office within Capita Symonds has an Organisational Development Champion and this includes Urban Vision. The role of this individual is to ensure that the following actions are undertaken.Regions priorities for 2011 are as follows:Staff surveyPerformance managementLearning and DevelopmentBenefits and supportRecruitment and inductionIn addition there will be an emphasis on ensuring that the following initiatives are moved forward:Senior Exec health and training.Ensure that all staff have undertaken the Desktop module training.Produce a professional development tracker.Each office will then identify a number of local priorities to be taken forward and in 2011 Urban Vision will be designing a Corporate Responsibility Strategy which will include improving links with the local community from a service delivery perspective and by developing a more strategic volunteering approach for our staff.Staff SurveyAn annual staff satisfaction survey takes places every year and all Urban Vision staff are consulted. The actions coming out of the survey are managed by the various business unit managers and their respective staff Representatives. The responses and action plan are reported to the Urban Vision management team who ensure that action is taken in developing and implementing an action plan. A summary of the results from the 2010 staff satisfaction survey is attached in appendix 3In addition a guide to help managers prepare an action plan from the results of the staff survey was issued to all managers to support them in developing an action plan. This guide is attached as appendix munity involvementUrban Vision has a desire and has made a commitment to support the local communities it interacts with and serves, the creation of a sustainable corporate social responsibility strategy is high on our agenda.During 2008, our staff representative group elected to support St Ann’s Hospice as our charity of the year, the target was to support a number of St Ann’s Hospice events and raise some money for the hospice. During the period over ?14,000 was raised through the following fund raising activities. St Ann’s Hospice events Fundraising totals.DateEventFunds Raised Nov-08Lock Up Your Boss1,540.50Roller Disco54.00Mar-09Make a Will Week100.00Apr-09UV Cycle for Charity3,569.66May-09Manchester 10k run2,197.60Jun-09Go Yellow Day328.00Three Peaks Challenge200.00Jul-09Dublin 10k run450.00Sep-09ZUVE Dress Down Day13.00Oct-09Wear Pink431.50Nov-09Lock Up Your Boss1,928.50Misc Sale of Merchandise64.50Individual donations25.00May-10Bupa 10k run1461.00May-10Wilmslow Triathlon225.00Jun-10St Ann's Hospice Summer Fair154.10Jun-10Go Yellow Day 144.25Oct-10UV Skydive1,116.74Dec-10Staff Survey Donation252.00Jan - Dec 10Dress Down Friday Donations 396.69Total14,652.04Comments from St Ann’s HospiceSt Ann’s Hospice Corporate Fundraising Team commented: “Our two year partnership with Urban Vision has been wonderful and we would like to thank all the Urban Vision staff who have demonstrated their support and have been so generous with their donations and time.”“The money raised by Urban Vision staff will help us to provide practical, emotional, medical and financial support for those living with cancer, as well as their families, carers and the local communities.”Blood donor sessionsUrban Vision staff continue to support the National Blood Bank and every six months a mobile blood unit visits Emerson House. All employees are encouraged to donate blood by making a pre-arranged appointment to give blood on the day. The last blood donation day took place in March and 32 units of blood were donated by Urban Vision staff. The next scheduled visit by the National Blood bank will take place on the 27th July, 2011.Volunteering-Mock interviewsA number of Urban Vision staff regularly support local Salford schools by carrying out mock interviews at the school. The mock interviews are arranged by the school and organisations are asked to take part to provide the young people with some valuable experience and feedback.In May staff from Urban Vision took part in a ,”Dragons Den”, type activity at Moorside High School in Swinton where students were encouraged to present and sell their ideas to a panel of experts. The staff that took park and supported this event were very impressed with the students presentations. Albert Park Sports pitchIn 2007 Urban Vision were instrumental in delivering the new sports pitch at Albert Park but the company does continues to support this important community facility by paying for the annual pitch maintenance fee of ?1300.Salford Totem PoleUrban Vision worked with Councillor Coen to fly Kevin Crammer, a Totem pole artist, from Canada to restore the Salford Totem pole. We believe that the Salford Totem pole will be a great addition to Salford and will be enjoyed by the citizens of Salford for years to come..Member Liaison service. (2010 overview)Urban Vision operates a Member liaison service and provide eight members of staff to support the Community Committees and their associated ward Members. An overview of the 2010 performance is provided in appendix 5 InductionUrban Vision values its people right from day one and considers its staff to be its biggest asset. Urban Vision wants to make sure that staff have all the information, knowledge and skills they need to settle into their new job and feel part of the team as soon as possible so the company has developed a comprehensive Induction Programme to help our staff feel valued.The Line ManagerThe Line Manager will work with the new member of staff to ensure that they understand their new role and responsibilities and how they fit into their immediate team and the wider business. They will also provide the member of staff with the equipment they need to do their job.The Line Manager should schedule regular meetings with the new starter throughout their first three months to confirm that the individual is on their way and are comfortable with what is expected of them in their new role.The People Development Team A member of the People Development Team will meet with the new starter in their first few weeks to explain the support they can give to them in their role and to discuss the various opportunities there are within the business for the new member of staff to take advantage of and become involved in.The Quarterly Induction PresentationAll new employees are invited to a Quarterly Induction Presentation, which provides staff with the opportunity to meet Urban Vision’s Operations Director and other new starters from the business over an informal lunch.Health and Safety Induction All new starters are invited to attend a Health and Safety induction, presented by Steve Marlor, Urban Vision’s Health and Safety Advisor, which focuses on all significant aspects of health and safety relating to their role within the organisation.Reward and recognition (Employee benefits)There are a number of benefits available to all staff within Urban Vision regardless of contracts. A comprehensive list can be found on the Urban Vision and Capita Connections web site. Some of our popular benefits are as follows:Discount shoppingWe have a Capita Value scheme in place for all employees. The scheme is run in partnership with the provider Xexec, a leading provider of lifestyle management and employee discount solutions. Not only will staff benefit from an enhanced range and level of discounts with Xexec, but they will also be able to take advantage of a new concierge service which is designed to help them by assisting in the management of theirr day-to-day needs. The scheme is accessed through a dedicated website for all Urban Vision employees. The Xexec Site can be accessed both at work and at home. Childcare voucher schemeWe are pleased to offer a Childcare Voucher salary sacrifice scheme, which will save staff money on their childcare costs. This is delivered through Fideliti for Capita staff and Busy Bees (now called Computershare) for Salford City Council employees.In line with the Inland Revenue's tax amendments and the 2006 Budget announcement, staff are now able to convert up to ?243 per month from your gross salary into childcare vouchers, allowing them to save on both Tax and National Insurance. Over a 12 month period, this could save as much as ?1196 on childcare costs.Cycle to work schemeWe?are now participating in the Government’s Cycle to Work Scheme for both Salford and Capita staff. The scheme will allow staff to loan cycles and cyclists’ safety equipment through salary sacrifice as a tax-free benefit for the use of cycling to and from work. The scheme proactively supports our corporate responsibility objectives by reducing our environmental impact. Employee of the Month Urban Vision operates an employee of the month scheme which offers the winner a ?100 gift card for the Trafford Centre. This as the name suggests is awarded on a monthly basis and the successful winner is chosen by the staff representative group. A person is selected by being nominated by a fellow employee, this is then endorsed by the cost centre manager who signs the document to signify that the information is accurate, the nomination is then put forward to the staff representative group for consideration. If the employee is not successful then the nomination is carried forward for an additional month.Free FruitTo encourage a healthy lifestyle all staff are provided with free fruit, this is delivered to the various offices every Monday morning. In addition health and awareness information is posted on the wellbeing site on the Urban Vision intranet, this provided details of national campaigns such as smoking cessation. Free Tea, coffee , sugar and milkTo support the Urban Vision staff all tea, coffee, sugar and milk are provided free of charge, this benefit is available to all staff.Christmas MealAs a thank you to all staff a Christmas meal is organised and paid for by Urban Vision, this is in recognition for all the hard work that the staff have carried out during the year.Payment of professional feesSome staff that have to pay an annual professional fee in order to maintain their qualification to carry out their role and these staff are reimbursed by Urban Vision, this may range from an Architects annual fee to that of a professional Surveyor.Counselling/access to Occupational healthLike are colleagues based within the Directorates, Urban Vision staff enjoy access to the Councils Counselling and Occupational health services.Flu jabsMembers of staff who wish to be protected against the annual flu virus are offered the flu vaccination on an annual basis, this takes place at Emerson House.AccommodationA staff breakout area has been provided at Emerson House which enables staff to get away from their desks to eat their lunch. Microwaves within the kitchen area are provided along with a number of vending machines. The breakout area has a mix of furniture for the staff and one end of the area incorporates a television for the use of staff during their break period.Secure bicycle facilities are provided at Emerson House in addition to a shower facility and storage lockers for cycle/running gear.A new training room and accommodation for the manual workers has been provide at the Depot, this accommodation incorporates computers to enable the manual workers to access information.A breakout area has been provided in the Depot officers for the use of staff, this incorporates some comfortable furniture and a television for the use of staff at lunch times. Training & developmentFor Urban Vision, training is an investment, not a cost. We place training and development at the centre of career progression and want staff to feel fully equipped to meet the challenges of their job.As a multidisciplinary company, we recognise that everyone has different training and development needs and offer a wide variety of options to all employees to enable staff to develop both personally and professionally.Training and development requirements are discussed at annual and mid-year appraisals with line managers and training plans developed for each cost centre within Urban Vision. In addition to these business training plans a number of companywide initiatives have been developed to support the staff within Urban Vision.Continuous Professional Development (CPD)We are keen to ensure that all our employees receive continuous development in their specific profession and we will support them to develop the appropriate skills and experience to achieve chartered membership of a relevant professional body. We hold a number of CPD events throughout the year internally and these are facilitated by the Integrated Service team.Professional DevelopmentUrban Vision is very proud of the calibre of staff it employs and indeed endeavours to support individuals during their continued personal development. We have identified staff who are working towards professional membership and those who wish to progress to the next level of membership. The purpose of the initiative is for the Board to focus its efforts on implementing accredited training programmes wherever possible and to set up cross-divisional development groups for staff.By liaising with staff members, business unit managers were asked to identify only those staff serious about progressing to the next level, as once their name was put forward the business would assume that the individual was committed to progression and would therefore support them to do so.A list of all our professional staff is listed in appendix 6. Can you note that names have been removed to comply with the data protection Act.“Evolve”Evolve is the Capita Symonds Regions Leadership & Development Programme. The objective of the programme is to bring about behavioural change within the company whilst forging better working relationships and cross-site collaboration. The link with an accredited qualification strengthens the position of our Managers and provides them with the skills/knowledge required to bring about the desired change.To underline this commitment to achieving our plans Urban Vision has invested in developing managers across the Company.The Evolve programme is over a 2 year period and will result in better trained managers who will hold an external managers qualification, the programme at present includes all Business Unit Managers, Associate Directors and team leaders. The numbers of managers who have taken part in the Evolve program are listed below. CoursePhase 1Phase 2Phase 3TotalChartered Management5005Introductory certificate in management64313Introductory Diploma in management621835 Skills CentreThe Skills Centre is our in-house staff development scheme, which will support employees to achieve their career aspirations through a structured approach to their technical development. Members of staff from any part of Urban Vision are encouraged to develop new ways of working or innovative ideas. The applicant will be encouraged to sell their idea to the management team and if successful the individual will be provided with a mentor and the resources to help them develop their initiative.Business WiseBusiness Wise is a groundbreaking two year programme developed by Capita Symonds, Urban Vision and the University of Salford and is one of the first joint initiatives of its kind in the UK.It was designed to give our graduates a more rounded approach to their development, allowing them to acquire key business skills in addition to any technical training they may also be undertaking. It is delivered jointly by lecturers from the University of Salford and subject specialists from Capita Symonds and Urban Vision. On successful completion of the course, our graduates are awarded with a Postgraduate Certificate in Business Performance Management.On-line Training through Capita DesktopAll staff have access to Capita Desktop, it is Capita’s equivalent to the Salford employee portal. All staff have to undertake the following on-line training courses, their progress is monitored by the Integrated Service Team who provide managers with a monthly update on progress. This progress is also monitored by Capita from a Regional perspective.Data Protection awareness.Fraud awareness.Diversity rmation security awareness.Please see appendix 3 for an example of how the on-line training is managed.Health and safety trainingA great deal of time and effort is spent on health and safety training and our performance to date demonstrates this improved performance, the current accident frequency ration stands at Zero which is an amazing statistic.Galliford Try have introduced a health and safety regime for all the manual staff based at Swinton Hall Road and this includes regular “tool Box” talks on health and safety related matters.This training extends into the office environment as well with robust policies such as lone working which has been developed to protect Urban Vision staff.One recent development was the introduction of senior executive training specifically around the area of Corporate manslaughter, this training has been delivered to protect the interests of senior staff within Urban Vision.Investing In People awardUrban Vision was originally assessed and recognised as an Investor in People in May 2007. Following this successful recognition it was agreed that a, “Rolling Review” strategy and plan would be put in place, a third of the business would be assessed each year.This strategy has enabled key parts of Urban Vision that have unique characteristics and requirements to be reviewed during the three year Investing In People cycle and will ensure that all parts of the business are included in that full cycle. Generally an IIP accreditation takes place once every three years, but Urban Vision have planned to have an intervention each year.Rolling reviewLocationYear 1-2008ZUVWHighway ServicesYear 2-2009ZUVRRegulatory/Geotechnical & EnvironmentalZUVBSurveying, Facility Management, Cost Projection and Regeneration ManagementZUVIEngineering Design and Consultancy ServicesYear 3-2010ZUVEPropertyZUVXBusiness StrategyZUVADesign The third rolling review took place in November 2010 and I am pleased to report that the assessor was pleased to report that Urban Vision continues to meet the requirements of the Investors In People standard, and indeed has surpassed the requirement of the Investing In people standard.. The next rolling review assessment will take place on 27th July, 2011 and will be based on the people processes in place at Highway Services, the Depot based at Swinton Hall ments fro Will Kilby-The investing In People assessor-November 2010.Urban Vision have continued to develop their people management and development processes and practices and I can confirm that the regular IiP reviews ensures a focus is kept on the standard and the recommendations and suggestion for development contained in the phase reports. Following the last staged review there has been significant work taking place to develop and launch a single appraisal scheme where there were two. To support this, twelve appraisal training workshops have been held with over sixty five plus attendees and ongoing support and advice. To ensure that the new appraisal process is implemented, a management system has been introduced to monitor it. The company has also implemented an absence management system and improvements are already being achieved in helping people manage their sickness with support, but also a reporting system for managers to use. Urban Vision still displays many strong IiP characteristics and is managing to maintain these in spite of the challenges they are facing in the current economic climate. Following are a sample identified during this phased review:A clear and performance based business plan with tangible and measurable objectives.Drilled down cost centre business plans with well formatted and informative cost centre publications to keep people involved and informedA much more consistent appraisal scheme that has been launched and given resources to support it resulting is a significant improvement in appraisals taking place ( 92%) in the last twelve months and mid-term six monthly reviews following.Excellent organisational communications including the ‘In Vision’ magazine, monthly performance bulletins from the board, an informative and comprehensive intranet, monthly meetings of the Staff Representative Group that senior management attend and many more opportunities for people to be informed on a range of interests and issuesA continuing commitment to a Sustainable and Responsible Business strategy that incorporates four key themes of people, environment, the wider community and the marketplace.A well established learning and development network of opportunities through the existing partners organisations and also external partnersA comprehensive and Improved induction processImprovements to the involvement of people in planning by introducing the ‘Bright Ideas’ staff suggestion scheme as well as the existing staff Representative Group ................
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