Colleague Handbook
Colleague Handbook
For detailed information on annual leave entitlements and annual leave in general, including Barnardo’s leave year, recognition day and statutory holidays, please refer to the full contractual Annual Leave and Bank Holidays Entitlement document on Annual leave and bank holiday entitlements | Inside Barnardos. Please refer to your own written statement of terms and conditions of employment for your individual leave entitlement. You should record and book all annual leave via Dynamics 365.
Barnardo’s has two slightly different methods of calculating pro-rata statutory holidays for part-time colleagues depending on whether you were in post before or after 1st December 2000.
For colleagues who were in post before 1st December 2000, if they normally work on the day which a statutory holiday falls and do not do so on that day, they will be paid the amount that they would have received if they had worked. If they do not usually work on that day and do not come into work, they will be paid one day's pay i.e. 1/260th of annual salary.
For colleagues who were in post after 1st December 2000, you should record and book all bank holiday leave via Dynamics 365.
Barnardo’s recognises and respects that everyone has the right to conduct their private life. However, you should avoid situations where other interests conflict with your obligations to Barnardo’s. Our aim must always be for “the best interests of Barnardo’s”. The following is therefore intended for your protection and the preservation of Barnardo’s integrity and public image.
If you enter into/are involved in an ongoing personal relationship with another colleague, as and when worker, volunteer within the workplace, or anyone external but associated with the workplace (e.g. stakeholders/ commissioners of services, contractors etc.) where this may present a conflict of interest, you should inform your line manager, or if more appropriate, your grandparent manager.
The manager receiving the information will inform a member of the Executive Leadership Group (ELG) for their consideration and agreement as to whether the relationship presents a potential conflict of interest and if any steps are required to ensure there is no detrimental effect on the business or others.
For example, where a personal relationship exists between a line manager and a colleague reporting to them, alternative management supervision may be required; or where a personal relationship with an external but associated individual could call into question the fairness of relevant decisions, they may be removed from any decision-making process. If, after considering all of the circumstances, it is viewed that the relationship within or associated with the workplace may have a negative impact on colleague’s morale, service users or their families/carers and the public in general, (including public confidence in Barnardo’s), the manager will arrange a meeting to discuss it, with a view to reaching a satisfactory agreement. Following discussions the manager may consider it appropriate to seek to move the workplace of one or both of the parties involved, or restrict work related contact with an external associated person where it may present a conflict of interest.
Where a personal relationship exists you should conduct yourself in an appropriate and professional manner at all times while at work and not allow your relationship to affect your work performance, cause embarrassment to colleagues or compromise your personal/ professional integrity or that of the Charity. A breakdown in the relationship should be discussed with your line manager, or grandparent manager if more appropriate.
You should note that a failure to declare a personal relationship may result in disciplinary action being taken.
In accordance with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct, please note that you must not enter into personal relationships with service users and should be alert to such situations developing. The disciplinary procedure will be used where this requirement is breached.
There is additional information on Retail Hub for colleagues working in Retail.
You are required to give details to your line manager prior to accepting a voluntary role or paid employment outside of Barnardo’s. Whilst employed, you must not engage in any other work without the prior agreement of your line manager. For voluntary roles or paid employment, prior agreement must be obtained, via your line manager, by a member of the Executive Leadership Group (ELG).
Barnardo’s reserves the right to determine whether the voluntary activity or paid employment presents a conflict of interest within the colleague’s contract of employment.
For voluntary roles or paid employment, the details will be considered by a member of the Executive Leadership Group (ELG), and the matter will be discussed with you. If it is deemed to present a conflict of interest, and you still decide to pursue the voluntary role or paid employment, then this may be dealt with under the resolution procedure, which could result in dismissal.
This policy applies where the role is unrelated to Barnardo’s. A different policy applies where the role relates to Barnardo’s in some way and you may be undertaking this as a result of or as part of your employment, see Policy on taking roles outside Barnardo’s relating to work.
Managers requiring further guidance in relation to a member of their team should speak with the People Relations Team.
Barnardo’s is fully committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for its workforce and prides itself on their diversity. We recognise and value the differences and uniqueness of people and therefore understand that our colleagues will have differing views on issues.
If you have a personal view on a particular issue that differs from Barnardo’s position, you must act in accordance with Barnardo’s position at all times in your work capacity.
We recognise that you may be involved in legitimate activities expressing and/or promoting your own views and, provided this is in a strictly personal capacity, outside of your working hours, there should be no conflict with your work with Barnardo’s.
At any time during your time with us, in circumstances where the nature of your role within the charity may result in reputation management issues for Barnardo’s were you to express both Barnardo’s and your own personal views, the issues should be notified to your line manager in advance and discussed with them so that you obtain their agreement before engaging in any activity. The aim of these discussions is to find an acceptable solution, which would not normally affect your continuing employment with Barnardo’s.
Please note that you are required to ensure that any expression of your personal views at work does not give offence to other colleagues.
As a registered charity we are obligated to be politically impartial and are proud to make sure that any involvement we have with political parties is balanced.
You are expected to act impartially in relation to political parties. It is a matter of professional discipline that any personal party political allegiance does not influence our work.
We do not have a ban on individuals being a member of a political party. It is important that all colleagues can take part in democracy if they wish to. We would expect to have a broad range of political allegiances across our colleague group, and amongst our supporters.
Social media is a vital tool for communicating with the Barnardo’s community, including our supporters, decision-makers, parents, and increasingly children and young people (13+). Social media is central to how we inform, build relationships, persuade, and inspire people to support our work.
If used inappropriately, however, social media can create risks to children’s safety, negatively impact on our reputation, and ultimately affect our funding or support. he behaviour of our colleagues and volunteers can affect the charity’s reputation. This is especially true for senior colleagues and those in prominent, public-facing roles because there is potential for content posted by individuals acting in their personal capacity being associated with the charity. In particular, as a charity we must remain independent of any political party and ensure we appear to be independent of all parties. This is essential to maintain the trust and confidence of the public.
Many colleagues will of course have strong views on many issues, and in expressing those views it is important to make clear that we are not speaking on behalf of the charity. You can read more in our Social Media Policy via Inside Barnardo’s.
It is important that Barnardo's presents coherent and consistent messages to the media, both press and broadcast.
Any media requests or contacts should be directed to the national Media Team. You must not make any response on behalf of Barnardo's without authorisation by the national media team or a regional Media and Communications Manager (MCM).
If you wish to contribute to the press in a private capacity, Barnardo's name may not be used.
Under no circumstances may you make a press response on a Barnardo's matter by way of explanation, protest or in answer to criticism, without the prior consent of the national Media Team or a regional MCM.
Barnardo’s operates a no smoking policy. It is a condition of your employment that you do not smoke:
a in contravention of Barnardo’s smoking policy; and
b in any circumstances during your working hours in the presence of those including service users, volunteers, customers, visitors, contractors or donors
Smoking may be permitted in specified designated outside areas, the availability of which is dependent on location and health and safety considerations, and at times so designated.
Full details of the corporate smoking policy and Smoking at Barnardo’s are available on Inside Barnardo’s. The Retail Smoking Policy is available on Retail Hub.
Contravention of the smoking policy is a formal conduct issue.
In addition, it is a criminal offence, with individual colleagues, managers and the charity all vulnerable to fines if the law is broken. Prosecutions could also be taken under fire safety legislation where smoking breaches the Fire Risk Assessment.
It is essential that all colleagues are fit and capable to work to ensure the health, safety and welfare of themselves, children and others, in addition to being able to provide a productive service.
You must, therefore, ensure that your fitness and capability to work is not affected by medication (prescribed or otherwise) or other substances such as alcohol etc. (also see ‘Alcohol and Drugs/Solvent Misuse at Work’ in Section Four). In addition, if fitness and capability is affected by illness, injury or medical condition you must report this to your manager and you must seek medical advice. Line managers should get advice on fitness and capability to work from their People Team.
In addition, OFSTED require Barnardo’s to ensure practitioners working in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are not under the influence of any medication, alcohol or other substances that might affect their ability to work with children.
To comply with this requirement, colleagues working within an EYFS setting are required to complete and return a health declaration form on commencing employment, and on future request. Their employment is conditional upon written confirmation that any medication they are taking does not impair their ability to work with children. Colleagues in an EYFS setting must therefore inform their line manager immediately if:
i. there are any changes to their medication for an existing health condition which has previously been checked by us; and/or
ii. there are changes in their health which require them to take new medication, and/or
iii. they are under the influence of alcohol or any other substance
The code of practice applies to all information stored electronically within Barnardo’s and to the use of Barnardo’s computing resources. It must be followed by all users of Barnardo’s IT systems. Read the full code here.