1.1 Contract of employment and probationary period
A written contract of employment is issued to every employee. This is provided as soon as possible after acceptance of the offer of appointment.
The contents of this Employee Handbook are all entirely non-contractual.
Posts are classified as full-time or part-time. Some appointments may be for a fixed term as prescribed in the contract.
All first appointments are subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and completion of a probationary period, this applies whether it is a temporary or permanent contract and will be for a minimum of 3 months.
1.2 Induction
The Board provides an Induction Programme for new employees.
1.3 Changes to personal details
Please advise the HR Officer of any changes to your personal details
1.4 Working Hours and Pattern
For those who work full-time, the working week consists of 35 hours (normally Monday to Friday), and there are a number of roles which are part-time where your working hours will be specified in your Statement of Terms and Conditions.
Under the Working Time Regulations, if you work more than six hours a day you should take a rest break of at least 20 minutes, which must be uninterrupted and should be spent away from your work station. This is unpaid.
Roles do require staff, on occasion, to be on duty in the evening or at weekends, for which compensatory time in lieu is granted.
1.5 Working Location
All staff will have an office location assigned for the performing of their role, which will be either St Marys House Lichfield or another location. Some roles will need to be performed from a fixed location for a majority, if not all, of the working week; for example if they oversee office arrangements or are responsible for regular in-person events. Other roles will have a combination of times when work needs to be undertaken at a specific location and times when work can be undertaken remotely.
After an initial settling in phase, staff are advised to speak with their line manager as to what the requirements are for their work to be undertaken from an office location and when it may be possible to undertake their work remotely. There are many benefits to working in an office location and meeting with other staff, and therefore the majority of staff are expected to work in the office for an equivalent of two days each week, based on the needs of their role.
It should be noted that all staff are office based and therefore can, and may, be required to work from the office at any given time.
1.6 Holidays
We value a healthy rhythm of work and rest and we ask everyone to use all of their given annual leave specified in their contract. The holiday year runs from the 1 January to the 31 December. There is limited discretion for line managers to approve the carrying over of up to 5 days of annual leave to the next holiday year. Holidays must be agreed with your Line Manager in advance of any commitments being made and booked through Edays. For further details please refer to your contract. Those starting or leaving us during the year will accrue a pro-rata holiday entitlement based on when they start or leave; and upon leaving those with a balance of annual leave accrued, but not take, will have it paid in their final pay, with those having taken more leave than is accrued having a deduction made for the outstanding balance of annual leave.
Your entitlement to Public/Bank Holidays is shown in your Statements of Main Terms and Conditions. For those who are full-time the allowance is the 8 days, for those who are part-time the allowance is pro-rated. Those who are part-time will have this allowance added to their holiday allowance and will need to deduct any Public/Bank Holidays that they would have worked.
1.7 Flexible Working
We believe that flexible working can increase staff motivation, promote work-life balance, reduce stress and improve performance and productivity. All employees have the right to request flexible working and to have their request considered seriously by their employer.
A request for flexible working could include a request for a change to the number of hours that you work or a request for a change to the pattern of hours worked.
1.8 Staff Development
We are committed to providing all staff with opportunities for professional development, believing that a better trained and informed workforce will be more capable and effective. In this way staff training and development leads to better organisational performance which, in turn, benefits the parishes and people we serve and contributes to improved morale and job satisfaction.
Each member of staff will take part in an appraisal meeting with their line manager to discuss aspects of their work performance. The objective of the meeting will be to review the previous year's achievements and to discuss any future priorities, as well as the individuals’ development.
1.9 Confidentiality
The rules concerning confidentiality apply both during and after your employment with the DBF.
You shall not directly or indirectly disclose to any unauthorised person, either for your own purpose or profit, any knowledge or information relating to Diocesan business, or the business of any of our employees, suppliers or operations without first obtaining permission in writing from the Diocesan Secretary. The only exceptions being if you are authorised or ordered to disclose them by a court or any authorised supervisory or enforcement agency.
You should familiarise myself with our data privacy procedures relating to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and understand that we will view any breach of these procedures as a serious matter that could result in summary dismissal under our disciplinary procedure.
Unauthorised access to BDBF’s information, whether electronic or manual, may lead to disciplinary action.
At the time of leaving our employment, for whatever reason, you are required to return all items, documentation or any other information related to Lichfield DBF and, if requested, confirm compliance in writing. In addition, we reserve the right to request documentation or information be returned during your notice period should we deem it possible that there could be a risk, intentional or otherwise, of sensitive information being made available to other parties. Any activities which may be considered fraudulent will be handled under our Fraud Response Plan.
1.10 Health & Safety
It is our policy to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all our employees. We are committed to ensuring that:
- Adequate financial and operational resources are made available for managing health and safety risks;
- Equipment and safe systems of work are provided and maintained;
- Arrangements are in place for the safe handling, usage, storage and transportation of materials;
- Necessary information, training, and supervision is provided for the health and safety of employees at work;
- The place of work under our control is maintained in a safe condition;
- The working environment is provided and maintained so that it is safe;
- Adequate facilities are provided for the welfare of employees.
You are required to co-operate with the full Health & safety Policy which can be found in the shared Health & Safety folder online, as well as the other policies relating to Health & Safety.