Employee Committee
Minutes
Monday 1st June 2015
11.00 -13.00
Head Office – Meeting Room 2, Head Office
Date:
Time:
Venue:
Attended by: Rick Noice, Glen Neckles, Matt Collins, Paula Lewis, Amy Foreman
Note Taker: Fran Snoswell
Agenda
1. Apologies from absent Committee Members
Keri Fry – On Holiday
David Browne – Attending a LAC review
Madina Kamara-Aspin – Attending training
Triona Patterson – has an emergency placement so unable to attend
Sam Carpenter – car has broken down cannot get to the meeting
Sue Screen – commitments to complete payroll means unable to attend
Dave Brown – attending a LAC review
Lauren Oakley/Donna – the committee has not been informed of their absence
Gemma Putman – Portchester need a new representative due to Gemma now not being part of the
team.
2. Actions from previous meeting
NAME
All Reps
ACTION

Seek the views of staff working in homes
where ClearCare is present.
General feedback is that the system is selfexplanatory and a good system. There have been a
few issues with management getting used to setting
tasks up on the system, however these are all
learning curves.
COMPLETION
DATE
Next meeting (20th
April)
Within the Portchester Road team there has been
some apprehension about using the system and staff
seem to be taking longer to complete paperwork
than before due to wanting to make sure they
complete it correctly. As time goes on and staff
become confident the time spent on paperwork
should reduce. There have been a couple of
occasions where the system loses information that
staff are in the middle of typing. Fran will speak to
ClearCare regarding this.
It was confirmed that all bank workers have a
ClearCare log in so can use the system. If a bank
worker is on shift and doesn’t have a log in for some
reason they should use the ‘Emergency’ home log in
and the shift leader should email Chris Bell to
request that they have a log in set up.
Agency workers do not have log in’s so can use the
‘Emergency’ log in if necessary.
 Seek feedback/ideas about the Cultural
Calendar.
Portchester Road recently had a successful Diversity
Day with food/music from around the world. Matt
asked if some photos could be sent to Chris to put in
the newsletter.
Matt has contacted a design company regarding
them making a physical Cultural calendar. Abdi and
Matt are working on pulling information together to
produce a Calendar for 2015.
Paula informed the committee that there will be a
Fairways Stand at the Southampton Mela Fesitival
on the 11th July if staff and young people wanted to
attend.
 Inform teams regarding 360 feedback
There has been a trial with management and the
feedback is that it was successful. Representatives
are unsure as to when the tool will be sent to all
teams so unsure what communication they should
be taking back to their teams. Matt will speak to
Laura to get confirmation regarding this.
Fran
Ask Chris to set up a Foster Carer email group so
cultural calendar events can be sent to them
Fey Audin is now going to forward all Cultural
30th March
Calendar emails to the Foster Carers.
Matt
Paula
Karoline

Speak to Abdi about a physical Cultural
Calendar
Complete
 Speak to Craig regarding more unit cars at
the school.
Matt has spoken to Craig and he agrees with the
expansion of the school there will be a requirement
for more unit cars. Craig confirmed that the process
involves managers submitting a unit car request to
Craig. If staff feel there is a need then they should
pass this on to management.
 Ask Chris Bell for the timelines on a forum on
the intranet
In progress but no deadline as of yet.
 Speak to Tracy regarding an outreach
representative.
Matt and Tracy are going to speak to Outreach
workers to organise a representative.
 Liaise with the training department about
speaking about his role during the induction
week
It is now arranged that Matt will speak at the
introduction section of Induction to explain to new
starters his role within the company and inform
them of the Employee Committee.

Liaise with Abdi and the training department
about specific training/information regarding
unaccompanied asylum seekers
Paula is arranging a meeting with a current foster
carer and Abdi to get ideas for training.
 Inform Triona and HR when new foster carers
start
Ongoing
 Send information regarding 360 feedback
process
Complete
 Check with Chris as to why some foster
carers are receiving motor vehicle emails
Complete – Foster Carers will be receiving these
emails if they are bank workers for Fairways.
Next meeting (20th
April)
There is an
induction w/c 30th
March
Next meeting (20th
April)
Ongoing
30th March
Glen
Send the long term sickness flow chart to Lauren
Complete
30th March
Action
Who
Speak to ClearCare regarding error on system
FS
Speak to Laura about 360 feedback and the representatives responsibility
MC
Organise an outreach representative and a new one for Portchester
MC
3. Christmas Party (Awards) – Matt
The Christmas Party has been arranged and Chris will be sending out information shortly. An
idea to create staff motivation and to recognise some members of staff is to have an awards
presentation at the Christmas Party.
Awards can be for titles such as inspirational/team player/outstanding commitment etc. It was
agreed that representatives will speak to their teams to get their views on this idea and ideas
about what the award titles should be.
Action
Who
Seek views on what the Christmas awards should recognise
All
4. Idea/recommendation regarding minutes/communications of meeting – David Browne.
Minutes to be more eye-catching to generate interest, perhaps send out a summary maybe
taking some formatting from the newsletter, with bullet points and phrased in a way to attract
interest, could include any other communication Matt might like to make, with the full set
available on the intranet. The intranet would need to right up to date which it isn't right now.
Would also be more ecofriendly.
The committee discussed this idea and thought that it could potentially be a good idea.
However the committee felt that before minutes where changed that the aim should be for
representatives to take responsibility to ensure all staff are aware of what is discussed within
the committee, the minutes and empowering staff to raise issues and agenda points for the
committee to discuss.
5. Training Department
Amy attended the meeting to discuss with representatives the current issues of staff not attending
training without reason. Absences mean trainers are running courses for 2-3 people when 10-12 were
booked on to attend, this is costing the training department and causing a lot of work in chasing
absences. Amy has asked the committee to raise this with their teams and ask them to ensure they are
attending all training on their rotas and if there is a reason why they can’t they should be informing their
manager and the training department.
Action
Who
Raise with management training absences
MC/GN
6. Raising awareness
It was discussed that sending fortnightly emails to remind people to use their reps would be beneficial.
Also, reminders to reps to carry out actions etc. may help given everyone’s workload. To support in this
the idea of a clear information sheet about the committee would be beneficial for both members and
employees. The idea of asking staff to come up with a ‘day in the life of…’, where the work an employee
done is explained, was felt to be a good way to help raise awareness of employees and their colleges
role. This was felt to be a great way to help the work force understand the roles people carry out and
how everyone is working together towards the same goal of excellent care.
Action
Who
Create info sheet
MC
Send reminders to work force (email/ newsletter)
MC
Discuss the potential for ‘a day in the life of..’ campaign
MC
7. Points for Glen/Matt to take to the next Managers meeting.



Training Absences
Staff being informed when rotas are changed
Promoting the importance of time being spent on Employee Committee discussion at team
meetings
8. Any other business
N/A
9. Actions
Actions
ALL REPS:

Proactively seek views of employees (send emails to dept. and raise points/ gain views at team
meetings.

Ensure feedback is given to employees who have raised anything, to help end the process and
promote a sense that their issue was acted upon.

Seeks views on what the Christmas awards should recognise (each department will nominate a
MOS – staff to recommended what title the award should have (e.g. inspirational/ team player/
outstanding commitment etc.)

Seeks views on how best the company should launch the charity – how to maximise the chance
of employee attendance at the presentation of Charity change and what it means for staff. E.g.
two events on the same day a.m / p.m?
Individual Actions:









Glen to contact Jim and arrange to attend team meetings to promote use of E.C (Glen)
Hr to update reps with new employee contact emails (Matt to contact HR)
Meet with Abdi and Annas r.e training (culture) (Paula)
Attend managers meeting and raise (training attendance and apologies, rota’s – need for
improved communication when a rota has been changes – and update r.e. charity launch plans)
Create Rep group email to assist communication (Matt and Fran)
Lauren to be given Craig’s feedback about unit cars (Matt)
Cultural Calendar hard copies (Matt and Abdi)
Create rep process for engaging staff to support reps in their role/ set out the expectations
(Matt)
Raise Employee Committee Awareness (Matt):
o ‘A day in the life of….’
o Posters
o Fortnightly reminders
10. Dates for future meetings in 2015
20th July @ 11am.