Strategic employment relations
THE CHALLENGE
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Gaining trade union agreement to policy modernisation was historically slow and challenging for this organisation, with negotiations often ending in stalemate.
Typically HR would draft a new policy in isolation, only sharing it with the union for the first time in a special meeting. The unions were not resistant to change but did not feel the employee voice was being heard. ​
THE APPROACH - Modernising policies together
We held discussions between the unions and HR leaders, which lead to the introduction of a Joint Policy Forum.
The two parties jointly agreed the terms of reference, relevant attendees, frequency of meetings and the standard agenda items of the Forum. It was made up of union representatives from each of the three unions and members of the HR team.
The Joint Policy Forum's aim was to discuss the strategic people agenda. This would now be the place for policies to be developed, revised, simplified and/or terminated as appropriate.
Crucially, the company and the unions had already begun to rebuild trust during the previous year - an important precondition for this type of approach.
The trade unions agreed to try problem-solving as they too recognised the need to improve a range of policies.
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Both parties set out which policies they would like to change in the next 12 months and explained their rationale.
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Areas of common ground were identified – these were prioritised and a 12-month plan was agreed.
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To trial the process and build momentum, the group selected three new policies to focus on for the first year.
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For each policy under review, an HR representative and a union representative took the lead together.
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They defined the specific problem with the existing policy and agreed how to gather further information.
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They then invited other interested parties to join them to discuss the issue and develop a new draft.
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These new proposals were piloted, refined and brought back to the Policy Forum for discussion.
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There was a time limit of 12 weeks for each policy.
THE OUTCOME
In two years, the Joint Policy Forum gained agreement and implemented more modernised key people policies than had been achieved in the prior decade.
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Joint problem solving was significantly more successful than the previously used more traditional negotiation approach.
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Policies successfully modernised included:
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Absence
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Discipline
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Grievance
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Performance Management
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Agile Working
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The new approach built trust and developed constructive relationships between the HR team and the trade unions.
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This led to positive progress in other additional areas of the organisation where parties worked together.
