In line with the NHS People Promise, the Trust is committed to creating a working environment that is positive, compassionate and inclusive where employees have the freedom to speak up and are given opportunities to develop their potential and work flexibly.
Our goal is to deliver excellent patient care in the right place at the right time, but this can only be achieved by the contributions that our people make each and every day.
The People Promise is our commitment to you, that we will continue to work together to make the Trust a great place to work by supporting you to flourish and maximise your potential.
The People Promise is also reflected in our Trust values of Excellence, Integrity, Compassion, Inclusivity and Accountability.
We are compassionate and inclusive
We are committed to providing an open and inclusive culture where employees understand, encourage and celebrate diversity. We are kind and respectful and care for each other as we would care for our patients. Our value of accountability encourages employees to uphold our values and behaviours and hold others to account by challenging inappropriate behaviours.
We are proud to uphold our value of inclusivity and offer compassionate and inclusive policies and procedures which respect individual differences.
Our staff have the right to a working environment free from any form of harassment and to be treated with dignity and respect. We aim to prevent bullying, harassment, and any form of unacceptable behaviour in the workplace through our Dignity at Work policy, and we expect our managers and leaders to support the policy by dealing with concerns and complaints relating to bullying and harassment immediately, seriously, and sensitively.
How we do this:
- We have a Race, Equality and Inclusion charter and provide anti-racism awareness sessions for all of our staff and managers
- Our Equality and Inclusion function provides visible leadership on equality and diversity issues across the Trust. We hope to help improve the access, experiences and health outcomes for patients, staff and communities, and to support the Trust to become a more inclusive employer by making full use of the talents of its diverse staff and the communities it serves.
- We have a sexual safety charter and adopt a zero-tolerance approach to any behaviours that negatively affect the sexual safety of our colleagues and patients.
- We are a disability confident leader and support and champion disabilities in the workplace.
- We offer a number of staff networks which celebrate and champion our diverse workforce and promote equality and inclusion.
- We promote the use of inclusive language to ensure our communication helps to empower and include our people.
We are recognised and rewarded
We want our staff to feel recognised and rewarded, whether a simple thank you for our day-to-day work or formal recognition through our annual awards ceremonies which celebrate staff for their long service and special recognition.
We offer a fair salary, competitive pension, and an attractive package of extended benefits, whatever our role.
All of our staff participate in an annual Personal Development Conversation (PDC) where they can discuss future career or personal aspirations and recognition for good work is shared through our ‘Saying Thank You’ platform.
How we do this:
- Each year we hold a Staff Long Service Awards ceremony to recognise staff for their continued and valuable contributions
- Our annual Commendation and Special Awards ceremony recognises staff who have stepped up to go above and beyond the expectations of their role and they are awarded with a Chief Officer Commendation.
- All of our staff participate in an annual Personal Development Conversation to help them to achieve their personal development goals and career aspirations.
- We offer extensive employee benefits, such as fair pay, enhanced annual leave entitlements and attractive pension contributions.
- We recognise that a simple than you for hard work goes a long way, that’s why our Winningtemp platform allows managers to send praise directly to staff to recognise their great work and valuable contributions.
We each have a voice that counts
In order to deliver high quality patient care and protect the interests of patients, staff, students, volunteers and the organisation, the Trust encourages a culture of openness and transparency.
We want staff to feel safe and confident when expressing their views and to know that they will be listened to and supported when speaking up about things that concern them.
We encourage staff to use their voices to help shape their roles, improve the employee experiences and to help one another through challenges, during times of change and to make suggestions for improvements and new opportunities.
There are a number of ways that staff can use their voice to report concerns at work, either confidentially or anonymously, through our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians or through our Staff Advice and Liaison Service (SALS).
More serious incidents can be reported through our incident reporting system which is accessible to all staff 24 hours a day.
How we do this:
- We have an ‘All Ideas Matter’ platform which allows staff to make suggestions to improve the way they work.
- Our staff are encouraged to participate in the NHS Annual Staff Survey so that we can listen to our people and understand how best to improve their employee experience.
- Our staff are encouraged to participate in the National Quarterly Pulse Survey to provide regular feedback about their employee experience.
- Our Freedom to Speak Up Guardians encourage a culture of openness and transparency where staff feel safe to speak up and raise concerns.
- We actively encourage staff to report any incidents via our Incident Reporting system and adopt a no blame culture.
- Our Staff Advice and Liaison Service (SALS) are available at all times to provide advice, information or to listen to our staff concerns.
We are safe and healthy
We want our employees to stay mentally and physically healthy whilst at work, so we provide various interventions to support this, including having Health and Wellbeing Champions and Mental Health First Aiders on most Trust sites.
Our Supporting Attendance at Work Policy is supportive of individual staff needs and ensures staff are treated fairly and respectfully when taking time off work due to ill health. This includes holding regular welfare meetings with staff who have long term periods of sickness absence, and offering reasonable workplace adjustments and various passports to provide staff with the support they need to help them to do their role effectively.
How we do this:
- Our staff have access to various health and wellbeing initiatives relating to physical health, mental health, financial health, men’s health and women’s health.
- We are proud to be a Disability Confidentemployer and offer reasonable workplace adjustments and various passports to provide staff with the support they need to help them to do their role effectively, including health passports, carers passports and menopause passports.
- Our safeguarding website helps staff to understand what to do when safeguarding issues arise including advice on legislation, policy and procedure.
- We commit to everyone behaving in a way that ensures sexual safety so that our staff never feel uncomfortable, frightened or intimated in a sexual way by our patients or other colleagues.
- We provide refresher training for any member of staff who has been absent from work for a prolonged period of time, either due to ill health, pregnancy or through a career break, to ensure our staff feel safe and confident to return to duty.
We are always learning
Our staff have equal access to opportunities with a fair and transparent selection processes that attract, develop and retain talented people from all backgrounds.
How we do this:
- Our Organisational Development Team offers a variety of services and programmes to support to staff with their personal and career development and maximise their potential, including coaching and mentoring, individual or team development, CPPD funding and IT skills training.
- All of our managers and leaders complete our Engaging Leaders and Managers course to ensure they demonstrate our leadership values and behaviours.
- All of our staff have access to our on-line learning portal which is available to all staff 24/7 via any computer or mobile device.
- OurResearch community actively support and participate in research to expand the boundaries of evidence-based practice and provide the best care for our patients.
- Our staff have access to various frameworks and resources which outline the various development pathways available to them, and to help them to think about their future career aspirations.
We work flexibly
We are committed to developing positive flexible working arrangements which allow people to balance work responsibilities with other aspects of their lives.
In order to provide the best services to our patients, the Trust aims to support staff to work effectively and efficiently in a work environment that seeks to optimise performance.
It is well recognised that offering flexible working options not only allows staff to balance their home and work life but can lead to increased levels of engagement and staff satisfaction, as well as reduced sickness absence and turnover.
We offer a wide range of flexible working options to suit all staff, including, but not limited to:
- Part time working
- Annualised hours
- Term time only contract
- Bank Agreement
- Job Sharing
- Flexi-Time
- Flexible Retirement
- Remote or hybrid working
- Compressed hours
- Bespoke working patterns such as improving working lives (IWL) rotas or relief-based patterns
All employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
There is no limit on the number of requests that an employee can make and all requests will be considered, regardless of the reason for the request.
We are a team
Our team is made up of people from many different backgrounds and roles, working together in a flexible way to respond to the changing needs of our patients. Celebrating diversity within our team gives us a chance to learn from each other’s experience, specialisms and skills, working with a shared purpose.
We give one another the space to innovate, we support each other when times are tough, and we take time to celebrate successes, small and large. Every member of staff contributes to helping us deliver the best care possible; as such each and every member of staff is considered to be a valued part of our team, not matter what their role is.