Equality Impact Assessment - Appointments policy and procedure

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1 - Scope

1.1 List the main policy aims / outcomes, who benefits and how

• Management of vacant positions and service redesign to ensure employees facing redundancy are provided with the opportunity to be matched to suitable alternative employment.  

1.2 What data / research / evidence is available which is relevant to this equality impact assessment equality impact assessment (EIA)?

Recruitment team redeployment list:

• 40 employees currently on the redeployment list but this number changes daily
• 308 employees (since the start of the record in April 2009) have been appointed through the redeployment process

1.3 Is there further data or information you think would be useful in carrying out this assessment?

• Further breakdown of the data held relating to the redeployment pool to include gender, age, disability, ethnicity etc.  This should include the success rate of these groups in securing suitable alternative employment.
• Split the data between employees held within the redeployment pool as a result of service redesign and those employees as a result of the absence management policy.  Data should also be considered relating to the number of employees from minority groups affected by service redesign.
• Data should also be available across the departments to identify if certain areas of employees are affected.

2 - Consultation

2.1 Which groups were consulted when preparing the policy / EIA?

• Staff Disability Forum
• The policy will be reviewed at JCC (Unions) and Staffing Policy Committee at a later date
• A member of the BME staff forum has been invited to attend the EIA

2.2 Is further consultation required? If so detail below and add to action plan

• Occupational health

3 - Assessing impact and strengthening the policy

3.1 Using data collected (1.2) and information gathered from consultation ( 2.1) what implications might this policy have on equality?

• Part time employees – the 5 working days to submit an appeal has implications for part time employees who are unable to take advice in the time period
• The policy states that employees in the redeployment pool are responsible for identifying suitable alternative employment opportunities from the vacancies available.  This has an impact upon employees who do not have access to a computer at work.

3.2 How will the policy affect different groups of staff?

Group	How affected (positive or negative)	Any actions required (add to action plan)
Disability	Access to redeployment opportunities Ability to complete forms required (putting an appeal case together etc) Job opportunities outside of Wiltshire Council	Manager guidance to include information on reasonable adjustments.  A work trial is available for all suitable alternative employment opportunities. Amend appeal form to include direction for employees needing support.
Part time employees	Ability to appeal within the timescales	Manager guidance to outline the need to take into account individual circumstances when setting appeal deadlines
Non-PC users	Ability to access job vacancies to identify suitable alternative employment opportunities	Amend frequently asked questions with link to job website and update manager guidelines
Employees with caring responsibilities	Ownership matched on working hours limits opportunities available for redeployment	Guidance for managers to ensure they take into account equal opportunities within the recruitment and selection process
Age	Job opportunities for older employees younger employees with less experience	Noted but no action suggested to resolve issue

3.3 Is there anything which could be included in the policy to help promote equality of opportunity and good staff relations or eliminate discrimination, harassment or unfair treatment?

• Frequently asked questions and a toolkit including manager guidance will be provided with the policy

3.4 Do any of your recommended actions to address any negative effects on one group of staff impact on any other groups?  If so what actions could be taken to mitigate this?

• No

3.5 Is there anything that can be done to improve accessibility and understanding of the policy amongst staff?

• All human resources (HR) policies are available on HR Online and this policy is available in other formats upon request.
• A toolkit is available which includes guidance for managers in applying the policy.  This should include guidance on reasonable adjustments to help managers ownership/redeployment decisions.
• Employees affected by the policy are provided with information at the start of the consultation process.  This includes information on the processes, support available for employees and their job evaluation score for the post (required for ownership/ring-fence and any appeal).

4 - Summary

4.1 Will the policy meet the council’s responsibilities in relation to equality and human rights?

• Yes – with changes highlighted in the action plan

4.2 Have you identified anything through this EIA which should be more widely adopted in other policies or built into planning/strategy work?

• The availability of HR policies to employees who do not have computer access and therefore are unable to access HR Online at work.
• This issue needs to be addressed by the HR Policy team for all HR policies.

5. Action plan

Section of EIA	Actions	Target date	Review date	Responsible postholder
1.4 – Further research required	To look into the active monitoring and further breakdown of the data for redundancy/ill health and the success rate of the equality groups. To actively monitor the different equality groups affected by any restructure at the outset.	31 October 2010 31 October 2010	1 April 2011 1 April 2011	Recruitment Team Leader Senior HR Assistant for Performance and Data
2.2 – Further consultation required	Consultation with occupational health and safety for comment.	1 October 2010	1 April 2011	Business Support Officer
3.2 – Mitigating negative impact on different groups of staff	Manager guidance to include information on reasonable adjustments. Amend appeal form to include direction for employees needing support. Publicising the Employee Assistance Programme within the policy to ensure fully accessible and additional support is available.  Support in completing job applications will form part of this. Reference to equal opportunities for carers within the Recruitment and Selection policy. Reference to the support available in completing job applications.	1 October 2010 1 October 2010 1 October 2010 1 April 2011	1 April 2011 1 April 2011 1 October 2010 1 April 2011	Business Support Officer Business Support Officer Business Support Officer HR Policy Officer
3.5 – Improving accessibility / understanding	To ensure employees at risk have access to the appointments policy and associated policies. Reference to the redundancy policy.	1 October 2010	1 April 2011	HR Policy Officer

6 - Sign Off

This policy has been fully assessed in relation to its potential effects on equality and all relevant concerns have been addressed:

• Quality sign-off - Equality and Diversity Partner - 9 November 2010
• Director level sign off - Service Director, HR and Organisational Development - 9 November 2010

Last updated: 18 April 2011