THE BOOK OF IAM POLICIES
How to use this Book
Legal Right to Work
Data Protection and Access to Information
Changes in Personal Information
Ways of Working
FlexiTime
Right to request Flexible Working
Your Pay
Your Salary
Your Probation
Your Pension
Your Leave
Your Holiday
Sick Leave
Other Leave
Where you work from Overtime and Out of Hours
How we Show Up
Behaviour outside of Work
Drugs and Alcohol
Hitting the Road: Travel and Expenses
Reaping the Benefits and Recognition
Refer a Friend Scheme
Down Tools Days
Taking a Break
Friends with Benefits Scheme
Home Working Budget
Keeping you Safe
Bribery and Receipt of Gifts
Grievance and Disciplinary
Working with Others
Equal opportunities and diversity
Learning and Development
Leaving iAM
LAUNCHING YOUR IAM STORY
How to use this Book
This book is your loyal guide to work-life balance at iAM. It covers off some of the (but essential) legal bits. It talks a lot about you: your salary, your time, how you’ll be celebrated during good times and supported during tricky ones. It gets very reflective ruminating on how we show up for one another, and veers gleefully into our unique people incentives. It will help keep you safe, informed and conscientious.
To ensure this book is relevant to you, you’ll spot plenty of sections where you can click into further reading links, should you want to know more. And if we update or change anything, we’ll let you know pronto.
Now onto the fun stuff!
Legal Right to Work
All employees must have the legal right to work in the UK. You will be asked to provide evidence of your right to work when you are required and may be asked to verify this at any time, on request.
Changes to Personal Information
It’s important that our records are correct, as inaccurate or out-of-date information may affect your salary or cause difficulties in situations where contact is required for emergencies.
Please notify your Line Manager immediately of all changes in the following personal information:
Name
Home address
Telephone number
Bank account details
Examinations passed/qualifications gained
Emergency contact
Driving licence penalties (if you are required to drive on Company business)
Criminal charge, caution or conviction Conflict, or potential conflict of interest
Personal data on employees is held in accordance with the provisions of iAM Compliant Limited’s Data Protection Policy.
And... Data Protection and Access to Information
Read all about it here
FOR THE FUN STUFF!
WAYS OF WORKING
We want working at iAM to work with you and for you. Below, is a guide to some of what’s happening and possible to protect and flex your time. Give your manager a nudge to get the conversation started and explore what you need.
Click here to read
Flexitime
We typically work office and school hours (9-5), but we aren’t clock watching and offer a degree of flexibility, we believe in a culture of trust. We may be able to offer a different working pattern to suit you, if this is something you need, please discuss with your line manager.
Requesting Flexible Working
Every employee has the statutory right to request flexible working from day one of employment (introduced in April 2024). Such requests, if granted, will result in a permanent change to your working pattern or hours and would therefore result in a contract variation.
IAM Compliant Limited will ensure it seriously considers all formal requests to work flexibly and will endeavour to grant requests wherever possible. We will respond within two months and consult with you on all requests.
IAM Complaint Limited may refuse the request if the refusal is for one or more specified business reasons. You may make up to two requests within a twelve-month period. If you wish to apply for flexible working, please request the forms and guidance from your Head of Department
Take a Break
No one wants to go bleary-eyed from too much screen time so don’t forget to stretch and get some air every few hours, especially after very focused tasks. We’re big fans of taking lunch breaks too. We get that every now and again, you might forget, or prefer to work through, but we urge you to take the full hour whenever you can. It will do wonders for your energy levels, especially if it’s away from your desk.
Why is downtime important?
We like this blog on reasons why taking breaks is so important, and creative ways to do so.
If you’re asked to do something and you’re halfway through your loaded fries, get back to the person when you’re done (unless there’s immediate danger like a bear on the loose). If a meeting slides into your calendar and accepting it means you won’t have space to breathe –speak to the organiser and try to rearrange it.
Feel free to schedule your lunch hour in your calendar, so others can see when you’re not free. We want you well, refreshed and at your best.
Try to avoid arranging meetings over lunchtime, between 12-1 and if possible, avoid booking internal meetings on Fridays to allow people to catch up and prep for the week ahead.
Where you Work from
You and your manager will get on the same page regarding your working location early doors. Typically, there’s more office time, in the beginning, to help get you up to speed and enjoy face-time with the team.
Everyone works hybrid or fully remote. We’ll consider the type of work you’re doing, who you need to collaborate with and your personal preferences when making any decisions about your working location, and we’ll keep things transparent.
Working from home is part of most people’s routine these days, who doesn’t love it? working in your PJ’s, putting a wash on, the commute? But it can be a bit tricky if you don’t have the right set up. Here are some tips for good practice:
Make sure your environment is free from distractions
Make sure you have an adequate Wi-Fi connection
Make sure you’re contactable, if you’re not, set up your Slack status so colleagues are aware
Make sure that your working area complies with DSE regulations
Make sure your working area is quiet for you and any colleagues you may have calls with.
Ensure you have adequate pet and childcare, although we all love a furry cameo on a team meeting.
Working from home should be treated the same as working from the office, just without the coffee machine breaking every five minutes.
Sometimes you’ll work somewhere other than home, we’ve provided further guidance below:
Other peoples’ houses (using their wi-fi) – if you have the set-up ability to crack on with your work – no problem. Different countries – if you want to work from a different country, be it short or long-term, please start the conversation with your line manager. However, bear in mind, GDPR contains rules on the transfer of personal data to receivers located outside the EEA (European Economic Area) so this may not be possible
Café’s/coworking hubs – ensure the wi-fi connection is secure and be mindful of visible screens and having confidential conversations
Nipping Out
Everyone has the odd appointment they need to nip out for, or to do the school or nursery run. Just let your line manager know and/or pop it in your diary.
Working Out of Hours
You may find yourself working outside of hours, it’s your choice if you’d prefer, but there’s no pressure to. Try to use the ‘schedule later’ feature in Slack so as not to disturb your colleagues. If you do find yourself checking Slack in the evening, don’t feel like you must reply then and there, most messages can be picked up the next day, during working hours.
Working Additional Hours
Due to the nature of our work and belief in sharing the load when times get busy, it’s not often that additional hours will be necessary, however, sometimes we might have the odd occasion where this is needed. For example, working on a Saturday to deliver a bespoke project, or staying late to set up a trade show.
Have a conversation with your manager in advance of this, or if you’re finding that you need to work additional hours every day just to get your job done.
For anyone who attends events as part of their role, we encourage you to travel within your working hours where possible. Where this is unavoidable, you can finish early on another day to balance it out. You’ll need to confirm and agree the situation in advance with your manager.
If you need to travel silly early to get somewhere on time, you can also discuss the possibility of a hotel the night before to make things easier.
Hitting the Road
This bit covers travelling to and from our offices, working on the move and what you can expense back
Travelling to and from the Chester office – if you have a work-from-home contract, you can claim back travel expenses.
Working on the train – We understand that some people get travel sick, and some people love to book a table seat and crack on – so the choice is yours.
Do what’s comfortable for you. We only ask that whatever you’re working on is okay if it’s seen by curious passengers.
REAPING THE BENEFITS AND RECOGNITION
We’re pouring a lot of time and love into our EVP (Employee Value Proposition).
That is, answering the question, what’s in for me? We want to champion and celebrate great work, cheer the loudest when we win as a team, and run head-first together at our milestones. To walk the walk, we’ll continue to add to our library of people policies and rewards. We’re always keen to hear about what matters to you.
Refer a Friend Scheme
Our people are our biggest advocates! A great team is made up of great people, and as we expand, we’re keen to tap into your network. If you know someone who’d love it at iAM and further our culture, let’s get chatting. Refer someone into the company in any role, at any salary and receive a £100 voucher (Etsy, Amazon or suitable gift card). Voucher sent once the individual has passed probation.
Friends with Benefits Scheme
Who named this one? It doesn’t matter! It’s the win-win sleepover scheme, where you get paid when a colleague crashes at your house for work.
Down Tools Days
Every now and then when the going’s got tough, or everyone’s been especially awesome, we down tools for the day. This means no work calls, no emails, no Slack messages (unless it’s life or death), just beautiful, uninterrupted peace. Well, guess it depends on who you spend it with. Consider it an ad-hoc extra holiday, but with the added delight that you’re not missing out on anything, and you won’t return to a million notifications. We aim to give at least a few weeks’ notice. If you happen to have already booked holiday – please cancel it, we got you.
Home Working Budget
To help with your home working set up, you can expense back up to £150 in order to make things a little more comfortable. This could contribute towards things such as a desk, chair, keyboard etc. Please run any spends past your manager for sign-off first. You might want to wait until completing your Display Screen Equipment Assessment which will help to illuminate what you could do with it first. Please note this is separate to the equipment you need in the office. Full-time home workers also have access to additional financial support – full details will be clarified during onboarding.
iAM Making a Difference
We care about what you care about. That’s why we’ll support you with one day of paid leave a year, to give back to a cause close to your heart. Please reach out to our Head of People if you have something in mind.
LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT BUDGET
The iAM L&D budget is a pot of dosh specifically created for team development – both individual and collective. You might have noticed that we’re quite big on Learning here.
Gimme the details...
YOUR PAY
Your Salary
You can find full details in your contract, but the main event is the last working day of the month. If you need to change your bank details, please let your Head of Deparment know at least seven working days before pay day.
Your payslip will be available in your Bright Pay account (same place as your leave).
Your Probation
Our probationary period is three months. Passing probation is confirmed in a probation meeting, organised by your manager.
Your Pension
Our pension provider is Nest. You’ll be auto-enrolled 3 months after payroll – a letter will be sent to your work email and an information pack will be sent to your home address.
In terms of contribution, the legal minimum is 8%, of which 3% comes from iAM and 5% from your salary. Well, technically, 4% from you and 1% from the Government (for the 5% contribution). An employee can increase their contribution up to the maximum of 10%
You can opt into the scheme earlier (you just need to let us know). If you want to opt out, you’ll need to do this after auto-enrolment (3 months). You’ll be provided with details of how to end the scheme and any payments made by yourself and the company will be refunded.
Your Leave
We use Bright Pay for holiday and leave management. You will receive a platform invite to your work email on your first day.
Bright Pay is a web and mobile app – you can find the mobile apps here: Android, Apple.
If you’re a people manager, you will also be invited to a separate side of the Bright Pay platform, in order to manage your team’s leave. Please note: these will be two different sets of log in credentials.
Your Head of Department is your primary contact for Bright Pay queries and issues. They can also add leave on your behalf, if you are unable to.
We’ll dive into the most common types of leave below, but as a general rule of thumb when you need time off for whatever reason (excluding holiday which has its own process outlined later):
l inform your manager as soon as possible, either in person by telephone or email where this is not possible.
l explain the situation, the reason for requiring time off work and the likely duration of time off that will be needed.
Where we can, we’ll support you to do what you need to.
Depending on the situation, we may ask you to take unused annual leave to cover all or part of the requested period off. For public duties such as Jury Service, we’ll endeavour to provide unpaid leave.
Your Holiday
The holiday year runs from January to December. Each year you’ll have 26 days leave (3 of which need to be taken when the office shuts over Christmas (your manager will confirm dates).
Additionally, the 8 bank holidays are paid leave. If you join mid-year, your allowance will be pro-rata – meaning proportional to the time you’ll be working that year. Gah, maths! Don’t worry - our Bright Pay platform works it out automatically.
Please give as much notice as possible when sending over a request and don’t book anything until it’s approved.
Ten continuous days off (or less) are fine by us, but if you’re after a longer stint, please talk to your manager.
We encourage everyone to take the entirety of their annual leave where possible and we try to nudge if you have days left as we approach year end, but the responsibility is yours. You can roll over up to five working days.
Holiday can be requested from your manager using Bright Pay in full and half days.
Half days are no problem – just add ‘AM’ or ‘PM’ to the notes of your request.
You can see everyone’s leave on the Bright Pay calendar (requested yet not approved leave shows as chevroned time).
Sick Leave
If you need to take time off for your mental or physical health –please call your manager before 9am on each day of illness.
If you’re a bit under the weather but feel you can still work, please don’t come into the office or team social events, to avoid making others unwell. Please also avoid gathering with the team if you’re aware that someone you’ve spent time with recently has Covid or is ill.
Your first five days of sick leave each year is paid. After that, it switches to statutory sick pay. If you are within that bracket, upon your return to work, please put this through Bright Pay using, ‘Sick Leave.’ If you believe you’ve surpassed this or aren’t sure, please discuss with your manager.
You’ll need to provide a doctor’s note if you’re off work sick for more than seven working days in a row.
OTHER LEAVE
KEEPING YOU SAFE
Health and Safety isn’t the most exciting of subjects (although we’d argue that iAM is revolutionising how it’s seen), but it is damn important. So please do make the time to read everything below which is relevant, so we can look after you, and you can look after others.
We all need to:
Take reasonable care of ourselves and colleagues’ health & safety and that of other people who may be affected by our actions at work.
Co-operate fully with management in ensuring that all health and safety standards and working procedures adopted by iAM Compliant Limited are adhered to.
Report immediately to a Senior Manager or Director any working situation we consider to be a danger to the health, safety or welfare of ourselves or others.
We create a huge volume of Health and Safety content, also available for you to take on our LMS (Learning Management System). Once you’ve responded to your emailed invite to our iAM Compliant software, you can then click on ‘Training’ to access the LMS. Checking out our ‘Office Health and Safety’ collection is a good place to start, but take a look around and explore.
Fire Safety
Please ensure you are familiar with the fire evacuation procedures at the site you are working. If you will be regularly working in the Chester or Storm office, we’ll invite you to a fire safety induction. In the event of a fire on the premises, proceed as quickly as possible to fire assembly points. Employees should make themselves familiar with the procedure and from time to time will be involved in fire drills. All employees have a responsibility to take all possible precautions to reduce the risk of fire.
Accidents
Accidents at work sites or during working hours, however trivial, must be reported at once or as soon as practical to your Line Manager and entered in the accident book. For Chester staff – please report to the Steam Mill reception. Please report to Storm Consultancy if you’re working in the Bath office. Where medical attention is required in the first instance a First Aider must be contacted.
Hazard Reporting
Report any hazards you identify to your Manager.
Manual Handling Course
The two worst things you can do when manual handling are twisting and bending and the combined effect is more than cumulative. You can protect yourself and minimise the risks by following the following guidelines: Assess how heavy or awkward the item is and if appropriate ask for help. Plan how to hold the item and get a good grip (wear gloves if necessary). Stand close to the item with your feet apart (one foot slightly further forward than the other) and spread your weight evenly, bend your knees and lift with your legs keeping your back in a natural line. Lift smoothly and keep the load close to your body. Avoid twisting your body. When carrying an object keep your arms tucked in and make sure you can see where you are going. If equipment is provided make sure you use it correctly.
Workstation Risk Assessment
After your first few weeks at iAM (if not sooner), we’ll send you an invite to our iAM Compliant Tool, and our Display Screen Equipment Assessment. It’s a series of questions to help us spot any risks related to how you work, your equipment and any reasonable adjustments you might need. For this reason, please complete it for every location you work at regularly (for example, your home and an office). Once done for one location, you can go back into ‘Forms’, click ‘Your responses and requests,’ choose the DSE form, then ‘Complete this form’ and do it again for a different location. We’ll reach out to you to discuss your responses, any risks and how we can support across your environments. Everyone has access to £150 for home working equipment – please discuss your requirements with your manager.
Eye Care
We’ll cover the cost of one annual eye and eyesight test (maximum £30.00 per annum). The cost of further eye and eyesight tests (maximum £30.00 per test) within the same annual period will only be considered if required on medical or ophthalmic advice. If as a result of having an eye and eyesight test an optician gives a certificate stating that special corrective appliances (spectacles) are necessary for the usual performance of the User’s duties, we will contribute up to £70.00 per annum towards provision of spectacles only (i.e. contact lenses and other corrective appliances will not be considered). In order to be reimbursed for eye tests and spectacles, you must provide the receipts.
HOW WE SHOW UP
Our iAM Anchors, (or values if you like) are Trust, Fun, Teamwork and Quality. They’re central to how we behave, treat others and how we grow as a business.
It doesn’t matter if we’re in the office, working remotely, sitting together in a pub or talking with our customers – we’re professional with a slice of fun. We’re relaxed but conscious. We have the room to be ourselves but we’re considerate of others too. We support one another when we can do better, and we own and learn from our mistakes (we all make them).
Behaviour Outside of Work
Normally, we stay out of what you do outside of working hours. However, if your activities outside work adversely affect the business or your colleagues, then they will become an issue and may result in disciplinary action.
As a representative of our brand, we ask that you consider the impact of how you conduct yourself outside of work, not just during it. This includes disparaging remarks about customers, partners, colleagues and iAM itself.
Please be mindful of what you share on social media and the public domain. We encourage you to employ common sense to what is appropriate, and if in doubt, ask your manager.
Inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues including harassment and bullying, will also not be tolerated.
Disciplinary action will only be taken after we have fully investigated the facts. If necessary, you will be suspended for this period of time, receiving your normal rate of pay. The rules and procedures covering disciplinary hearings and appeals will still apply.
If you’re concerned about someone else in the team and would like a conversation to share your concerns, please reach out to the Head of People or your Line Manager.
Drugs and Alcohol
The drinking of alcohol, at the office or within working hours is not allowed, unless reasonable consumed as part of an agreed work event, company social or entertaining prospects, customers and partners.
Unreasonable is defined as:
being over the legal limit stipulated for driving (i.e. 35mcg/100ml of breath alcohol concentration).
In the opinion of management, the individual’s performance is impaired. This may be at less than the legal limit stipulated for driving. In the opinion of management, the individual’s behaviour may cause em barrassment, distress or offence to others.
The individual continues to drink when instructed to stop by a manager.
If you’re worried that a team member is under the influence outside of what is reasonable, please speak with the Head of People or your Line Manager.
Please inform your manager regarding any prescribed medication that may have an effect on your ability to carry out your work safely.
We ask that you declare any drug or alcohol dependency so that we can provide reasonable assistance, treating absences for treatment and/ or rehabilitation as any other sickness absence. (Failure to accept help or continue with treatment will revert to normal disciplinary procedures.)
Bribery and other Corrupt Behaviour
Receipt of Gifts
Grievance Disciplinary
WORKING WITH OTHERS
Equal Opportunities and Diversity at Work
The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. These are known as “protected characteristics”. Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, e.g. refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics. This policy covers bullying and harassment of and by managers, employees, contractors, agency staff and anyone else engaged to work at iAM Compliant Limited, whether by direct contract with iAM Compliant Limited or otherwise. The policy extends to conduct at work, which includes any work-related setting outside the workplace, e.g. work-related social events. IAM Compliant Limited’s policy requires that employment and progression within it will be determined solely by personal merit and the application criteria which are related to the effective performance of the job and the needs of the
business. IAM Compliant Limited will avoid unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion, opportunities for training, pay and benefits, discipline and selection for redundancy. No applicant or employee will be treated unfavourably on grounds of disability or pregnancy and maternity; and no less favourably than any other employee on the grounds of age, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
LEAVING IAM
REVIEW OF THIS BOOK
Owner of The Book of iAM Policies: Chief of Operations
Review Date: November 2024
Next Review Date: November 2025 (reviewed annually)
