Making the most of Investors in People

Making the most of Investors in People A guide for trade unions

Contents 3

Foreword by Liz Smith

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How to use this booklet

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Section 1 Trade unions and Investors in People

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Section 2 The benefits of Investors in People

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Section 3 Organising for Investors in People

18 Section 4 Taking forward learning and development 22 Section 5 Help and advice

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Foreword It’s a wonderful sense of achievement when you help people to undertake extra learning – whether for fun or academic reasons. You experience a real feel-good factor when you see people walking around the office practicing a newly-learnt foreign language or when they come in waving a certificate because they’ve achieved a Level 2 in Numeracy or Literacy. It’s a great morale booster for them and it’s nice to know I can really make a difference.

Elaine Anderson, PCS union learning rep and Investors in People internal reviewer

All union learning reps (ULR) will recognise the sense of achievement that Elaine talks about. It’s why we do what we do. But we also know it’s not always easy and that ULRs need all the help they can get. That’s why unionlearn supports the Investors in People (IIP) framework and recognises the many potential benefits it offers unions and their members. It can help to:

» recognise and promote the role of unions and their representatives – especially ULRs – in supporting workforce development

» ensure diversity and equality of opportunity within the workplace

» develop a culture of learning and assist union members to get the most out of their skills and talents

» promote respect for people at work.

The TUC and IIPUK have signed a joint memorandum of understanding to work together to promote the IIP framework and the role that unions play in workplace learning. Work already completed under this programme has strengthened this commitment and led to a joint protocol between unionlearn and IIP quality centres.

This booklet is designed to help union reps understand what Investors in People can offer their members and to get involved in the workplace to help shape the learning agenda.

Liz Smith Director, unionlearn Making the most of Investors in People

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How to use this booklet This booklet is written for union reps who want to find out how they can get involved in Investors in People (or IIP as it is called in this booklet) to improve the quality of their members’ lives at work. It:

» explains how IIP works and how unions can be involved

» outlines the potential benefits IIP offers unions and their members

This booklet is useful for reps in all kinds of workplaces – whether your organisation is involved with IIP or not. If it is already involved the booklet will show you how to get more from the scheme; if it isn’t it will give you some ideas on how to get started.

» Section 1 outlines how unions are involved in IIP and gives some basic information on what IIP covers and how it works.

» Section 2 outlines the potential benefits

of IIP for unions and their members. » shows how unions can organise around IIP » provides practical ideas for taking action » Section 3 shows how unions can be in the workplace

» identifies where union representatives can get more information and help.

organised to get the best out of IIP and work in partnership with Investors in People Centres.

» Section 4 contains some ideas of how unions can use the IIP standard to take forward learning and development to get the best for members.

» Section 5 gives advice on how and where union reps can get more help and advice on IIP.

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Section 1

Investors in People and unions

IIP is often called the national standard for developing people at work. It is a quality standard, assessed by independent assessors, that helps organisations to develop and follow best practice in:

» managing the organisation effectively and fairly

» valuing people and recognising the contribution they make to the organisation

» engaging people and involving them in decisions that are made at work

» ensuring staff have the skills and knowledge they need to do their job effectively, both now and in the future.

(If you are not sure how IIP works, check out the box on page 7 that gives an overview of the standard and the assessment process).

Unions have always been involved in IIP.

» Unions were involved in drawing up the original standard in 1992 and are continually involved in discussions and agreements on new developments and changes to the IIP standard.

» Unions help develop IIP policy and practice through TUC reps on the Board of IIPUK (the independent body that oversees IIP) and the Regional IIP centres, bodies that provide advice on and assessment for IIP.

» Unions are involved in the IIP Champions and IIP Ambassadors schemes, both of which promote good IIP practice. There are union ambassadors for IIP who can provide help and advice for their union colleagues.

» The IIP standard itself requires employers to maintain ‘constructive relationships’ with recognised unions and to consult with them about the organisation’s business plan.

» Unions are sometimes on recognition panels, the bodies which approve the IIP award for an organisation.

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It looks a good combination: a national standard for excellence drawn up with union involvement, which stresses learning and development, involving unions and staff in decisions, developing good management and raising the profile of unions in the workplace.

In fact it’s so good that the TUC and many of its affiliated unions are recognised IIP organisations. Nevertheless, some trade union officials and reps in the workplace are not convinced that IIP has anything to offer their members. There are many reasons for this as these quotes from union reps show:

change or because expectations were too high in the first place.

Our company wasn’t interested in “developing people; they just needed the IIP badge for a marketing campaign.”

“Two weeks after we got the award they announced 30 redundancies – that’s what they call investing in people.”

“The headteacher announced our recognition

Some union reps who were involved in the early days of IIP complained that it was a ‘paper exercise’, and more about bureaucratic HR departments than people.

as if we had won the pools but the senior management team are continuing in the same old way and ignoring all staff needs.”

“IIP didn’t lead to any more training or development for most staff so what’s the point of it?”

Some union reps are disappointed with IIP because they think it falls short of delivering what they want or expect. Some employers only pay lip service to the principles behind the award while others get the award and then ignore everything they said they would do. Sometimes union reps are disappointed with what IIP delivers because circumstances

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IIP is not a magic formula and it doesn’t cover all of the areas that unions are concerned about in the workplace. But that doesn’t mean unions can’t use the scheme to improve things that have a real impact on the quality of working life for their members – areas like equality, promotion and career change, learning and development, the style and quality of management, involvement in decisions and even health and well-being.

They were right.

But IIP has changed a lot since then. It is far more inclusive and is built on engaging and empowering people in the workplace. IIP is not done to you but with you. And since the majority of assessment evidence is drawn from confidential staff interviews from a sample chosen at random it’s not possible for employers to provide fake evidence.

So IIP can make things better with the involvement and engagement of unions.

It’s an initiative that unions can use as a framework to press for excellence in areas that directly affect members’ quality of life at work and their access to learning and development.

But to do that you need to get involved. The rest of this booklet shows you how.

How does IIP work?

IIP is a business improvement tool for changing the way organisations get results through the development and management of staff. The standard is based on three principles: 1. Plan Developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

2. Do Taking action to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

3. Review Evaluating the impact of its investment in people on the performance of the organisation.

Each principle has a number of indicators and evidence requirements that set out in more detail the outcomes the organisation should achieve to show that it meets the standard required. These cover things such as equality of opportunity in learning and development; how learning and development is planned, delivered and evaluated; employee involvement in decision making; management development and performance; and so on.

The culture of the organisation is the most important factor.

The indicators and evidence requirements are flexible enough to suit different organisations and different circumstances – large or small, public or private, profit making or not-for-profit.

Organisations can choose how they use IIP to improve the way they work.

Organisations have to achieve the IIP baseline standard. Once the organisation feels it is ready, it is assessed against the evidence requirements by an independent assessor appointed by the Regional Investors in People Centre. The assessor can gather the evidence needed from a range of different sources, but the majority is taken from confidential interviews with a cross section of staff chosen at random by the assessor. The assessor will always speak to union reps as part of the assessment where a trade union is recognised.

At the end of the assessment the assessor will give feedback on whether the organisation has met the standard.

If it has then it will be recommended to the Recognition Panel to be formally recognised as an Investor in People.

If it has not, the assessor will tell the organisation where there are gaps that need to be filled. The organisation can then take action to fill the gaps. If it is reassessed within a year, the assessor will only look at the areas where it fell short the previous time.

IIP is awarded for a maximum of three years and organisations must be reassessed at any time in those three years if they wish to continue being recognised as Investors in People in the future.

Once an organisation has the baseline standard it can work towards the whole IIP framework or choose to excel in specific areas, for example empowering and involving people. Once the decision has been made most organisations put together a programme of action. Unions should be involved in this process.

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Section 2

What’s in it for us?

The potential benefits for unions IIP offers unions a number of potential benefits in five key areas:

1

It offers organising opportunities.

Unions play an essential part in the consultation and communication process around IIP so the more active the union role, the higher the potential for raising the union profile and presence in the workplace. For example, some workplace union reps and ULRs play an important role in IIP, which gets them talking to staff about how well change is being put into practice. The regular contact and discussion links well with issue-based organising strategies, emphasises the positive aspects of union activity and improves recruitment.

IIP is good for union organisation. It has “helped the joint unions agree a common approach, train and develop an active group of ULRs and embed learning as part of union activity. Even though we have high membership, it’s helped us to recruit a few new members as well.”

UNISON ULR

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It offers opportunities to build positive relations with top management and improve the quality of consultation.

The IIP standard requires top management to make sure there are constructive relationships with unions and consult with them when developing the organisation’s business plan. Unions have used this to develop and embed formal consultation with management on both business planning and learning development strategies.

As part of the IIP process we set up a joint “learning forum with managers. It reported directly to the chief executive’s management team so it had the power to get things done.”

GMB rep We built in formal consultation with the “joint unions on the organisation’s strategy.

This allowed consideration from a staff viewpoint and allowed the joint unions to contribute to the communication and promotion of the strategy to staff.”

NASUWT rep

our work on IIP we were able “toThrough highlight issues that really affected

The organisation set up a pan-agency “Improvement steering group to look at

members and take action to get them fixed. That fitted well with our issues-based approach to organising.”

GMB rep

feedback from all our quality audits, including IIP. The union is represented, which gives us direct input to key discussions and informs branch planning on how we can improve the services we offer and the way we work. Both are important for our members because it helps safeguard their terms and conditions, and their quality of working life.”

Prospect ULR

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It offers opportunities to build equality of opportunity into learning.

The IIP standard requires organisations to develop strategies that are designed to promote equality of opportunity in the development of the organisation’s people.

Unions have used this requirement to ensure that learning policy does not discriminate by gender, race, employment status and so on.

IIP helped us to focus on equality issues “around learning and really improved access to learning for part-time workers and shift workers, as well as improving English training for second language speakers and those wishing to improve their Skills for Life.”

GMB rep broke down the ‘them and us’ syndrome.

“WeIIPnow have joint performance management for all staff.”

UNISON rep

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It offers opportunities to develop a joint agenda around learning.

The IIP standard requires organisations to ensure that people learn and develop effectively and that managers are effective in leading, managing and developing people.

Unions have used this requirement to develop joint learning forums, negotiate joint learning agreements, kick-start a lifelong learning initiative and enhance the role of ULRs. The first thing we did as a result of IIP “was elect ULRs and get them involved in developing a joint learning strategy with management for all staff.”

UNITE rep ULRs can help improve our skills for work “and life in general and PCS supports the idea that learning should be a continual process throughout your life. IIP offers another route to help ULRs work with employers.”

PCS ULR

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Union input was vital in developing an “effective learning and development strategy and improving the uptake onto work-related training. IIP helped us develop a joint strategy to tackle the barriers that stopped staff from accessing learning.”

UNISON ULR We have a direct input into the company’s “vision, objectives, and learning and development strategy. That’s good both for the company and our members. We have been involved in everything from staff personal development reviews to computer training. We are now running joint workshops on career development, skills gaps, job applications and interviews.”

UNISON ULR

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It offers opportunities to improve employee involvement and communication.

The IIP standard requires organisations to encourage staff to take ownership and responsibility by being involved in decision making and to make sure that their contribution to the organisation is recognised and valued. Unions have used this requirement to develop collective agreements on involvement and participation, improve communication processes, develop staff input into team and department plans, and run joint briefing sessions for staff.

“There is a real benefit in union involvement because management gets a more accurate picture of how staff feel and what is really going on. And it has helped us to raise issues like career progression, which are difficult to address in a small organisation.”

GMB ULR “Open communications about training helped staff see how courses improved their performance and gave them a better platform for career development.”

NUT rep “Our branch has worked closely with HR to input to staff surveys, which has been really useful in highlighting member issues and concerns. For example, we picked up members’ concerns about health issues and were able to negotiate an agreement for free yearly health checks for all staff regardless of age.”

Prospect ULR

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Making the most of Investors in People

Section 3 Organising for Investors in People

Unions need to play an active role to get the most out of IIP. Reps will want to:

» make sure unions are represented in discussions

» contribute ideas for progress and organisation

» make sure unions are involved in decisions.

This chapter will give you some ideas on how to do all of this. How you use the ideas will depend on your circumstances; there is no set formula for putting IIP into practice and each workplace is different.

Your priorities will also depend on where you are in the IIP journey. Some of you may work for organisations that have not yet started IIP; others will be on the way or even preparing for assessment. And some of you may work in organisations that are already recognised as Investors in People but are facing reassessment or want to go further.

Wherever you are and whatever your workplace there is scope for union involvement.

Laying the foundations Union involvement in IIP will depend on two key factors: an effective joint forum and a clear role for union reps.

The joint forum is the main body for identifying actions that need to be taken

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around IIP and co-ordinating activities to put these actions into practice. It is usually separate from the formal consultative machinery and forum members often include staff and line managers as well as representatives from the union(s) and human resources. Joint forums need to be large enough to be representative but small enough to work efficiently and effectively.

Good joint forums:

» have a clear role and constitution with written terms of reference

» have the active involvement of a senior manager/union rep so that important decisions can be made

» allow for joint chairing with the union » link back into established consultation and negotiating bodies.

Union reps can play a number of roles within IIP. They will consult with management on the organisation’s business plan, be involved in the joint forum and be part of other working groups that are set up to develop new initiatives and policies.

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But union reps can also play a much more active role, they can:

» assess how well the improvements planned through IIP are working by talking to staff and management, checking documents and observing activities and then reporting their findings back to the joint forum

» do joint briefings with management about IIP and new initiatives

» brief staff on IIP assessment and, where trained as IIP reviewers, help the assessor with the IIP assessment process.

The IIP role can be taken on by any experienced rep. ULRs are well placed to play this role because they can link IIP into the wider learning agenda. Reps chosen will need extra facility time, support from both employer and the union, and some training to play this role effectively.

It’s also important to ensure that there is a link between union reps on the joint forum and other union structures in the workplace.

This is usually done through a short written report or by including a forum rep in the appropriate meeting or committee.

The union role in IIP Union reps who take on a wider role in IIP need a broad understanding of IIP and the learning agenda. They should be used to talking with members, preparing short reports and should be confident when dealing with management.

There is no official description for reps playing this specialised IIP role and it varies between unions and workplaces.

Nevertheless, it’s good practice to codify the rep’s role and the support they need.

This can then be agreed at the joint forum.

The number of reps should be agreed with the employer. Reps should represent the breadth of roles in the workplace and be drawn from all unions that are recognised.

Once appointed the reps should:

» work in partnership with the forum and any IIP specialists

» carry out their work objectively and fairly » understand IIP and assessment methods

» have agreed time and other facilities to fulfil their role.

Unionlearn has produced a range of information and advice that can be used to help unions define the role in the workplace. You can find out more in Chapter 5.

Your starting point Your priorities for action will vary according to where you are in the IIP journey. Your organisation will be in one of three broad situations:

» just starting out/not yet involved in IIP » working towards IIP but not yet recognised » recognised.

Just starting out/not yet involved in IIP If your organisation is at the beginning of its IIP journey you have a chance to establish a joint approach from the start.

Try and organise a joint briefing on IIP with management. Use whatever joint forums are already in place. Some unionlearn regions work in partnership with IIP Centres and can run ‘Kickstart’ or Introduction to IIP seminars with the centre. These are aimed at unions and employers and offer an ideal way to embed a joint approach. Check with your unionlearn region for more information.

Try and find out if union reps in other local organisations or elsewhere in your union have been involved in IIP and talk to them about it.

The IIP centre or regional unionlearn office can help. It might also be possible to get a union rep from a champion organisation to give a talk on the benefits of IIP. Make sure you are consulted about any decisions on making the commitment to IIP and put your point of view over as strongly as

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possible. If no commitment is made, make sure you know the reasons why.

If there is a green light you can set up a joint forum to help manage all future work and begin to develop the role of reps/ULRs. Make sure that all unions are involved and can work together. You will have lots of options on how to move forward and it’s likely that an IIP professional from the regional IIP centre will be working with you.

Whatever is agreed, make sure you are part of the discussions and that they are run through the joint forum. Key things to think about are:

» how staff are briefed on IIP and what will happen during the IIP process. This is best done by a forum representative.

» what actions will be needed to meet the standard if the organisation does not meet it and how union reps will be involved.

» how progress will be measured and people kept up-to-date.

Working towards IIP but not recognised If your organisation has been working towards IIP for a period of time you may have some machinery in place to secure union involvement. Review how well it’s working and see if it can be improved. If there is nothing in place it’s worth setting up a joint forum and developing the union role as soon as possible.

Your regional unionlearn and IIP centre will advise you on how this can be done.

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» Finding out where you are Once the forum is in place you can review what has been done and what is planned for the future. Find out from management if an IIP specialist is working with the organisation; your local IIP centre should be able to give you some information on this as well. There should already be an action plan. In larger organisations it’s usually written down, although it doesn’t have to be.

» Moving forward Once you are up to speed, monitor progress through regular meetings – usually between six and eight weeks apart. Keep notes and action points. Make sure the work is communicated to people and managers – some joint forums have a communications strategy as well as an action plan.

Use your union reps to provide some independent assessment of progress.

The areas chosen will depend on your action plan but there are sample questions and processes you can adapt for your workplace and action plan (see Chapter 5 on how to get hold of these).

Ensure that there is feedback from the joint forum to the regular union processes and other joint forums with the employer. Use the heightened union presence and profile to give everyone a chance to join the union.

» Assessment The decision to undertake assessment should be taken by the joint forum.

Information collected by union reps on the joint forum will be part of the intelligence used when deciding whether the organisation is ready. Once the decision has been taken the assessor plans the assessment, which takes place every three years at a minimum. Some organisations prefer the assessment to take place more frequently.

It’s a good idea to brief people chosen for interview – not to make sure they give the ‘right answers’, but to make sure they know what to expect and feel comfortable. Any staff briefings should be done by forum members. Make sure you brief all union reps as the assessor will want to speak with some of them.

Plan how you will share the news with people before the assessment takes place. Stress that assessment is a process to find out where improvements have been made and what still needs to be done rather than a final judgement on the organisation.

IIP assessment The assessor chooses a random selection of people to interview based on various factors that reflect the organisation such as length of service, gender, new job roles and responsibility. Interviews can be done face-to-face individually, in groups or over the phone. They are strictly confidential.

When the assessor has finished they will give an immediate feedback on whether the organisation has met the standard and a verbal report on how it has performed. This will be followed by a more detailed written report.

Organisations can ask for more detailed feedback on specific areas, so think about this before the assessment plan is agreed.

The assessor can stop the process when on site with your organisation if you are far from meeting the standard and arrange to come back after giving you feedback.

If you have not met the standard first time round then you will need to put together a plan to take action on the indicators where you fell short. Remember that you can bank successful indicators for a year so you will not be reassessed on those.

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Organisations with IIP recognition You may work for an organisation that has already achieved the IIP standard but that doesn’t mean there is nothing more you can do.

IIP recognition only lasts for a maximum of three years and many organisations choose to be re-assessed before three years have passed.

At any stage unions can be involved by setting up forums and developing the role of union reps/ULRs to embed a joint approach. In fact unions can play a vital role in ensuring that momentum is maintained after recognition. There are lots of ways of building on a successful assessment:

» Think about your own priorities for members around learning and identify how they can link with IIP and how IIP might help with them. Section 4 contains lots of ideas on this.

» Use the assessment report to identify areas where performance met the standard but where further improvements are needed. Use union reps/ULRs to gain more information from staff and then use the joint forum to agree an action plan.

» Investigate some of the other areas where IIP professionals can provide support and use the free resources provided, for example in areas like health and well-being, equal opportunities, work/life balance and literacy, language and numeracy.

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» Investigate the use of the IIP framework, which can be used to focus on specific issues like learning and development, involvement and participation, management and leadership, and many others. It enables an organisation to measure how well they are working and put together plans to improve. These plans should be discussed and agreed through the forum. It gives organisations that have had IIP for a number of years a chance to ‘stretch themselves’ a bit further.

» Think about using internal reviewers. The internal review programme trains people to collect and interpret evidence against the IIP framework. Trained internal reviewers also contributes evidence to the IIP assessment under the leadership of the external assessor. Internal reviewers must attend a series of training and development activities and meet the necessary standard before they become accredited.

Checklist for organising around IIP Getting started

» Set up joint briefings with management on IIP » Consult colleagues in unionlearn/other organisations who have been involved with IIP

» Ensure that you are consulted about any decisions to make IIP commitments and that you are involved in discussions

» Get a union rep from a champion organisation to give a talk on IIP benefits

» Set up a joint forum to manage the IIP journey » Appoint and train reps/ULRs to play a wider role in IIP if appropriate

» Hold joint staff briefings with management » Jointly agree the action plan

Working towards IIP

» Review organisation » Manage action plan through the joint forum » Use union reps/ULRs to monitor progress » Keep members and other union reps informed » Ensure joint approach to plan assessment and communicate results

» Identify any specific areas for detailed feedback » Hold joint briefings on the assessment process for staff

Already recognised

» Review union organisation » Agree priorities for improvement » Identify add-on areas » Investigate the IIP framework

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Section 4 Taking forward learning and development

Unions benefit from IIP by identifying improvements that are necessary to widen the opportunities for people to make the most of their skills and talents. Widening these opportunities also improves the performance of the organisation.

The Plan stage requires organisations to have strategies and objectives across a range of areas. Unions need to be clear about what they want to achieve and make sure that these objectives are reflected in the organisation’s policies and processes.

The best way to identify improvements is by looking at the principles, indicators and evidence requirements (see page 7) of IIP and show where they link in with union principles and negotiating objectives.

The Do stage requires organisations to take action to improve performance. Union action here is about ensuring that the policies agreed in the Plan stage are being put into practice.

Remember that IIP is based on the principles of Plan – Do – Review.

The Review stage requires organisations to measure the impact of the strategies on performance. Union action here is about making sure that the strategies are working for members.

1. Plan Developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

2. Do Taking action to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

3. Review Evaluating the impact of its investment in people on the performance of the organisation.

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The Plan – Do – Review process also lends itself to issue-based organising and unions can use it to link in with organising initiatives in the workplace. IIP raises issues around equality, fairness, involvement and dignity in the workplace. These issues can be identified through consultation and raised in the planning stage. Health checks can gather information on whether policies are working on the ground and identify further opportunities for improvement.

Using the Planning indicators There are four main indicators in the planning principle covering business planning, learning and development, equal opportunity on development and leadership. These can be used to raise union concerns and ensure that the policies agreed reflect members’ interests.

Business planning requires senior managers to develop ‘constructive relationships’ with unions and consult with them when developing the business plan.

Unions have used this indicator to:

» review and improve the scope and depth of consultation with management

» improve people development processes and put in place career development policies

» widen existing agreements to include Skills for Life policies and joint Train to Gain, apprenticeship and NVQ agreements

» establish collective learning funds » persuade employers to sign up to the Skills Pledge.

Managing people requires organisations to promote equal opportunity in people development. Unions have used this indicator to:

» organise joint briefings to staff on the plan » extend existing equal opportunities policies to include development and learning » set up joint working parties on particular subjects and develop formal partnership agreements. » put in place strategies and policies to Learning and development requires organisations to identify learning needs for the business plan and have resources in place to meet them. Unions have used this indicator to:

» negotiate joint agreements on learning and set up joint machinery to manage learning

tackle Skills for Life, ESOL and dyslexia policies

» ensure part-time and agency staff have equal access to training, and to establish flexible learning initiatives and learning centres

» establish internal promotion and development policies.

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Management and leadership requires organisations to set out the skills, knowledge and behaviours that managers need and ensure both managers and staff understand what they are. Unions have used this indicator to:

» develop joint initiatives around management and leadership

» involve people in helping to define what good leadership and management means in the organisation.

Much of the review work will be done through the forum and the work of the union reps/ULRs will be a vital component in the evaluation process. Ideas include:

» reviews of business performance through joint discussions in different forums that are cascaded down to sector and team levels within the organisation to maximise staff input

Using the Doing indicators A lot of work in the Doing stage will fall to union reps/ULRs who will be assessing progress and performance, but there are some areas that do lend themselves to agreements and policies.

» joint development of the criteria used

» Union reps/ULRs can work around

» managing the discussions of how

inductions, management performance on staff development, how well learning policies and processes work, how well staff are involved in decisions and business planning etc.

» Unions have also used the Doing principle to set up or improve the operation of policies around staff involvement and decision making and developing and improving induction through buddying and mentoring schemes. A common strategy is to set up working parties drawn from staff that are chaired or managed by forum members.

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Using the Reviewing indicators The review stage requires organisations to continually improve the way people are managed and developed and be clear about how investment in them has improved the organisation’s performance.

Making the most of Investors in People

in evaluating the improvements in organisational performance improvements in the way people are managed and developed through the joint forum and linking improvements to the action plan and work of union reps/ULRs. Finally, don’t forget that there are opportunities to move forward even further once you are recognised. IIP offers opportunities to investigate each of these areas in more depth and the additional materials provided by IIP means you can investigate areas like work/life balance and health and well-being.

Checklist for negotiating around learning Plan

Is there a joint union management forum for consultation on the business plan?

Do all staff have the opportunity to input into the plan at an appropriate level?

Have you considered a formal partnership agreement?

Are there joint seminars on strategy or joint working parties on business issues?

Is there a joint agreement on learning?

Is there a joint forum to ensure union consultation on Train to Gain and NVQ policy?

Is learning and development part of equal opportunities policy?

Has the employer signed up to the Skills Pledge?

Are Skills for Life and ESOL policies in place?

Have you discussed flexible learning policies or setting up a learning centre?

Are there policies on internal development and promotion for staff?

Have you discussed a collective learning fund?

Are ULRs an integral part of learning and development practice?

Are there development plans in place for ULRs? Have staff and unions been involved in developing management philosophy and good practice?

Do

Is there an active joint forum in place?

Are union reps/ULRs trained in the wider IIP role?

Are union reps/ULRs working on implementation of learning and development policies and practices?

Are the reviews fed into action plans?

Is there a policy on staff involvement and participation?

Is the policy active and understood?

Is management performance of learning and development monitored?

Is there a clear induction policy for new staff and those new to a role?

Review

Are staff involved in reviews of performance?

Is there joint development of the evaluation criteria?

Do union reps/ULRs provide evidence for evaluation?

Are discussions and action plans on improving people management and development run through the joint forum?

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Section 5 Getting help and advice

There is plenty of information and advice for union reps wanting to get involved in IIP. This section tells you what’s available and where to get it.

» good practice sheets and checklists on a range of issues to help union reps take forward IIP in issues such as induction, employee involvement, learning policy etc

» a regular update from IIPUK for ULRs Unionlearn Unionlearn has appointed an advocate for IIP in each of its regions. Advocates can:

» advise union reps on the best way to use

working with IIP. You can access these resources through the unionlearn website at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/iip

IIP in the workplace

» provide a link to IIP specialists and the regional IIP centre

» organise events to promote joint working on IIP in the region.

You can find out who your regional IIP advocate is at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/iip Unionlearn has put together a range of resources that unions can use to make sure they get the most out of IIP. These include:

» advice on how IIP links in with Skills for Life, the Skills Pledge and Train to Gain

» how to set up and manage a joint forum » how to get the best out of any IIP specialists working with your organisation

» an outline of the role that union reps can play in IIP and what facilities, skills and training they need

Union ambassadors for IIP Union IIP ambassadors are union reps that have been involved with IIP in their own workplace and are willing to share their experience with other reps. They offer advice and information on the best way to get involved in IIP and how to get the best out of it. You can contact IIP ambassadors through your unionlearn region, regional IIP Centres or through IIPUK. IIP centres IIP centres provide a range of services to organisations around IIP. They:

» provide advice and information to organisations that are interested in working towards IIP

» provide advice on how to use IIP to improve the organisation’s performance

» manage assessment and recognition against the IIP standard.

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Making the most of Investors in People

IIP Centres have signed a protocol with unionlearn to promote IIP and each centre will have a trade union advocate. You can find out the name of the advocate by contacting your regional IIP Centre. You can find their details at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/contact/ pages/iipcentres.aspx IIPUK IIPUK has a range of resources available to help support you as you work towards IIP.

Useful web addresses You can find unionlearn resources on IIP at: www.unionlearn.org.uk/iip You can find and contact your IIP centre at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/contact/ pages/iipcentres.aspx You can find more information on IIPUK at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk

Investors in People Interactive is a free online support tool designed to guide you through development activities to help transform your business. You can review and update your progress and access a wide range of resources, including good practice tips and templates. To find out more see: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/interactive A range of support publications on IIP is available at: www.tsoshop.co.uk/iip A free fortnightly e-newsletter containing updates on IIP can be signed up for at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk A leaflet for employers on the links between IIP and literacy, language and numeracy is available free by calling 0207 467 1946.

Case studies on employers developing skills of their people and electronic copies of the Literacy, Language and Numeracy leaflet are available on the IIP website: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk

Making the most of Investors in People

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Published by:

unionlearn Congress House Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS November 2008 Design: www.design-mill.co.uk Illustrations: Ben Dalling Print: Newnorth