|
|
BLM workshop: getting to the heart of equalities issues at work
|
|
|
|
Barack Obama famously said: “If one voice can change a room…” so imagine what the 100-plus voices of staff who joined the virtual Black Lives Matter workshop today can achieve?
The Black Lives Matter listening workshop that was intended as a conversation starter across the council and its partners ended up with more than 130 staff dialling into the virtual meeting.
Although not everyone spoke, everybody listened, and the workshop was facilitated by Laurelle Brown, a former Barnet Council colleague who now runs her own consultancy.
One thing is clear – the stories and views that were shared by staff who attended were deeply personal and show what a real impact the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests have had. The picture to the left also sets out some of the words that described how attendees at the workshop felt.
One colleague, Paul Edmund-Charles (left), shared his thoughts on why the time has never been better, to not just have a conversation about equalities in the workplace, but how creating a more inclusive workplace will influence our community (and hopefully society) for the better. Paul has agreed to share his story on video here (or click on the picture to the left) as he is passionate about seeing some change and hopes to inspire colleagues to be proactive and continue the momentum of change that the Black Lives Matter movement can be part of delivering.
Some of the main themes that strongly came out from the BLM listening workshop were:
• representation of BAME staff at senior management level
• equal opportunities for development and career progression/recruitment policy
• creating an environment where staff can openly talk about equalities issues in their teams
• more training in unconscious bias/perceptions
• more mentoring/reverse mentoring opportunities
• how incidents of racism in the workplace that colleagues witness or hear about can be raised and how they can be resolved in a way that is educational.
Many employers are discussing how their staff can all be a part of creating a more inclusive organisation. Netflix have shared a video on how they see the concept of allies in their organisation. Watch it here.
After a very thought-provoking hour-and-a-half in the Black Lives Matter workshop – the key question is "what happens next"?
The Barnet Equalities Allies will be writing up all the notes from the meetings and grouping together common themes, which they will then share with John Hooton and the Senior Management Team next week, which will in turn form part of discussions had at Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group-level. Please look at out for updates and information sharing in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at LBB group on Yammer.
Barnet Equalities Allies welcome feedback from staff, and any colleagues who would like to join, email: BEA@barnet.gov.uk
|
|
|
|
Focus on… our Public Health Team, leading on Test and Trace
|
|
Catching up with the Registrars as Town Hall is made COVID-secure
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As the ease of lockdown continues, the 'Test and Trace' programme has become increasingly important in ensuring COVID-19 infection levels remain low. Our Public Health Team have been working hard with colleagues and our partners to make sure our plans are in place, and First Team spoke to Rachel Hodge this week, to find out more about the programme:
Q. What do staff need to know about how ‘NHS Test and Trace’ actually works, and how might it affect them?
A. NHS Test and Trace is the name for the NHS contact tracing service for coronavirus. Contact tracing is the process to trace close recent contacts of anyone who tests positive for certain infections, including COVID-19, and, if necessary, to notify them that they must self-isolate at home to help stop the spread of the disease. As we enter recovery and services begin to return to business as usual, managers and employees need to know how to respond if there are cases or an outbreak in their setting.
Q. You’ve been involved in pulling together our Local Outbreak Control Plan. Have you had much Government guidance on this, and how well prepared is the council if the borough was to experience a spike in cases?
A. As a whole, London is well prepared to handle an outbreak. Unlike some other regions of the country we have a London Coronavirus Response Cell (LCRC) which is co-ordinating a pan-London response. For our Local Outbreak Control Plan we have been able to build on guidance they have developed and have worked closely with them to clarify roles and responsibilities in the case of an outbreak. The advantage of having LCRC handle initial outbreak management has meant that Barnet Public Health has been able to focus on supporting local organisations to understand and implement Government guidance. As part of the plan we have developed a series of “action cards” for settings which provide clear steps a local organisation can take to both prevent or manage an outbreak. In summary, our roles and responsibilities in NHS Test and
Trace include: preventing outbreaks and spread of the infection, responding to enquiries from local organisations and providing advice (including to other areas of the council) on infection control, self-isolation, Health and Safety aspects of COVID-19-Secure workplaces and providing ongoing support to various settings on managing outbreaks.
Q. Research has shown that there is a low awareness nationally of how and where to get a test, especially among BAME communities who are potentially at greater risk of contracting the virus. What can we do and are we doing in Barnet to tackle this issue?
A. Our local plan includes a section which addresses how we will support vulnerable groups to understand Government guidance, get a test and self-isolate when necessary. As part of this we have developed the following: an action card which identifies steps managers and community leaders can take to support BAME groups; action cards for places of worship; an action card for settings which support homeless people; a local reserve of testing kits. To support these groups further, we have also created a communications strategy for Test and Trace which aims to raise awareness of current Government guidance, particularly amongst our more vulnerable populations.
|
|
The Registrars Team were at the centre of our frontline response to COVID-19, and this week as lockdown continues easing, we caught up with the team at Hendon Town Hall. The Barnet Register Office is responsible for registering any birth, death, marriage and civil partnership that occurs in the borough. Michaela Fitzpatrick and Maria Lugangira, from the team (Maria is currently on temporary deployment from Governance), have shared their thoughts with us this week (see their full interview on Yammer here):
"It’s such a cliché to say that every day is different, but there’s always something that will challenge us! Due to the high number of face to face appointments, we made a decision prior to lockdown that for the safety of staff and visitors we would begin to close services. We anticipated that death registrations would be our primary focus and waited for a law change that allowed us to register from home. A number of us continued to work from Hendon Town Hall during lockdown to ensure customers received their death certificates. We are very proud of the team and how well they adapted to working at home. It’s such a huge change for us, not only to work at home which we had never done before but also having to digest huge legal changes quickly, which were almost the exact opposite of what we’d all been taught. At the height of COVID-19 we were registering an average of 45 deaths a day,
which is more than we would register in a week during ‘normal’ times. The team have shown a great level of resilience.
"It’s also quite easy to overlook just how frontline the service is. Unlike more traditional frontline services, we are office-based, but under ‘normal’ circumstances we’d potentially have hundreds of customers through our doors. We can also be out in the community conducting ceremonies in a variety of settings including hospitals, hospices and approved venues.
Along with legal changes, and service limitations, we’ve also worked alongside colleagues in HR, Health and Safety and Facilities to get Hendon Town Hall to a ‘COVID-secure’ standard (see pictures above). We’ve been able to open the doors to the public, albeit in a manner than is far more controlled than it used to be. There’s a lot going on here - floor decals, a one-way system, screens and even separate customer stationery.
"As I’m sure everyone can appreciate, following Government guidance and the changes to lockdown rules, in particular around social gatherings, this has meant having to interpret the new rules and what they mean for us. Half the challenge is deciphering what we can offer, in comparison to what the customers are expecting. For example, with regards to ceremonies, we’ve had to work out how many people can be accommodated in each room to ensure social distancing requirements are safely met. Several role plays have been done to ensure that at no point during the ceremony social distancing is broken when someone is required to leave their position. We are exploring the possibility of working collaboratively with other venues in the borough who have capacity to accommodate larger numbers for the purposes of citizenship ceremonies, and ensuring any of our approved ceremony venues have the right
health and safety measures in place.
"We are working hard to beat our birth backlog, which is currently about 1,300 – our biggest challenge. Once we are back on our feet, we would love to be able to offer the citizenship ceremonies we used to with the Mayor in attendance, in addition to bigger celebrations. However, with COVID-19, this seems a long way off and the safety of everyone remains our first priority."
|
|
|
Take care of your mental health for the best work/life balance
|
|
Re: ‘COVID-19 homeless inspired us to think about those in need’
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you are feeling like your mental health is under pressure, you’re not the only one. Volunteers for the Samaritans have reported that one in three callers talk about the coronavirus, with many people feeling more anxious and distressed than before the pandemic. The good news is that there is a great deal of support for colleagues.
Although some might think there is a danger in mental health becoming little more than a ‘buzzword' without any real benefits, the real danger is for anyone who feels they are struggling with their mental health to feel there is no help out there. One colleague has agreed to anonymously share her mental health journey and share the moment they decided to seek help from Barnet’s Employee Assistance Scheme.
“In true form, it was difficult to admit I needed help. The stress manifested itself in many ways – migraines, bad temper, violent mood swings, constantly feeling sad and miserable, excessive weight gain, low productivity at work (I had a very patient manager!), low self-esteem and finally the need to reduce my hours for a short period of time in order to catch up with myself.
“I still did not get help for many years until I discovered the Employee Assistance Scheme. No one knew me ‘there’, I did not have to face anyone, and no one would judge me on where I came from or what I looked like.”
You can read this anonymous mental health journey in full, on Yammer.
We can't always keep calm and carry on. Particularly at the moment, there's never been a greater need to access support and help when you need it. The Employee Assistance Programme can offer free support, through telephone and an online health portal. Just call 0800 716 017 or visit: www.employeecare.com. Everything is confidential. Details of our Employee Assistance Programme can also be found here.
We have almost 100 Mental Health First Aiders and 30 of them have volunteered to directly support staff during these unprecedented times. This group of trained staff is available to listen to any challenges you might be facing, and direct you to further support. Click here to see the list of volunteer mental health first aiders.
-
One really simple thing you can do to give yourself a mini break or stop feeling so “back to back” is to give yourself a break between meetings. Get up for a dance or have a cuppa or just don’t look at your screen for 5 minutes. CMT are doing it so you can too.
|
|
Since the end of March, the Re Planning and Building Control Service has been running a series of events called ‘Friday Fundraising Socials’ (a colourful team video call pictured above) to raise money for Homeless Action in Barnet (HAB).
Re decided as a team that in the middle of the overall message to ‘stay at home’ and as professionals in the building industry, it was important for them to consider and contribute towards those that do not have a home to stay in.
Fabien Gaudin, Service Director at Re, said: “The gatherings we organised went from socials where people were asked to contribute the price of their Friday round at the pub to a quiz where everyone worked in teams and we had a fantastic turnout. We also ran a ‘geoguessr’ social, and even a bingo night!”
HAB provide day services for people who are rough sleepers. They deliver a wide range of services from the practical such as meals and showers to keyworking and advocacy.
They also offer a tenancy support service to help people who are having difficulty maintaining their tenancy.
Fabien added: “All in all, the team really enjoyed the social events and a chance to catch up with each other be it over a virtual drink or an online game.
"My colleagues were very generous towards the cause resulting in an amazing £739 raised for Homeless Action in Barnet!”
These are some of the critical services that Re’s donations contributed towards for HAB clients:
• £5 - a hot breakfast and lunch
• £10 - shower and clean clothes for a week
• £20 - enables the charity to support someone for a day including food, clothes, and support.
First Team would like to feature stories from our partners every week, so please get in touch by emailing first.team@barnet.gov.uk.
|
|
|
This email and any attachments may contain privileged or confidential material and is solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this email. Any views expressed are those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of the company. The company does not guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses. Unsubscribe
|
|
|
|
|