Governance Report for year ended 30 June 2012
11. Good Employer
11.1 Employment Policies and Procedures
The Board has the stated intention of being a good employer. It also has an equal employment opportunities
policy and is governed by the human rights, health and safety in employment and the employment relations
legislation.
HR policies and procedures are reviewed biennially in line with the DHB’s commitment to good employer
practices and the DHB’s values. Current employment policies include:
Equal employment opportunity
Occupational health and safety
Recruitment and selection
Discipline and dismissal
Protected disclosures (whistle blowing)
Learning policies
Employee Assistance Programme
Teleworking
Performance development
Leave (annual, sick, tangihanga/bereavement, leave without pay, long service, jury service)
Orientation
Employee presentation
Job descriptions
Photo identity
Volunteers and work experience.
The Board has adopted a remuneration policy that reflects the need to set a target range for each individual
employment agreement positions, within the limitations of available funding. The remuneration policy is part
of an overall employment relations strategy that includes defining the role of employees, performance
development and appropriate reward mechanisms. The only staff on the minimum adult rate are university
students employed during vacations.
95% of employees are covered by collective employment agreements. The majority of these agreements have
documented “management of change” provisions, which detail the information to be provided, the
communication processes to be used and the level of consultation. The Board has a Management of
Change/Review manual to ensure best practice is followed.
Staff engagement has continued to be an important strategy in achieving improved patient care, staff safety
and delivering services as efficiently as possible.
Bay of Plenty DHB has worn very proudly the status of being a model site in New Zealand for Safe Staffing
Healthy Workplace. In particular, the DHB has hosted visits from a number of DHBs across the country seeking
to better understand our approach to resourcing our services based on patient acuity, and staff capability and
competency. Both the areas of visually presenting the patient demand “hospital at a glance” and managing the
throughput has been greatly enhanced by whole of hospital teamwork.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) Joint Action Group (JAG) with nursing, Association of Senior
Medical Staff (ASMS) Joint Consultative Committee with senior doctors, the Public Service Association (PSA)
Enterprise Committee (Mental Health Nursing, Clerical and Allied Health) and the Local Resident Medical
Officer (RMO) Engagement Group (LERG), form key partnerships with unions in delivering improved levels of
staff engagement, as well as taking a joint action approach to support the delivery of improved health
services through strengthening clinical governance and decision making processes.
The Sustainable Work Systems pilot (between the DHB and the PSA Union members) has delivered positive
results in terms of the efficiency of the scheduling processes for our theatres.
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