35 hours development time trial_Information Pack

35 hours
development time

trial

Information Pack

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Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Why are we doing this trial? ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Background ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Benefits ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Intended outcome............................................................................................................................................................... 4
Manager Guidance : How will the process work?................................................................................................................. 5
Employee Guidance .............................................................................................................................................................. 8
What opportunities are included? ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Development..................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Volunteering.................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Volunteering continued ………… ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Ideas Hub ........................................................................................................................................................................ 11
How will the process work for employees? ........................................................................................................................ 13
FAQs .................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendix A – Development log........................................................................................................................................... 15

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Introduction

Thank you very much for taking part in the 35 hours protected development time trial which will start in January 2018 and last for a period of
12 months.
This information pack aims to provide both managers and the employees with all the information necessary to complete the trial. It includes:

 Why we are doing this trial
 What opportunities will be on offer
 How the process will work for both managers and employees
 FAQs to answer any ‘What if’ questions you may have

Why are we doing this trial?
Background

One of the proposals from the roadshows which followed the 2016 Employee Opinion survey recommended that staff get protected time to
dedicate to development. At the same time, it was recognised that development need not be restricted to traditional forms such as workshops
but could be equally effective when undertaken through experiences such as developing ideas generated from the Ideas Hub, undertaking
volunteering or spending time gaining insights into the wider workings of the council. Considering this, a proposal went to ECMT
recommending staff are allocated up to 35 hours protected time to focus on these areas. In order to test the value of this, the aim is to trial it
with a mixed group of teams within the Council.

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Benefits

In current society, ‘jobs for life’ are becoming a thing of the past. So as a local authority how can we encourage the engagement and
commitment of employees if we can’t provide the same level of job security? One thing we can do is invest is in employees’ future careers by
encouraging them to build their own skills portfolio. Research by Birmingham University defines one of the 10 characteristics of the 21st
Century Public Servant as the ability to ‘build a career which is fluid across sectors and services’. To enable this employees ‘need opportunities
to learn and reflect on new skills which may be by means’ other than ‘formal training’.

The Council of the future also requires different skills and mind-set – one which is curious to learn and grow and an approach which is active,
adaptive and accountable. If we’re looking to build a sustainable future we need to encourage this mind-set.

Finally, the Council has a commitment to corporate social responsibility. So, offering protected time for individuals to participate in
opportunities such as volunteering will allow employees to give back directly to the communities they serve and for causes that they
personally support.

Intended outcome

The 35 hours protected development time trial has the potential to increase skills and knowledge, develop self-confidence and self-esteem
and improve loyalty and commitment to our purpose through greater understanding of the council and the city.

Greater engagement from employees should lead to increased productivity and innovation. So an investment in time for learning and
development could be worth the payback in terms of employees feeling motivated and valued and in their consequent contribution to the
success of the organisation generally.

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Manager Guidance: How will the process work?

Communication Guidance PR&D meeting

Inform all employees of their Send them this information pack so Discuss and record their planned
participation in the trial they know how the process works development time for the next 12
months in the PDP section on YourHR
and what opportunities are
available

Development Log Progress Checks Regular Catch Ups
entries
The OD team will catch up with you Check in with your employees at
After the trial finishes, collect the every 2/3 months to check on the their 1-2-1s to see what they are
Development Log entries of all
progress of the trial learning from their protected
employees and pass them to the OD development time
team

Evaluation Detailed guidance of each stage follows on the next page

After the trial finishes, complete a 5
short evaluation survey

1. Communication

As a first step, communicate to the individuals that you have chosen to participate in this trial either at your scheduled 1-2-1 prior to their
annual PR&D meeting or at the PR&D meeting itself.

2. Guidance

After the initial discussion, forward this information booklet to the participants. It provides information on the opportunities that will be
available throughout this trial, guidance on how the process is intended to work, a Development log sheet (Appendix A) so they can record
and reflect on the opportunities they take up and some general FAQs aimed at both yourself and the participants.

3. PR&D meeting

As part of PR&D – either at the annual summary meeting or through regular 1-2-1s – agree with each participant what development
opportunities they would be interested in taking up over the next year. If your employee works full-time then they will receive up to 35 hours
development time per annum. However, if they are part-time this is pro rata so you will need to do a simple calculation to find out how many
hours they should receive. To do this, see the equation in the FAQs section and then share this with your employee so they can note it on their
Development log.

Record the opportunities the employee is interested in and the number of hours they wish to allocate to each (for example 5 hours to Ideas
Hub, 3 hours volunteering etc) in the PDP section of PR&D in YourHR. The time allocated to each activity should be pre-arranged and agreed
in the same way as annual leave.

4. Regular Catch Ups

Use your regular 1-2-1s with your participants to discuss any additional opportunities they would like to take up, what they have learned
from opportunities they have already undertaken and how this can be used to develop the individual and the service. You should also

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encourage participants to record and reflect on any development activity they do in their Development log (Appendix A) to help us evaluate
the trial. Development logs will be used as part of the evaluation process, but the reflective questions contained within the log are there for
their personal learning and development only and will not be evaluated.

5. Progress checks

During the trial, we plan to catch up with you every 2/3 months to check on progress, identify if there are any issues that need to be dealt
with at that stage and learn lessons/ share best practice with others participating in the trial.

6. Development Log entries

After the trial ends, please collect the Development logs from your participants and forward these to the Organisational Development team at
[email protected]. A reminder will be sent to you nearer the time to advise what information we would be
looking for.

7. Evaluation

The evaluation will assess:
 The number of people who actually took part in the trial as compared with the size of the sample group
 How many protected hours individuals used in reality compared with how many hours they identified in their original PR&D meeting
 Which options for protected development time were used, with the most and least popular
 How many ideas were implemented on the ideas hub
 Participants’ overall experience of the trial; this would take the form of a questionnaire which we would send out to managers and the
employees to gain some qualitative feedback
 Impact on engagement scores and/ or scores relating to development questions in 2018 Employee Opinion Survey.

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Employee Guidance

You have been chosen to take part in the trial to introduce up to 35 hours protected development time per year for employees. From January
2018 for a period of 12 months you will have up to 35 hours (pro rata) of your working time to dedicate solely to your development.

What’s in it for you?

Although you may already attend training throughout the year as part of your development, the 35 hours protected
development time takes this even further by recognising that development and learning doesn’t always need to be
traditional – you can learn from a variety of different experiences. Whether you choose to do some volunteering,
pledge time to develop an idea on the Ideas Hub, find out more about the workings of the wider organisation or spend
time developing others – you can choose what opportunities you want to get involved in!

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What opportunities are included?

Development

As an employee of Aberdeen City Council you should already have personal and professional development built into your normal working time.
However, the best learning and growth isn’t always through the traditional workshop/training session – it comes from experience and from
experiences. Recognising this, development as part of your protected time can go beyond the formal development normally offered and can
include the following:

eLearning – this can include modules you find interesting on our Online Interactive Learning (OIL) platform or access online courses to develop

a variety of different skills through the Worklinks website by clicking here or visiting www.workinglinks.co.uk/content/view/Online+toolkit

Reading and reflection – is there a subject you are really interested in but have never found the time to look into it more? See this as your

opportunity to give it a go! Reading and/or researching a topic and reflecting on it can help develop analytical skills as well as providing a valuable
learning experience. Tips on how you can reflect effectively are contained within Appendix A.

Shadowing – is there a team or individual you would like to learn from in the workplace? As part of your development you could dedicate

specific time to shadowing teams or individuals in their work (with their permission of course).

Mentoring/Coaching – you could decide to use your time to be mentored or coached by a colleague. However, you could also use this time

to mentor/coach others by sharing any specialist skills, experience or knowledge to help another’s development.

Service Insights – get to know your council a bit better by taking up some or all of the Service Insights opportunities. To see what’s on offer

please click here, or type ‘Service Insights’ in the search bar of the zone. 9

many aspects of Environmental Services. This could be simply helping with a beach clean or woodland litter pick to being involved with our
Countryside Rangers and Parks teams. We welcome any offer of help and can direct volunteers to their local park Friends / Community group

Volunteering

Volunteering can be an excellent opportunity to develop valuable skills as well as giving something back to the community.
Did you known the people of Aberdeen contribute 8.7 million volunteering hours annually? Be a part of making this total even bigger!

Interested in making a difference? Here are ways you can get involved:

Volunteer Aberdeen is run by ACVO TSI. Its purpose is to help the citizens of Aberdeen take action in their communities and empower them to make
a difference to the wider world! To make this happen, the Aberdeen Volunteer Centre recruits volunteers and offers a wide range of volunteering
opportunities for you to get involved in.
There is even the option to do Micro volunteering where you can do small, quick actions that make a big difference. You can do micro volunteering
anytime, anywhere - at home, at work, during lunch or when travelling on the bus!
To find out more about what opportunities are on offer and to get involved please click here or visit www.volunteeraberdeen.org.uk/volunteers

Absafe is a local award winning charity that runs events to teach children about safety by taking them on an adventure. They are looking for people
to deliver events to educate kids on health and safety. You would receive full training and will gain transferable workplace skills such as
communication, team work, health & safety, presentations, time management, interpersonal skills and group facilitation. They have sessions on a
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week! Volunteering with Absafe is flexible and there is no commitment to regular hours - just pick dates
that suit you. To find out more click here, and if you’re interested contact1: [email protected]

Volunteering continued …

Parks and Green Spaces

Parks and Green Spaces provides the opportunity for volunteering across the many aspects of Environmental Services. This could range from simply
helping with a beach cTlheaisnooprpworotoudnliatnydwliitlltebrepaivcka,iltaobbleebinygtihnevoelnvdedowf JiathnuoaurryC–ouwnetrwysilildkeeReapnygoeurspaonsdtePdarwkhs etenaimt iss. gTohoedy twoeglcoo…me any offer of help
and can direct volunteers to their local park Friends/ Community group should you want to undertake volunteering locally on a regular basis.
Interested? If so, please contact Lorna Graham at [email protected]

Ideas Hub

Coming soon … be part of delivering ideas on the Ideas Hub!

As part of your protected development time, you will soon be able to help implement ideas from the Ideas Hub – developing your creativity,
planning and project management skills!

How does it work?

You can to donate 30 minutes or 1 hour of your protected time per idea - for as many ideas as you can!
To do this, you log onto the Ideas Hub by clicking here and typing in your normal computer login details. You then find an idea you are interested

How does the process work?in delivering and click on the option ‘donate time’. Straight after you do this, you will get an acknowledgement email with a checklist of the tasks

you will need to complete in order to move the idea forward. It’s as simple as that!
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This opportunity will be available by the end of January – we will keep you posted when it is good to go …

Some things to bear in mind

 You can choose to use all of your hours on one of the options above or you could do a mixture.
 Don’t feel as if you need to use all of your allocated hours– it is up to you if you want to use all or only a few. Think quality over

quantity!
 If you are a part time employee, the 35 hours development time is pro rata. There is an equation in the FAQs section which helps you

calculate how many hours you will get.
 Have a chat with your manager when would be the best time for you to take up your development time. It should be agreed in

advance in the same way as annual leave and other development is.
 Use your Development log to record the activities you take part in and reflect on the learning you’ve gained.

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How will the process work for employees?

Before the trial Decide Discuss Pre-arrange
starts ...
the ones you would with your line manager with your manager
have a look at the like to take part in how many hours you when you would like
opportunities you may want to allocate to each
to do them
be interested in
Take part in
After the trial is Record your activities
complete ...
in your Development
Complete the log (Appendix A)
evalutation
questionnaire

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FAQs

Question Answer

Why is this trial for 35 hours development The aim is to mirror the standard 35 hours continuous professional development time for full-
time per annum? time teachers for other employees within Aberdeen City Council.

What about part-time employees? The 35 hours development time is pro rata. This means that the number of hours you get for
development time should be proportionate to the number of hours you work per week. Use
the following calculation:

Number of hours worked per week x number of weeks worked per year x 0.018

For example – 16 hours per week x 52 weeks per year x 0.018 = 14.976. Round this up where

the result is .5 or above – eg 14.976 = 15 hours; or down where the result is .49 or below – eg

14.34 = 14 hours.

I already have protected development time No. No. Although the 35 hours protected development time would not be in addition to any other

through my professional membership – is the protected time through a professional membership (GTC registration for Teachers for

35 hours protected time in addition to this? example), you could use some of the opportunities within this trial to contribute to your

statutory CPD.

What about shift workers or out of hours Employees who work a shift pattern involving evenings and weekends may not have the same

employees? access to development or volunteering activities during their contracted hours of work. At the

same time it’s important that these employees are not disadvantaged due to their hours of

work. So, where an employee wants to use their development hours out-with their contracted

hours, they should agree with their line manager in advance when the equivalent time will be

given back as compensatory time off.

What if the employee can no longer attend a Where an employee is unable to attend a pre-arranged activity they should inform their line

pre-arranged activity? manager and report for work as usual.

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Appendix A – Development log

NAME: EMPLOYEE NUMBER: NUMBER OF DEVELOPMENT HOURS :
COVERING PERIOD FROM: TO:

Type of activity (Development = D/ Volunteering = V/Ideas hub = I) Date Number How valuable was this
completed of hours experience
D/V/I Summary of activity (where 1 = not at all, 5
= excellent)

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Reflective Questions

After a development opportunity, you may find it useful to reflect on it by asking yourself the following questions:
 What did I gain from this development opportunity?
 What did I find particularly valuable/helpful and why?
 What did I find least useful and why?
 What, if anything, will I do differently as a result of this experience?
 What have I learned personally?
 What learning can I transfer to my job?

Questions adapted from the University of Birmingham: A short guide to reflective writing. Available at:
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/skills/asc/documents/public/Short-Guide-Reflective-Writing.pdf

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