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At the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists at Perth Royal Infirmary in Scotland, they believe that partnership is a world away from the old ‘them and us’ culture.
Managers and staffside representatives have long since recognised the need for partnership working having seen the benefits that it brings. In the past, things were done to staff but in this new way of working, staff are now consulted fully about the things that affect their working conditions and their working lives.
Partnership has resulted in closer working relationships with both managers and staffside being less defensive with each other. Both parties enjoy more confident relationships which make it easier to talk about even the most sensitive and difficult issues.
Managers are included in union training courses so they understand the members’ viewpoints and both managers and unions can be confident that union members’ views are properly represented with employers and Government representatives. The union’s ability to grasp partnership makes them more influential and gives members more opportunities to have their say.
When dealing with Agenda for Change – a government scheme to re-categorise jobs in the NHS so that jobs of equal value get equal pay and one of the biggest things to hit the NHS for some time - partnership really came into its own. Without this approach, unions and managers felt they would have spent more time arguing over the detail rather than working together to deliver effective change.
Although managers recognise that partnership working can mean extra effort in organising rotas to enable union reps to be released for meetings, they know that it helps them to build consensus in decision making and staffside are recognised as being very proactive in helping them move forward.
Delivering services in a large and diverse geographic patch is a massive task and with the decline of top down management, partnership is seen as the best way forward because it means that individuals can contribute more.
Research shows that allowing the workforce to have more of a say in decisions that affect them improves productivity, staff retention and patient health. The key to delivering against challenging objectives is partnership working and staff and managers alike recognise that the scale of the changes needed could not happen without the consent of staff. |
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