To provide tailored advice to individuals and organisations on all aspects of HR practices with the ultimate aim of minimising claims to tribunals by enabling advice recipients to make informed judgements and decisions. The service also aspires to resolve a high proportion of problems on first contact.
2
How does it seek to achieve this
2.1
This is achieved predominately over the telephone with some limited written contact. Advisors have script guidelines. This is broken down to cover ‘Meet’. ‘Greet’ ‘Probe’ ‘Thank’, ‘Give an Answer’ ‘Close’ and ‘Say Goodbye’.
3
Who benefits and how?
3.1
Individuals with access to and able to use telephones and/or communicate in writing. Individuals who are able to understand and respond to information transmitted in this way. It may work against those who the telephone is not their preferred method of communication
4
Are there any associated aims?
4.1
These relate to the Individual conciliation process and core values to improve workplace relationships, training and advisory
5
List any research or references of disability networks used above/Consultation and involvement
5.1
Members of the Disability Involvement Forum visited two Helplines (Birmingham and London in April 2009 and September 2009 respectively) to gain a greater understanding of how the Helpline service operates and whether there are likely to be any adverse effects to customers with disabilities. The Forum is comprised of volunteers who have been recruited to assess our policies and procedures.
5.2
One of the members of the Forum referred to research which show that there are particular problems about identifying as a disabled person and about disclosure access requirements eg people with a hearing impairment have reported that they try to ‘cope’ in meetings or don’t want to bother others, others may not be aware that portable induction loop is available etc. The consequence is that they miss out on important communication.
5.3
The following points capture the observations from Forum members.
6
General observations from the Helpline visits
6.1
A member of the Forum confirmed that there is opportunity to raise access/communication issues irrespective of the reason for or content of the call given. However it was suggested that this could be prompted earlier in the call under ‘Greet’ element of the call handling session.
6.2
Under the ‘probing’ questions it may also be appropriate to enquire about disability/access information from the callers.
6.3
Under ‘Closing’, in line with the social model approach, instead of asking ‘Do you understand’ consider changing to something along the lines of ‘Have I been able to make sense to you?’ ‘Did I make it clear enough?’ ‘Can I clarify anything about what I’ve said?
6.4
Another suggestion was to explore feelings and include in the closing stage something along the lines of: ‘How do you feel about this action?” and/or “Is this something you feel ok to do?”
6.5
It was also suggested that the Helpline Advisers could reassure the caller that the information about their impairment/access requirements/disability matters would be kept confidential and not passed to third parties.
6.6
The members of the Forum pointed out that there did not appear to be an exploration of whether the access requirements of staff with impairments are met.
6.7
Consideration should be given to establish the preferred form of communication with the caller. This is particularly important where there are cognitive disabilities, head injuries, learning differences
6.8
An area for development should be the portal/entry/access through the website. It was commented that it was not easy for some customers to find their way through to information about the Helpline service. The link should be available on the main/front web page.
6.9
While existing training covers core legal requirements the Forum members felt there could be more emphasis on practical resources for disabled employees and their employers eg information on services available through Jobcentre Plus and Access to Work.
6.10 It was noted that gender is monitored but not disability on the activity record sheet. Clarification was sought on the reasons behind this. 6.11 It was also noted that there were other sources of advice available to Helpline workers eg disability champions, advice from the Equality Team and advice from the Conciliation Team. The Forum queried whether they all worked systematically 7
Recommendations raised by the Forum
7.1
Review the call handling process to ensure that it can meet the specific needs of the caller.
7.2
Extend the service further eg by offering a video link with sign language. BSL is the preferred language of between 50,000 and 70,000 people in the UK.
7.3
Monitor the language of Acas website should be monitored eg the use of jargon and acronyms eg SORB.
7.4
Clarify the website standards set and how these standards can be monitored and enforced for accessibility.
7.5
Invest more upfront guidance on the website to help all users including disabled people to prepare for using the Helpline. This could include identifying how the process works; explaining at the outset what the user should expect and what information they should gather to prepare; and highlight options for people to use preferred forms of communication.
7.6
Consider incorporating ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ relating to accessing the Helpline Service.
7.7
Produce a list of the Top 10 websites on disability issues. This should be made available to all Helpline Advisers.
7.8
Written training material could be reviewed with key disability issues summarised in a much easier, more memorable format for staff.
7.9
As suggested by the Forum members themselves, draw on their expertise to deliver training using case study material which can be presented at local team meetings.
7.10 Continue to undertake work station assessments to ensure that adjustments made to the software, telephone design, rota and frequency of breaks to ensure the needs of disabled employees are met. 8
Analysis of assessment and action
8.1
In follow up discussions with Forum members they confirmed that they were impressed with the quality of service provided by the Helpline Advisers. There is no doubt that Acas staff are committed to the work they do.
8.2
The Forum members who visited the London Helpline commented that the needs of disabled people and disability issues were not identified as clearly as possible but there were good efforts to try to tackle equality related issues
8.3
The evidence provided in their observations of the service and discussions with Advisers and Managers do not appear to indicate that the Service has an adverse impact on disabled callers. This may be due in part to the fact that the
numbers of callers with disabilities are not monitored and that Advisers do not always get to the route of whether they have any impairments/access requirements or disabilities. In discussion with one Area Manager one suggestion would be get Advisers to ask a series of questions to ascertain whether they have a disability. There are time constraints which may affect the waiting times so it would only be possible to ask the series of specific questions over a specific period of time. 8.4
There is no clear evidence that disabled customers have difficulties accessing the service although the Forum has identified a number of ways in which the Helpline can be improved to make sure that there are no barriers preventing them for using the service. Once again, perhaps some research could be undertaken to further explore accessibility issues.
8.5
Based on the findings there is no evidence to say that there is a significant difference between disabled and non disabled customers which would result in one group receiving a favourable or unfavourable service. There are elements of the service which could be adapted to prevent any potential bias. These are listed under the recommendation, many of have no cost implications.
8.6
We recommend that as ‘quick wins’ Area Managers should consider moving forward on recommendations 7.4 and 7.6 as priorities.
9
Monitoring and Review
9.1
An action plan should be produced by the Helpline Management team to incorporate appropriate recommendations identified from the assessment. The action plan should be reviewed on an on annual basis.
