Corporate Learning and Development Programme August to December 2023

Please email learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk with details of which courses you wish to attend, stating your payroll number, job title, and service. You will receive an Outlook meeting maker confirming your booking.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone, please let us know whether you require us to make any adjustments to allow you to attend and participate in this training.

The following courses may be relevant to all employees dependant on job role. Attendance at a course requires approval from your line manager and the course added to your Personal Development Plan.

This session is aimed at new OIC employees, it’s an informal event with no presentations where the Chief Executive, Corporate Leadership Team and nominated Elected Members meet with new employees who have recently joined the organisation.  New employees can be accompanied to the session with their buddy, supervisor, or manager and the event is held in the Chamber. 

To confirm your attendance, please email learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk.  We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone so do let us know if you have any specific requirements that we need to be aware of in advance of the event. 

New Health and Safety Risk Assessment training is currently in development and will cover Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regarding the duty to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of all relevant risks to the health and safety of employees and others.  We will share dates for this training as soon as possible.

If you require advice on Health and Safety Risk Assessments, please contact Bryan Baldwin, Safety and Resilience Officer on bryan.baldwin@orkney.gov.uk or 01856 873535 Ext 2169 

ACT Awareness eLearning is a national counter terrorism awareness initiative produced by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) on behalf of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) to protect UK cities and communities from the threat of terrorism. The course will take approximately 45 minutes.

This course should be completed if your post involves close working with individuals over a period of time and will provide you with an understanding of how to recognize individuals who may need support and be vulnerable to radicalisation.

This course can be found on iLearn within the Protect Against Terrorism Category. To access this course please follow this link: www.orkney.gov.uk/iLearn

An equality impact assessment workshop is available upon request.  The workshop lasts for 2 ½ hours and covers equality awareness raising, legal requirements and responsibilities when an equality impact assessment is required and how to carry it out.  The workshop includes practical exercises and is aimed at staff who already carry out assessments as well as those who currently have no experience of impact assessment but want to learn more. 

Please contact learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk if you would like a session to be arranged for staff within your service area or if you are an individual who wants to be included in the next session being run. 

Minute-taking training will be provided by your Service Administrative Manager and will cover how to prepare, organise and write minutes of meetings. This training may be provided to a group or to individuals, depending on numbers and normally include shadowing an experienced minute taker. Contact your Service Administrative Manager to access this training.

There is also a minute taking iLearn course available within the General Administration category. To access this course please follow this link: www.orkney.gov.uk/iLearn

We can offer our employees who are considering retirement, an online pre-retirement workshop that consists of modules on Finance, Working in retirement, Adult Education, Health and Exercise, and Leisure and Action planning.  Once you are registered on this site you can access the resources and any updates to them for 12 months. 

We recommend that you should register for a pre-retirement course approximately 2 years before your planned retirement date to ensure you make informed decisions about this next big step.  If you would like to be registered for this, please contact learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk or telephone Sorcha Woodrow for further particulars on 01856 873535 ext. 2410.

We also offer a morning session by Affinity Financial Awareness (AFA) who provide a virtual workshop. Which covers:

• Changes to your lifestyle
• Income needs in retirement
• The state pension
• Workplace pension savings
• At retirement options and tax efficiency
• Wills and Inheritance Tax
• Other savings and investments
• Inflation
• Tax allowances
• Next steps and further guidance 

If you are interested in attending, please email learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk with your details. This session focuses on the financial aspects and planning for your retirement. 

A one-hour course delivered via Teams by Paul Kesterton, Information Governance Officer. The course will provide staff with the essential information they need to ensure that personal data is protected, and the Council complies with Data Protection law. 

A one-hour course delivered via Teams by Paul Kesterton, Information Governance Officer. The course will enable staff to identify complaints which fall under the Council’s Complaints handling Procedure and how to respond to them. 

A one-hour course delivered via Teams, by Paul Kesterton, Information Governance Officer. The course will enable staff to identify requests that fall under either the FOI (Scotland) Act or the Environmental Information Regulations and will go through the essentials of how to respond to the requests

Staff are reminded that they can find many helpful resources within iLearn www.orkney.gov.uk/iLearn  to support their health and wellbeing, these include modules on relaxation, yoga and mindfulness. 

The Mentally Healthy Workplace course on iLearn, provided through Healthy Working Lives, is an excellent course for all staff and has benefits for yourself and your colleagues.  It should also ideally be completed by Managers prior to attending the Mental Health Awareness Course for Managers which is offered regularly

Health and Wellbeing courses will be offered virtually through Teams with dates and details circulated as and when available and include the following:

Managing Personal Stress – Tutor – Ray Knox

Coping with Change – Tutor – Ray Knox

Mental Health Awareness for Managers – Elite Training

Orkney College regularly produce a short course programme which can be accessed through this web link.

https://www.orkney.uhi.ac.uk/business-and-community/short-courses/

Where Managers have identified a profession specific course for employees, please contact Alison Skea as we may now be in a position to fund these courses from the Flexible Workforce Development Grant.

Should you wish to discuss the attendance and funding of any course within this programme please do not hesitate to contact Alison Skea on 01856 873535 ext. 2257 or by email to alison.skea@orkney.gov.uk

PDA in Management (SCQF level 6)

2 units and accredited with Chartered Management Institute

• Managing Self and resources
• Working in a Team

Please note that the PDA replaces the previous First Line Management courses and start dates and further details will be fully circulated once Orkney College have confirmed the start date.

The following Briefing sessions are for Line Managers

This session will highlight the changes introduced to this revised OIC policy & procedure which aims to provide a fair and consistent framework for handling absence and ensuring that any employee, genuinely absent from work due to ill health, receives all the necessary support that the Council can provide. It is important that the policy is understood by all employees and accepted as being in the mutual interests of employees and the Council.  It will be applied as an integral part of the day-to-day management of the Council. 

Where individual establishments have a number of line managers who require this training a specific session can be arranged where possible, by contacting learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk.

These sessions will be presented by Amanda Anderson and Lisa Gibson, HR Advisers, and is aimed at all employees with line management responsibilities.

This workshop covers the Grievance policy & procedures. 

Grievance procedures provide a mechanism whereby problems in relation to work, the working environment, or working relationships can be raised and addressed. Executive Directors are responsible for the management of their Service and therefore have ultimate responsibility for resolving grievances raised by employees in accordance with this procedure, as promptly as possible and within the agreed timescales. 

These sessions will be presented by Craig Walker, Service Manager (HR Operations) and Laura McLennan, HR Adviser, and is aimed at employees with line management responsibilities

This new process will be fully circulated shortly with guidance and FAQs.  Short briefing sessions to introduce the revised process are available on the following dates: 

This session is aimed at any employees and parent council members who sit on recruitment panels. The content includes equality legislation and its impact on recruitment and selection; advertising vacancies; shortlisting; assessment and interview techniques including competency-based questions. The session also covers the processes at each stage which recruiters must follow, in line with OIC policy.

Recruiting Managers who would like further guidance on the shortlisting process can contact learn.develop@orkney.gov.uk and a short workshop will be arranged which will include identifying criteria which can be assessed from the initial application process and completion of the form.

These sessions will be presented by Sorcha Woodrow, Learning and Development Adviser and Jayne Fraser, HR Adviser

This session will assist managers to deal with situations where an employee is failing to perform his/her duties and responsibilities to the required standard and will ensure that managers adopt a fair, consistent and supportive approach taking account of the individual circumstances and meet all legal requirements.

These sessions will be presented by Craig Walker, Service Manager (HR Operations) and Amanda Anderson HR Adviser, and is aimed at employees with line management responsibilities 

The Council Disciplinary Policy and Procedure has recently been reviewed and has been updated to reflect best practice guidance and legislative changes. This session provides an overview of the policy and procedure as well as information on the roles and responsibilities of key individuals within the procedure.  In addition, the session will give an overview of where the Council has a statutory duty to refer conduct issues to professional bodies i.e. SSSC and GTCS as well as Disclosure Scotland.

These sessions will be presented by Craig Walker, Service Manager (HR Operations), and Thomas Richards, Senior HR Adviser and is aimed at employees with line management responsibilities.

The Dignity at Work policy and procedure has recently been reviewed and has been updated to reflect best practice guidance and legislative changes. All Managers and Supervisors need a broad understanding of this policy and procedure to enable them to have the knowledge, management skills and confidence to deal with any situations which may arise in the workplace. 

This awareness training will include the following:

• provide appropriate training and guidance for all individuals involved in the handling of bullying and harassment complaints.
• ensure that Managers and employees understand and recognise bullying and harassing behaviours in the workplace e.g. what is workplace bullying and harassment and what it is not
• what managers should do to reduce the likelihood of bullying and harassment and deal with any complaints that may arise.
• understanding the difference between strong management and bullying behaviour.

These sessions will be presented by Craig Walker, Service Manager (HR Operations) and Ashleigh Gillespie Senior HR Adviser and is aimed at all employees with line management responsibilities.

The Purchase-to-pay process is operated through the council’s financial system, Integra. The process covers the activities involved in: ordering goods and services, acknowledging receipt of goods and services and paying for invoices received. 

New training for Integra is currently in development. If you require any advice or guidance in relation to Integra, please contact P2P@orkney.gov.uk