West Somerset Railway General Discussion

What if a prospective volunteer or employee would like to see them, before signing up to them?
Indeed, you can't be subject to policies or rules that you haven't agreed to.


Steve Edge has stated in post #25946 that they are available. Presumably he can provide evidence that they are in fact available?
When did he last check?

 

Since when were HR Policies 'private documents' ? How can employees know or potential employees understand what they are heading for ?

 

If I were a volunteer, and denied access to something, I might well not sign the relevant paperwork. But that doesn't mean that someone with sight of them is obliged to share confidential documents in this public forum. Nor, I might add, is anyone from "the WSR" obliged to comment on here, and the tactic of demanding responses has rarely been effective.

 

The same way I did when joining my employer - they were shared with me as part of my contract of employment.

 

The next complicating factor is of course when I tried to use the HR Policies I was told in writing from the PLC HR Department that they did not apply to Volunteers. When I questioned this it was confirmed again in writing that they did not apply to Volunteers, only paid staff.

I'm sure as per my earlier post as the WSRA have taken Volunteer recruitment on they can confirm the situation so everybody is clear what the situation is. They of course were informed by me at the time so know the details and have copies of the emails concerned.

 

Yet someone from "the WSR" has chosen to comment, & they've made a statement where they imply that at least 3 other forum members are lying.

Oh, it seems that that same person cannot actually state what they've stated, because they don't know!

 

I've mentioned the GWSR's equivilent on here before with a couple of quotes and a summary but I wouldn't dream of uploading the whole thing on here, it's just not something that you *do*. I can't remember, but I expect it was given to me with my "volunteer pack" during my induction day. Generally HR policies are not so contentious that they need to be forwarded in advance to check that they're ok!

 

Hi Alex

To answer your question about HOPS, as many have, I've just looked (again) and the relevant HOPS folder is locked. It is annoying and frustrating, I agree. But access to the documents is available to staff ID holders, by request, to the Plc's HR contact (details are on the official website). That's what I did.

Any incidents (not sure if your example is real or imagined) should be dealt with by proper due process using proper agreed policies written in documents available to all staff ID holders.

Steve

 

Mm, that's not really good enough though, especially as we've already heard that that doesn't work for everyone. If there was no desire to control who sees the HR policies then they wouldn't be locked on HOPS in the first place.

I've no idea if it's real or imagined either, it was in reference to a post from @6960 Raveningham Hall . Of course all incidents *should* be dealt with by proper due process, but that's clearly not happening in all cases.

 

In May this year when I requested and received a copy of a particular policy document. What evidence, beyond my word, would you like, Richard?

Steve

 

Yes Andy we did chat on PMs. I recall suggesting comparing notes to see if we could spot any differences in approach but your volunteer, it seems, was reluctant to share any details. Just to be clear I didn't want to know who it was, just some basic stuff like who he asked and how the request worded. Thanks for the update - I hope he has been able to resolve the ID issue (despite the small matter of furlough) - I may be wrong but if he can log on to HOPS then I guess his ID is valid. Perhaps he can try again through the person named on the official website as the Plc's HR contact. Hope that helps.

Steve

 

>>>Any incidents (not sure if your example is real or imagined) should be dealt with by proper due process using proper agreed policies written in documents available to all staff ID holders......

'Incident Reporting' IMHO is generally a safety matter covered by SMS, for which there is a specific Incident Reporting policy readily available in the SMS part of HOPS.

If we are taking about an 'incident' of an HR nature, then the current problem would seem to be that - without access in HOPS to the HR policies (for whatever reason) - how is anyone expected to know what the 'proper due process' is ??

 

Well, there may be a perfectly good reason why it doesn't work for everyone. No ID, maybe?

As I said, the policy docs are available, even if it isn't as easy as before.

Steve

 

I suspect the above quote is a bit silly

Steve

 

Possibly, and as I was writing it I was hoping it wasn't true Steve. But when you hear that the only person who has successfully managed to extract the HR documents is someone who has a great deal of influence on the public image of the WSR, you do start to wonder.

Currently, all we know for sure is that they're available to you. I feel the jury is still out as to whether they're available to all. I'm sure someone's already dug out the relevant Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy quote. Difficult to tell if your ID's been withdrawn if the proper process hasn't been followed either, and in at least 2 cases here we know it wasn't followed, so it seems plausible that there might be other such instances.

 

....but surely at least the first 2/3rds of it is true?

 

It is indeed most refreshing to hear of this development.

In the likely event review of our Railway's organisational structure is the subject of WSRA's paper sent to WSSRT, then I would be extremely interested to know the gist of the Steam Trust chairman's reply to the Association. WSSRT minutes refer to a reply but give no clue as to it's content.

As a WSSRT member I will now seek clarification.

 

I didn't know I was on trial I think your imagination is running wild

Steve

 

Sorry - but that’s not correct. The MP for Taunton Deane certainly does cover the WSR - her constituency includes from Norton Fitzwarren to Crowcombe Heathfield in point of fact, including of course, Bishops Lydeard. She is also Under Secretary of State at the Dept of the Environment.

 

For clarity, I wasn't accusing you of anything Steve.