These principles will apply to all employment matters including recruitment, conditions of work, pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, overtime, work allocation, guaranteed earning, sick pay, pension, training, promotion, redeployment and redundancy. 

The BBFC aims to ensure that no job applicant or employee is placed at a disadvantage by requirements or conditions which would have disproportionally adverse effects on him or her. Entry into employment within the Board and progression within it will be determined solely by the application of objective criteria, personal performance and merit. 

Notwithstanding the above, the BBFC will need to appoint some staff with knowledge of specific foreign languages and cultures and the requirements for such qualifications will be of primary importance in the process of recruitment. The requirement for work of that particular kind is bound to fluctuate and the need for such staff will accordingly vary from time to time. 

To ensure the Equal Opportunities Policy is effective, the overall responsibility for its implementation and monitoring will be allocated to the HR Manager, and it will be made known to all job applicants and employees. 

Contractors working on the BBFC’s premises will also be expected to comply with the Equal Opportunities Policy. The Board recognises that whilst much can be achieved through the development and implementation of policies, practices and procedures to eliminate unlawful and unfair discrimination, real progress towards equality of opportunity requires a programme of action which involves the commitment and participation of all staff. Genuine equal opportunity requires a commitment to the policy from everyone.

People are the most important resource to the BBFC. Through them, it achieves its aims and objectives, including a high quality of service to its clients.

Improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of staff will have consequential benefits for the functioning of the BBFC as a whole.

The level and quality of provision of training and staff development is a reflection of the value placed on staff, and also affects staff morale.

Training and staff development, therefore, will have high priority. The BBFC will ensure adequate financial and other provision to ensure all members of staff, collectively and individually, receive high quality training and development to assist them to achieve their full potential.

Training and staff development are broad concepts. They cover training events (whether delivered by the BBFC or external agency, at whole staff, team and individual levels); bespoke professional and career development programmes; staff supervision; performance review; coaching and mentoring - all requiring appropriate effectiveness-monitoring.

Underpinning training and staff development are the related processes of:

Staff supervision

Mutually planned and recorded and provided on a regular basis by the line manager (and, for some purposes, peers), for support, monitoring and planning. In the case of a new member of staff, early supervision sessions provide an essential opportunity for mutual auditing of the postholder’s induction, skills and training and development needs.

Staff development review

A specific periodic event designed to evaluate performance and plan actions (including specific individual training plans) to develop knowledge and skills; deriving from, and based upon, regular supervision.

Monitoring

Regular systems for evaluating the effectiveness of training, deriving in large part from staff supervision and staff development review, but also including managerial analysis of training feedback forms.

Training Objectives

The Management Team, through appropriate staff consultation and development review processes, will identify, plan and provide staff training and development programmes as part of the BBFC’s strategy for the achievement of its organisational aims and objectives. Specific aims and objectives will be identified for each programme.

These programmes will cover:

• Induction (organisational, team and role)

• Knowledge and skills enhancement

• Professional and career development

The full policy is available for download below.