Although the Pension
issue and how the governments’ changes to our pension have adversely affected
officers, this continues to be an incredibly busy period in the general field
of `Equality`. Many officers find themselves encountering problems with working
arrangements that have in the past been unchallenged by management.
However, officers are
now finding themselves very much under the microscope. This has led to
difficulties for officers in that if we were to be honest we know that many
colleagues have enjoyed arrangements that benefited the individual. Yet now
with Divisions and departments being squeezed they are having their flexible
working patterns reviewed and many are not happy with the outcome.
The position that I
have been taking, is that we have to start from a position of honesty with the Force
and acknowledge that nobody has an automatic right to flexible working.
The organisation only
has an obligation to consider each application - which in practical terms means
very little. The most important message we need to get across is that as times
have changed the necessity to show some flexibility on both sides is now more
important than ever.
We have had instances
in recent times when officers have refused to show any degree of compromise
when submitting plans and then believed that it was simply a case of lodging an
ET to get what they wanted. That is incorrect.
