The Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) are a public body established by the Department of Health to support high quality standards of social work and social care. The NISCC maintain a register and set standards for the conduct, practice and training of social care workers to ensure that the quality of care provided to service users and carers is of a high standard. The NISCC has been shortlisted in the Award for Best Flexible Working Policy at the Investors in People Awards 2022.
What was your key point of your entry?
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council is responsible for the regulation and registration of social workers and social care workers. There are over 43,000 people registered with us in Northern Ireland.
We are a public sector body and all staff are contracted to work from the office. Over the last three years we have worked hard with all staff to collectively design an agile approach to working, maximising what we learnt during remote working through COVID and re-designing the purpose of the office workplace.
We have developed our flexible working policy on an evidence-based approach – ensuring performance is of a high quality at all times, that staff are empowered and trusted to manage their time in a mature and values-based way – and that we remain connected as an organisation. Staff plan ahead to maximise their time and collaboration in the office, and have scope to manage their 8-hour day in a 16-hour window which enables staff to deliver their business, and manage the impact of life and other commitments, including their health and wellbeing.
The office work place has become a place for collaboration, social connection, enterprise and reflection – where teams and all staff can come together to share ideas and support one another while being able to work at other times from their home or other locations. All staff are encouraged to spend a minimum of 20% of their working week in the office, however the majority of staff opt to connect in the office workplace much more frequently.
Bringing creativity into our agile approach as a public sector organisation is not easy – the public sector’s terms and conditions remain traditional in their approach however we have built a new way forward to support staff, the organisation and our business that stands out from the rest of the public sector. We applied for this new IIP award to demonstrate that the public sector can be creative and flexible while still delivering important public services to citizens.
What would it mean to you to win?
We would be delighted to win – to showcase how collaboration, trust, and a values-based approach can enable an organisation (even a public sector one!) to re-imagine the work place and offer real flexibility and choice to all its staff.
Our Awards Are Back!
We are so excited to be back hosting The Investors in People Awards 2022 in person. It’s been too long!
Find out about all the other finalists and book your tickets for the evening today!
