Purpose and Scope 

Jabeeb Consult Limited is committed to ensuring that all staff and volunteers have access to learning, development and training opportunities that enable them to be suitably knowledgeable and skilled to carry out their role within the organization, and to develop their talents in any ways that fit with the organization’s development to meet its strategic objectives.

The main aims of this policy are to:

• ensure that employees and volunteers are supported and enabled to meet the changing demands of the organization and its service users so that the organization achieves its strategic objectives
• facilitate employee/volunteer development and/or personal development through assisting them to broaden, deepen and thereby further enhance their existing skill
• provide a working environment where continuous learning and development take place that helps staff to gain more enjoyment from their roles, increase motivation and enhance staff retention

Equal Opportunities

The organization is committed to ensuring equality of learning opportunity, hence no employee or volunteer will be excluded from learning on the grounds of gender (including gender reassignment), age, marital status, disability, racial grounds (race, colour, nationality – including citizenship – ethnic or national origin), sexual orientation, religion or belief, responsibility for dependents, trade union membership or employment status. Part-time and fixed-term employees will have equal access to learning and development opportunities appropriate to their post, and volunteers will be given access to relevant training.

Responsibilities

Employees

Jabeeb Consult Limited believes that employee development is most effective when the individual employee takes responsibility for identifying any opportunities for self-development which will enhance work performance through increased skills and knowledge.
Learning needs and opportunities will also be identified through the support, supervision and appraisal process, and through internal assessments to meet the business needs.

We expect all employees to also take a proactive approach to further organizational-wide learning and development.

The Chief Executive’s PA should be notified of all learning undertaken for inclusion in a central log. This should also include top-level comments on the quality and cost-effectiveness of training from participants, which is made available to all staff when considering booking training.

Line Managers

Line managers are responsible for assisting staff and volunteers to identify learning needs and for ensuring that they review these with staff on a regular basis during support and supervision sessions. The employee’s log of learning should also be discussed at these sessions.

Line managers have a responsibility to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of learning for employees who have undergone training and development.
Line managers should seek feedback on any training, including quality and cost-effectiveness. Line managers should then ensure that employees implement the skills that they have gained through training and ensure that feedback on training is shared with the organization via the central log of learning.

Chief Executive Officer and Board of Director

The coordination of the learning and development process is the responsibility of the Chief Executive Officer. He will, therefore, ensure that evaluation of learning activities is undertaken annually by liaising with line managers to ensure that any identified needs are addressed accordingly.

The Board of Directors is responsible for agreeing to the learning and development budget on an annual basis. The learning budget is controlled by the Chief Executive with subsequent allocation monitored with the senior management team.

The board of Directors also have a responsibility to attend appropriate training in order for them to perform their legal duties.

Routes to Learning & Development

Options for learning & development may include:

• On the job, learning includes learning from other members of staff via job shadowing, mentoring, in house skill sharing, staff away days
• Secondments and placements/visits to other organizations
• Setting up job development opportunities such as public speaking, in house presentations at team meetings
• Attending internal or external training days/ workshops
• Attending conferences, forums
• An external course of study
• Web based e-learning
• Self-directed study – such as books, manuals, online information

Jabeeb Consult Limited is committed to sharing the learning and lessons gained by staff and volunteers throughout the organization. This will be accomplished in a number of ways:

• Giving time in team meetings to share core lessons from training
• Networking with a partner and same sector organizations and incorporating their literature, reports and research documents into office resource libraries.

Key Professional and Skills-Based Learning

The organization aims to prioritize learning that focuses on areas which:

• enable us to fulfil our strategic objectives
• pertain to any organizational statutory/contractual obligations
• are essential in order to generate and maintain income
• enable effective responses and management of legislative changes
• ensure IT skills meet the business need
• are essential to ensure the quality-of-service provision
• enable employees to meet their responsibilities in completing continuous professional development required by relevant professional bodies
• enable management development in relation to those who have managerial/supervisory responsibilities

Core Learning

There are specific areas of learning which are essential for all employees and cover a rolling program of needs that have been identified as part of a continuous program of learning and development. The core learning will therefore cover the following areas:

Induction

All new employees are given a timely program of induction including an introduction to all policies for the organization. This is an essential part of staff learning and development, and integration into the working environment.

ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)

It is important that all employees and trainees are given opportunities to enhance their ICT skills base. The organization is committed to ensuring that all employees have a competent grounding in the use of ICT in the wider context of their professional roles. Employees and trainees are positively encouraged to become familiar with the extranet, internet, email other electronic facilities and computer software packages at their disposal. Initial information and training will be provided on the commencement of the role or when any technology changes occur.

Recording, Monitoring & Evaluating Learning

The Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring that a central record of employee learning is created and maintained and that all learning and development activities are monitored and evaluated in terms of suitability, effectiveness and value for money.

Line Managers have responsibility for reporting on the effectiveness of any staff development programs to the Chief Executive at the Senior Management Team meeting once a year.

Performance Management

Performance management is an ongoing communication process, which involves both the line manager and their employee in:

• identifying and describing essential job functions and relating them to the strategic and operational objectives of the organization
• developing realistic and appropriate performance standards
• giving and receiving feedback about performance
• participating in constructive performance appraisals
• planning learning and development opportunities to sustain, improve or build on employee work performance.

Regular meetings/communications between staff and line manager facilitates this process.

Appraisals

Annual Appraisals are an essential component of Jabeeb Consult’s performance management framework and are supported by regular support and supervision sessions between line managers and their employees throughout the course of the year.  The appraisal scheme allows for every employee to be formally appraised with their line manager through a structured discussion on work performance over the previous year which, must also incorporate the employee’s learning and development needs for the following year.

It is an opportunity to build on strengths and address areas, which require support, thereby enhancing the potential skill base of the individual employee.

Supervision and Appraisal process:

Jabeeb Consult Limited has a culture of effective informal mentoring on an ongoing basis; this is based around continuous support. The formal aspects to this however are:

• Supervision sessions are held at a min of 6-week intervals between all staff and their line managers on an individual basis.
• A full Annual Appraisal is then carried out by line managers through discussion with each employee on an annual basis.
• A Personal Development Plan for the year is then created.