Advice For Vulnerable Colleagues, Members and Head Office Arrangements

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Published 17 Mar 2020 in Things that matter to you

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Today’s update summarises our key activities and focus to date and gives specific guidance around:

Our approach to colleagues over 70, pregnant or living with a condition that leaves them in the vulnerable category.
Our current position around Head Office working arrangements.
Key decisions on premium overtime, colleagues travelling abroad, local suppliers

In addition, there is a list of key decisions made by Phil and the Executive Team to support our colleagues during this time.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and feedback, which can be left at the bottom of the page as a comment.

On behalf of Phil and the Senior Management Team we would like to express how incredibly grateful we are to all our colleagues, especially those based in branches, for their continued commitment and support for our customers during this difficult time.

As stated in my update on Sunday, an Executive Steering Group has been established, chaired by our Group Chief Executive Phil, with representatives from across all areas of the Society. The Steering Group now meets daily and reports to the Board on a weekly basis. An action log is kept so all colleagues will know what we are doing. All areas of our business are affected, and each trading group has prepared a plan to ensure that all our actions are co-ordinated across the Society.

As I’m writing this, there has been one confirmed case of the virus directly impacting our sites. However, there is a clear expectation that this will soon escalate, and we have plans in place to ensure a swift and effective response in line with Public Health England’s guidelines.

Our approach to colleagues over 70, pregnant or living with a condition that leaves them in the vulnerable category.

Key Points:

The government are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.
However, the Society position is to allow colleagues who fall within this category (see, those considered at risk in the dropdown box below) the option to self-isolate should they wish to do so, and, if eligible receive sick pay for the duration of their isolation period or until their sick pay entitlement runs out.
Colleagues choosing to self-isolate for this reason must inform their manager and call the HR advice line to confirm this position.
Colleagues who fall into this category and are showing no symptoms of coronavirus may remain in work if they chose to do so.

Those Considered at Increased Risk

Those considered at increased risk are:

aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)
under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):
chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis
chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
chronic kidney disease
chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy
diabetes
problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
being seriously overweight (a BMI of 40 or above)
those who are pregnant

If colleagues live with a condition that is not listed but they believe themselves to be at increased risk, they should contact the HR advice line (01926 516 469) and they will receive confirmation within 24 hours.

Please note there are some clinical conditions which put people at even higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. If you are in this category, next week the NHS in England will directly contact you with advice on the more stringent measures you should take in order to keep yourself and others safe. For now, you should rigorously follow the social distancing advice in full, outlined below.

People falling into this group are those who may be at particular risk due to complex health problems such as (To keep up to date with current Government advice please follow this link.):

People who have received an organ transplant and remain on ongoing immunosuppression medication
People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy
People with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia who are at any stage of treatment
People with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma (requiring hospital admissions or courses of steroid tablets)
People with severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease (dialysis)

Our current position around Head Office working arrangements.

In line with the latest Government advice, we have decided to offer any colleague who works in any of our Head Office buildings and who can work at home as effectively as they can in the Office the opportunity to work from home (This offer is also subject to change pending any new Government guidelines that may be issued over the coming days or weeks).

Any applicable colleagues should consider this offer and inform your Line Manager of your choice. If you have any queries, raise them with your Line Manager who will escalate them accordingly and ensure that you receive a prompt response.

We would also like to stipulate a directive around movement between offices; in order to protect all our colleagues there is to be no travel between offices, applicable colleagues must remain in their Office base and not travel to other Society offices. For example, if you are based in Warwick then you must remain in Warwick and not travel to Walsall.

In line with our Co-operative values we are committed to supporting our most vulnerable members and customers. We are keen to achieve this at a local level and colleagues in our food stores are already collating the names and contact details of such people. In addition, our food stores are currently asking all members and customers for their consideration in allowing senior citizens to shop exclusively between the hours of 9.30am and 10.30am.

Our Healthcare team are reviewing their home delivery service to ensure that we can most effectively serve our most vulnerable patients.

Key Decisions:

The Executive Steering Group have agreed, for those applicable colleagues in Food, Travel, Healthcare, Funeral and Head Office who are currently entitled to receive time and a half overtime, to suspend the proposal to remove premium overtime from 1st April. This means that after this date if you are requested to and agree to work more than 39 hours you will still receive time and a half for additional hours worked.
Further to the joint statement with USDAW on Coronavirus full clarity of the position in regard to annual leave for our Food and Post Office Colleagues has been provided in today’s News @ One bulletin. Applicable colleagues should refer to the bulletin.
We have created a team that are assisting the business in redeploying colleagues who are currently performing non business critical tasks into areas of the business who urgently require support. Tarra Simmons is leading this project and we would ask that all colleagues involved to give their full support to Tarra and her Team.
If any colleague is planning to travel, please ensure that you check the Foreign & Commonwealth website for advice beforehand (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office). If you decide to travel despite restrictions and/or warnings in place it is imperative that you complete and submit the Travelling Abroad Form before you travel, by clicking here.
Our central support team in Food will be working very closely with our local suppliers to ensure that we can achieve the best availability for our member and customers. Our food stores should be prepared to see more stock being delivered from local suppliers.

Many thanks for your continued hard work and support. This is genuinely appreciated by our members and customers as reflected in these comments:

John Street

Coronavirus Co-ordinator