- Conference
- 2022 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 9 December 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Just and Restorative Culture is an employer initiative being rolled out through NHS England, focused around resolving cases at the informal level and reducing stress for those involved. The basic idea around Just Culture is to focus on the wider, systemic issues as opposed to the individuals. It began as a way of approaching patient safety issues but some employers are applying Just Culture to grievance cases too.
Many employers and even UNISON Branches have already adopted the Just Culture platform in workplaces, as on paper, it appears to be a pragmatic route to positive outcomes for our members. In practise, however, it can be used in much more sinister ways, potentially giving managers the licence to bully their staff.
When collective and individual grievances are submitted against a bullying manager Just Culture allows the employer to consider external factors even if the manager has objectively acted maliciously. Some employers are very image conscious, and will use this platform to protect their public image instead of addressing the issues essentially gas-lighting our members who are only sticking up for themselves.
In more extreme cases, an employer could even prevent grievances from going through a hearing, undermining the right to appeal, timing out any legal avenues and effectively freezing the union out of casework altogether.
The arbiters of these processes are always going to be the employer and we can never rely on the employer to do what is right and just.
Conference calls on the SGE to:
• Allow Branches to make their own choices on whether or not to adopt Just Culture.
• Review the Union’s position on Just Culture.
• Seek to ensure that Just Culture isn’t applied in cases of bullying and discrimination.