The Partnership Forum together with the Human Resources Department is pleased to announce that the University has approved the introduction and implementation of a new flexitime scheme at DCU. This `work life balance initiative' is being introduced following consultations with all staff through a subgroup of the Partnership Forum, consisting of Joe Maxwell (HR), Mary Comiskey (NCSR), Conor Maguire (Electronic Engineering) Amanda Halpin (Library) and Kathleen Donohoe.

As part of the current National Wage Agreement, Sustaining Progress, the HR Department is committed to developing new work life balance initiatives, which already include:

• job-sharing
• leave of absence
• term-time leave which is aimed at facilitating staff taking time off during the summer months to coincide with school holidays
• paternity leave

These are in addition to existing statutory entitlements.

While flexitime is already operating at a local level in a number of departments, the subgroup agreed that a standard scheme should be developed, aimed at providing access to the Flexi time arrangement by all staff (subject to certain qualifying criteria as outlined in the policy). Approval for the scheme was granted by the University Executive in November 2005.

The scheme is expected to begin early in the New Year. For those who are interested in this arrangement, full details can be found at: http://www.dcu.ie/partnership/subgroup-flexitime.shtml

Staff who are interested in any of the above schemes should contact the HR office at 5149.

What is the Partnership Forum

The Partnership Forum at DCU evolved in the context of the commitments entered into through Partnership 2000, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and Sustaining Progress (Social Partnership Agreement 2003 - 2005). Partnership is a relatively new way of involving management, employees and the union in working together to manage change. It involves a continuing commitment by employees to improvements in quality and efficiency and increases employee awareness and involvement in decisions that affect them. The Partnership process is not intended to replace other industrial relations mechanisms, but will work alongside them to strengthen relations in the University. Membership of the Forum can be viewed at http://www.dcu.ie/partnership/about.shtml

Other Partnership Initiatives

The Partnership Forum together with the HR Department has been instrumental in a number of other key initiatives across the University. A Subgroup of the Partnership Forum developed the Performance Management & Development Scheme which is currently being rolled out across the University.

In addition to this, a Subgroup of the Forum was set up to look at the area of `Reward & Recognition' for staff other than academics. The work of this particular subgroup resulted in the introduction of the `Additional Leave Scheme' which is a means of rewarding long serving staff who are at the top of their scale. The Subgroup also developed an annual `Reward Scheme' to acknowledge the excellent performance of staff members whose contribution and performance is at a level much higher than that expected of the post.

The Future

The Partnership Forum has a number of ongoing projects and is actively looking at the newly launched Strategic Plan to identify ways in which the Forum can support the successful implementation of the plan. In addition to this, there will be many issues arising from the next Social Partnership Agreement. More recently the Forum invited, Dr Heinz Lechleiter, DCU Quality Promotion Director to join the Forum as quality review is one of the key underlying principles of the partnership process. The Partnership Forum believes it can help support the Quality Promotion Director and the Quality Promotion Steering Committee in achieving the DCU Quality Agenda.