Union Mail – February 2023: National Executive Committee Positions, District and Department Representatives, Performance Reviews, Keeping your records up to date, Green Advisory Group Webinars, Half Term Ideas

National Executive Committee positions

I’m pleased to advise members that following the closure of nominations for the various positions on the National Executive Committee, the following members have been elected to serve for the term of office 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2025.

I would like to send my congratulations to all those elected, and look forward to working with them on what are sure to be important decisions in a period of significant change. 

I would also like to extend heartfelt thanks on behalf of all members of the Union to those members of the 2021 – 2023 National Executive Committee who are standing down at the end of this term of office for all that they have done on behalf of members over these two years. 

Tim Rose 
General Secretary 

District and Department Representatives

At the close of nominations, we had received a nomination for many constituencies, and in those cases, those nominated will serve as representatives for the term of office 1st April 2023 – 31st March 2025. All those individuals have been informed, and I would again like to congratulate them on their election. 

We do, however, have some vacancies, and we are therefore opening a new nomination period. You can find the details of the districts and departments where we still have a vacancy on our website – https://ngsu.org.uk/ngsu-elections-district-branch-representatives/ for the branch network, and https://ngsu.org.uk/ngsu-elections-department-representatives/ for admin centre and other roles. 

If you’re interested in standing for the role, but would like to know more about what’s involved, there’s plenty of information on the website (Reps, Become a Rep), or contact our Representative Support Officer, Kerry Wagg, at kerry@ngsu.org.uk, or on 01295 710767. 

Nominations must be received by 12 noon on Friday 17th February.

Tim Rose 
General Secretary

Performance Reviews

It’s the start of February, and although the end of the financial year is still some way off, it’s around now that everyone starts to have their end of year discussions about performance, behaviours, and aspirations. These are always very important conversations, and that’s even more the case this year, as a result of the changes announced in October regarding potential reduction or withholding of Sharing In Success payments. 

These conversations must be about your overall performance across the year, in the whole of your role. It is all too easy to focus on those areas where you’ve faced the greatest challenges – don’t let those “drown out” the rest of what you’ve done and how you’ve gone about it. 

Our advice to members preparing for these conversations is to make sure you take time to think through what you’ve achieved and delivered over the last 12 months – obviously in terms of your Performance Goals set at the start of, or during, the year, but also taking account of anything you’ve done that wasn’t set out in your Goals. Capture all of that in your performance reflections document, along with any obstacles you’ve had to overcome to deliver what you have, and any support that would have been helpful (especially if you’ve called that out during the course of the year). 

There’s a natural tendency to give the greatest weight to what’s happened most recently, so it is definitely worth casting your mind back to April, May, and June, giving thought to what was happening then, how it affected what you were doing, and how you overcame the challenges you were faced with. If you had any performance conversations, what did you learn from them? Then do the same for each subsequent quarter. 

If you work in a project environment, you may well have had conversations at the different milestones along the way – again, go back to your records of those conversations, what did you learn? If things didn’t go according to plan, what led to that, and what has changed as a result? 

The conversations are meant to be realistic – very few of us go through a whole year without facing any difficulties. But they are meant to be a fair reflection of the whole year. Except for some vital regulatory requirements in a few people’s objectives, not achieving just one of your goals should not lead to a poor assessment of your whole year’s performance.    If you and your manager have a difference of opinion, make sure that you let them know. And if they’re proposing to recommend a reduction in any SIS payment you may receive, you’re entitled to challenge that. We’ve agreed an appeals process with the Society if an initial conversation doesn’t change your manager’s mind – and, as always, we’d recommend you contact us for support and advice at any stage in this process. Where there’s a formal appeal meeting, of course, members are able to have Union representation in those meetings (once they’ve paid 3 months’ subscriptions, or 1 month’s if in probation). 

Pay Review 2023

Following the endorsement of the pay proposals in the ballot, we have been working with the Society on finalising the details, which members will have seen in the Joint Statement published this week. Along with the Joint Statement, a series of questions and answers which hopefully address all the queries members may have has also been published on the Intranet, and we recommend reading through them if there’s anything you’ve been unclear on since the announcements in December and January.

If you’ve been thinking about taking the one-off payment as a £300 credit to your Appreciate account, the Joint Statement explains that more detail on the process for registering your intent on this will be published later this month.

Keeping your records up to date 

As NGSU is a separate organisation from the Society, we’d like to remind members to let us know of any changes in personal circumstances – whether that’s a new role, a change to working hours, moving onto maternity leave, moving home, or getting a new email address or mobile phone number. This means that if we ever have to contact you, we’re able to do so; and if your change of hours means your subscriptions change, we can ensure that’s done in a timely manner, too. 

We’d also remind members that we were obliged to run the recent ballot on pay using @nationwide.co.uk email addresses, because there is a significant number of members for whom we do not have another email address. We send Union Mail out monthly, and a Special Issue when there’s something important to update members on during the month, and the only people we share your contact details with are the Independent Scrutineers – so you don’t need to be worried about receiving mailshots every other day from all and sundry. 

Where we have your personal email address recorded on our system, if you ever need to reset your password for our website, you can do so at any time; otherwise, you’ll have to contact us during office hours.  

Green Advisory Group Webinars

As part of their work to increase awareness of environmental issues, NGSU’s Green Advisory Group are holding quarterly webinars on a variety of Green issues. 

On 23rd February, the Green Advisory Group will be hosting RenewableUK., an organisation that represents over 450 businesses within the renewable sector. 

They’ll be discussing the future of energy, and the place of renewables within that. 

To join the webinar simply send an email to matt@ngsu.org.uk for joining instructions.  All previous webinars can be viewed on the NGSU website at https://ngsu.org.uk/green-advisory-group-webinars/. 

Dates for your Diary

Click https://ngsu.org.uk/dates-for-your-diary-2023/ for more information about these events, and forthcoming dates.

Half Term Ideas

It’ll soon be half-term, so if you’re thinking about going on days out, don’t forget to check whether NGSU Extras can save you some money on your destination of choice. Go to https://ngsu.org.uk/ngsu-extras/, select the link to NGSU Extras, and if you’ve already registered, just sign in, and select Days Out & Leisure” in the Lifestyle Benefits section.  

If you haven’t already registered, it’s a straightforward process, although it does need your membership details to be confirmed, so it might take a little while before you receive notification that it’s been done. 

Given the time of year, it’s obviously entirely possible that the weather might not be all we’d wish for – so if you’re thinking about a trip to the cinema, don’t forget that NGSU Extras also offers savings on the cost of tickets. You can find the details on the website, or, if you’ve got the app, they’re easy to access there, too. The different chains have different prices at their various outlets around the country, so the amount of the saving may well vary depending on where you’re going.   If you haven’t already got the app, it’s easy to download, and the details are all on https://ngsu.org.uk/ngsu-extras/.

February’s Subscription Draw Winners