Transfer of Facilities Management Services to SOAS – 13 June update
Email sent to all staff at SOAS, 13 June 2018
To: All staff
From: Claire Appleby and Rychard Scrase Field
As part of the agreed process for achieving the transfer of staff by 1 September 2018, as set out in the notice of commitment dated 4 August 2017, HR and Estates colleagues have continued to enjoy productive and constructive weekly meetings with Unison to discuss the School’s role in the formal transfer of staff from Bouygues and Elior, and the transfer to SOAS terms and conditions.
The group has made considerable progress in developing a framework for the transfer of FM staff to SOAS terms and conditions, and in agreeing the processes through which the School would wish to engage with staff and their current employers.
These meetings have been conducted in the spirit of openness and partnership, and the School is extremely grateful to Unison colleagues for their time and commitment and for the value of their contribution throughout this process.
We have reviewed the detail of all core employment frameworks, and can show how SOAS policies and employment conditions are equivalent to, or an enhancement of, the existing policies and conditions. We can confirm that all staff will be automatically enrolled on to one of the two vocational pension schemes – USS or SAUL.
We are in the process of finalising job descriptions and confirming the SOAS grade for each role, and we’ll then map these roles on to the appropriate salary scale for the grade. Based on existing rates of pay, the School will then ensure that all staff receive an equivalent or improved rate of pay when they become SOAS employees.
We have been able to start the process of engaging with the Conferencing and Catering teams from Elior. One-to-one meetings with Elior staff started this week, and we’ll follow up with further individual meeting in 3 or 4 weeks’ time, when we’ll confirm everyone’s grade, pay rate and contractual overtime hours, over and above the 35 hour core (for full time staff).
The School is very much looking forward to talking to the staff from Bouygues, and we anticipate being able to do so very soon.
At the present time, Bouygues have not given final agreement to the School engaging direct with their staff. The Bouygues management team have advised the School that it is important to them, as the current employer, that a consistent and accurate message is relayed to their staff. Prior to any consultation with staff on the transfer, Bouygues would wish to have in place confirmation of the specialist services which, under our implementation plans, will continue to be provided (ie the additional specialist services which cannot be delivered in-house, as set out in the 4 August 2017 commitment).
We are expecting this confirmation very soon, and just as soon as this is in place we feel sure we’ll make rapid progress on both the group and individual meetings.
Rychard Scrase Field
Assistant Director of Estates & Facilities
Claire Appleby
Director of HR