#001 Wins in the Workplace: Ensuring proper TOIL for mandatory induction – Dr Thomas Doel

Grievance/initial motivation

Doctors were told to complete online induction in the time before starting their in-person induction time. In-person induction time was paid with a total stipend of £400 - equivalent to 4 days of induction. Total induction was 4 days in-person and 1 day equivalent of online courses.

Research – what information did you have to find out to ensure that you had all the necessary facts and couldn’t be tripped up at any point? How did you go about finding this information?

Limited research was needed; contract Terms & Conditions and standard employment law holds that all compulsory training time must be taken from work time, be paid or returned as TOIL.

Target – as a result of your research, which individual, group, committee or organization did you identify as having the power to enact the change you wanted to see?

We contacted HR representation along with BMA support, pointing out the irregularity of this change.

Allies – who did you identify as potentially on your side?

Key allies included the BMA local representatives, the Guardian of Safe Working and the Foundation Programme lead.

Resources – what resources were available to help you win? This could include volunteers, online survey tools, social media skills, negotiation skills etc.

This was mostly resolved with negotiation between the BMA, GOSWH, and HR.

Barriers – what were the main things in your way? This could include apathy amongst your supporters, push-back from your target or anything else that you found challenging.

The biggest barrier was getting HR to agree that time worked for induction of doctors should be paid at Doctor salary rate - their initial argument was that the £400 stipend included the online induction time as a collective payment.

Strategy – Based on your research and an understanding of your target, allies, resources and barriers, what strategy did you then employ to win?

Using the rota provided by the induction team, we demonstrated that the additional training could not be completed within the declared time.

Outcome – what happened?

It was agreed that 1/2 a day of TOIL could be taken. This in combination with the £400 stipend was considered reasonable coverage.

Evaluation

1. What went well?

2. What went not so well?

3. What could be done differently next time?

4. What could the BMA do to help support and replicate the success of this campaign in future in other locations?

5. What advice would you give to other doctors wanting to do something similar?

Strong advice to all starting doctors is to value your time correctly. Your pay already reflects the fact you are in a training post and some of your time is needed for training. You should not be giving up your own time to complete essential courses or to keep on top of your portfolio. Your job should be designed for this and if it is not that is the design fault not your fault. Remember that your training is part of your work, and should not take place "alongside" or "additionally" to your job but as a core component of it. This time is work time and you deserve to be paid for your work.

If this is a problem affecting you and you’d like to get some more advice, feel free to contact Tom to ask more about how he did it - thomas.doel@nhs.net