Section 2.3         Agency policies and procedures

2.3.1   Where do policies and procedures come from?

CSI services are influenced by two sorts of policy.

• Policy imposed from the outside by legislative (Acts of Parliament) or administrative (such as DoCS as a funding body) bodies, which provide the broad policy context in which the organisation operates.

• Policy which originates within the organisation(generally developed by the management committee or manager of a service) and is influenced by the outside policy.

For example, the NSW Disability Services Act is broad government policy which impacts heavily on policy developed by organisations funded by the NSW Ageing, Disability and Home Care Department.  All funded services must comply with the Act in order to receive funding and there are clear guidelines that organisations must follow, such as having complaints procedures, assessing clients individually and ensuring that clients have an opportunity to make decisions about the service provided to them.

Another example is the Equal Opportunity Act, which would influence the development of a policy such as the staff recruitment policy discussed earlier.

2.3.2   Policy and procedures manual

What are the areas covered in a policy and procedures manual?  This can vary depending on the nature of the organisation but may include:

• personnel practices (staff recruitment, training, holiday leave arrangements, promotions, performance appraisals, supervision);
• complaints and disputes procedures;
• case management procedures (how the agency determines eligibility for the service, assesses client need and individual goal setting to address identified needs);
• occupational health and safety procedures;
• conflict resolution processes;
• communication;
• delegations (who can make decisions about what, eg. approval process for spending money);
• notification of child abuse procedures;
• critical incidents procedures;
• confidentiality;
• referral;
• duty of care: and
• coordination and networking with external agencies.

2.3.4   Example policy and procedures manual

Following is an example of a policy and procedures manual from the Carmen Poldis Community Centre (CPCC).  The contents page shows you everything detailed in the manual, while the extracts give you examples of:

• policies about what is expected of service users (clients);
• the rights of the workers at the centre; and
• the responsibilities of the same workers.

Extracts from the Carmen Poldis Community Centre manual

• Service users responsibilities.
• Staff rights.
• Staff responsibilities.

Service user’s responsibilities

CPCC believe service users have a responsibility to:

• demonstrate respect to the staff, volunteers, management and other clients at CPCC regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, marital status, disability, sexuality or age;
• participate in the decisions and actions that affect their lives;
• behave in a manner which does not pose any real or perceived physical or emotional threat to the staff, volunteers, management and other clients of CPCC;
• behave in a manner which does not cause real or potential threat to property and others;
• take responsibility for agreed actions—for example, attending appointments at agreed times, participating in agreed activities;
• provide relevant information to assist in their case management:
• assume responsibility for the outcome of the decisions they make; and
• not make vexatious complaints about staff, management, other clients and volunteers.

Staff rights

We believe paid workers have the right to:

• equal employment opportunity in all matters relating to employment—for example, no discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, marital status, disability, sexuality or age;
• award conditions and rates of pay;
• join and participate in a union;
• have the principles of natural justice upheld—for example, all staff should have the opportunity to participate or be represented in decision making and are entitled to information regarding decisions affecting them;
• see their personnel records or any other written reports concerning them;
• have personal information kept confidential;
• work in an environment free from sexual harassment and physical and emotional abuse;
• a safe and healthy work environment;
• training and development to extend their knowledge and skills and enhance career opportunities; and
• have their grievances heard and addressed in a confidential, professional and timely manner.
  

Staff responsibilities

We believe paid workers have a responsibility to:

• inform and involve service users;
• provide service users with accurate information about the services available to them and not knowingly withhold such information;
• inform service users of the service options available;
• involve service users in decision making about services;
• inform service users of the standards they can expect in the provision of the service, and
• let service users know of their rights and the implications of services available to them.

If you get the opportunity through a CSI-related job or vocational placement, ask to have a look at the policy and procedures manual for the organisation.  The written documents can vary dramatically depending on the nature of the service, the skills and abilities of workers, the resources available for policy development and the resources provided by government funding bodies to assist with the policy development process.