Your pay, pension and other benefits

All benefits are available to the dxw team after the successful passing of their probationary period.

Changes to your details #

Please tell us promptly if your name, address, telephone number, next of kin details or banking details change and keep those details up to date in Breathe.

Pay Policy #

Purpose #

The purpose of the dxw pay policy is to give us a framework to pay salaries at the highest level we can, in the fairest way possible and in the most sustainable way for the long-term commercial health of the business. Alongside our mission and values, and the way we look after and develop our teams, it’s an important part of us being able to attract and retain great people.

Principles #

The following principles underpin the policy:

• Transparency
• Parity amongst similar roles
• Equality of pay for those with the same role
• Clear levels of responsibility and accountability
• Clear career progression

How the policy works #

1. Applies to all staff in both billable and non billable teams. Statutory directors will each have a performance framework that is independent from this policy.

2. Billable team pay has published pay points per level, that are based on 3 main factors:

   • Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) standards and rates which clients use to measure dxw against
   • profitability margins based on expected billable rates
   • the labour market and salaries based on this
3. Non billable team pay has published pay bands that are based fundamentally on the labour market, but could also include other factors such as professional qualifications and sales targets.
4. Each director is responsible for overseeing pay for their teams and has overall responsibility for justifying decisions against the principles and criteria in this policy. This policy will be reviewed at least every 2 years. The review will take place between October and February, to avoid changes to salaries shortly before the annual CPI rise. Any changes to pay points / bands will be subject to approval by the dxw board.
5. For roles equivalent to SFIA levels 1-5 we would expect promotions or pay changes to be handled within the team based on the progression framework, with a director or delegated head of taking responsibility for this
6. For roles that are more senior i.e. SFIA level 6 equivalent or above we would expect the board to consider these, with internal interview panels to help make a decision (where necessary)
7. Everyone should have an annual review of their performance and career progression and pay as a minimum after passing probation. It’s up to each line manager to arrange more frequent check-ins on progression, so that the outcome of the annual review is not a surprise
8. Line managers are responsible for ensuring that all staff are given equal opportunities, and pay discussions are fair and inclusive. If staff would like an independent opinion in these discussions, they should contact the People team in the first instance who can facilitate.
9. dxw works with an independent HR advisor, who can assist if needed to help resolve any issues.

Cost of living #

1. London weighting of £4,000 per year applies to staff who earn under £40,000 per year to help them with the additional costs of living in London.

   • This applies to people who live in a London borough.
   • If someone’s salary increases above this level, London weighting will gradually taper off (by £500 for each £1000 of extra salary) between £40,000 and £48,000
   • The rationale for these numbers is taken from Trust for London research which shows London weighting materially benefits people on salaries under £40,000.
   • It is subject to tax & NI and is not pensionable
   • It is a fixed rate, not uplifted by CPI

2. Annual cost of living CPI rises will apply for staff if the company achieves turnover above its minimum target for the preceding financial year.

   • If you’ve passed your probation then you’ll receive your raise in October payroll
   • CPI rises will not apply to people who for historic reasons are above the maximum pay level for their role, to help us gradually align salaries for similar roles
   • If someone is under formal disciplinary or performance procedures, their CPI rise will be postponed while this is ongoing
   • The CPI figure comes from published Office of National Statistics data

3. We are committed to paying the London living wage or higher for all staff.

Cost of living raise #

dxw will institute a cost of living raise each year on 1st October. The percentage will be set by the CPI Index as of 1st October each year.

• Annual cost of living CPI rises will apply for staff if the company achieves turnover above its minimum target for the preceding financial year.
• If you have passed your probation, you will receive your raise in the October payroll.
• For those team members who joined prior to 1st October of that year, but haven’t yet passed probation, you will receive your raise in the month you successfully complete it and it will be the same percentage as of 1st October CPI that year.
• If you joined on or after 1st October (that year), you will not be eligible for a cost of living raise until the following October.
• If you are leaving during October you will not receive the cost of living raise.

Pensions #

dxw provides a pension which is operated by Aviva. Once you have passed your 3 month check in, you will be auto enrolled into the scheme, receive details by post of the necessary employer/employee contributions and have the option to set your percentage or opt out.

dxw will match any contribution up to 5%.

Your contribution will be relief at source, with 0.8 deducted from your monthly salary and the additional 0.2 added from tax relief.

For more details on Relief at Source, please visit the Aviva website.

Holiday #

We offer 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays each calendar year. If you are working part-time or on a fixed-term contract with us, the amount of holiday you are entitled to will be pro-rated.

The holiday year at dxw runs between 1st January and 31st December, and you are able to carry over up 5 days of unused leave to the following year, if desired.

Booking holiday #

1. Discuss the dates with your team and delivery lead

   This gives them a chance to manage any impact it might have on the wider team and the project.

2. Request the holiday through BreatheHR

   We use BreatheHR to track who’s off and when, so we can plan for it. Your line manager can then see and approve your request.

3. Add your holiday to your Google calendar

   If someone is trying to find out where you are, or when you’re available, the first thing they’ll check is your calendar.

   When you are on a client project, you may also need to add your holiday to a shared or team calendar. Check with your delivery lead.

Your line manager will normally approve requests that are for 10 days or less and made at least 4 weeks in advance. Anything longer or requested with less notice will need to be managed to understand its impact on client, team or personal work.

When your planned leave has been approved, it will be automatically added to Productive. Each member of our delivery team uses the tool to record the days they work on client projects on a weekly basis.

There is more information about dxw’s holiday arrangements in your contract of employment.

TOIL (Time off in lieu) #

Where possible we try to keep a sustainable pace of work and avoid working outside normal hours; occasionally this might not be possible.

How is TOIL calculated? #

TOIL (time off in lieu) is awarded when you work over and above your contracted working hours continuously for a period of time or when you attend/travel to an event outside of your contracted working hours. TOIL should be agreed with your delivery lead or line manager ahead of doing the extra work.

We encourage you to use your TOIL within the two weeks of extra work or event attended as it’s meant to be for resting and making up for working at a sustainable pace. We know this may not be feasible in every case so please speak to your Line Manager or a member of the HR team if you have any questions.

There are two options of how to use your TOIL, you can calculate the amount of hours you have accrued (i.e. half a day) and take it off at once or take a couple of hours a day spread over a period of time. Planning when you’ll take TOIL is important, particularly if you’re working on a billable project so please speak to your Delivery Lead before doing any overtime and arrange when you’ll be able to take the time back.

How to request TOIL? #

Using BreatheHR similar to the way that you request holiday, there is a TOIL drop down, please write a note as to why you are requesting the leave and this will be approved by a member of the People team. Please note this will not deduct from your holiday allowance shown on your BreatheHR dashboard.

Sickness #

This policy covers both short and longer term sickness absences. Our aim is to look after the health and wellbeing of all dxw staff and the needs of the company.

Communication of sickness #

If you’re sick, you must let your line manager and a member of the People team know by 10:00am or as soon as you reasonably can after that. This can be done via email, directly on Slack, phone call or text. Line managers will record and monitor sickness for individuals within their teams.

If you are unwell and know that you are going to be off for a period of time, or have been signed off by your GP until a certain date, you don’t need to update your line manager daily. Let them know when you will be checking in again so they know when to expect to hear from you.

When you return to work, you must check your sickness has been correctly recorded in BreatheHR, update it if necessary and mark yourself as returned to work. Your line manager will then review and close the sick leave. If you’re sick for more than 7 calendar days in a row, you’ll also need to provide a doctor’s note.

Absence meetings #

Your line manager should check-in with you on a regular basis about your wellbeing, and catch up with you after any sickness absence to see how you are. If you’re sick for more than 7 working days over a rolling 12 month period, your line manager will invite you to an absence meeting to discuss your health. Where appropriate, we’ll talk about how we can support your return to work and any temporary or permanent adjustments which might help improve your wellbeing and support you to need fewer absences. We might also agree an action plan and / or a review period. Where we think it would be helpful, we’ll seek advice via an Occupational Health advisor.

If you have a long term health condition and would like to discuss reasonable adjustments and ways of working that will help, we welcome a conversation at any point. The sooner we know, the sooner we can support you.

Reasonable Adjustments #

A reasonable adjustment is “a change to remove or reduce the effect of an employees’ disability or long term health condition so they can do their job”. If you would like to discuss ways of working and reasonable adjustments that will help you, please talk to your line manager or the People team at any point. The sooner we know, the sooner we can support you. We will never use the disclosure of a disability or long term health condition against you.

We’ll organise a meeting (or a series of meetings if needed) between you, your line manager, and the People team where we will discuss any difficulties you are facing and how dxw are able to support you. If there is any additional support we can reasonably give you, for example changes to your working pattern or working environment, we will. We need to balance dxw’s financial sustainability and the unavoidable impact of any adjustments made on your teams with your needs to make sure we are able to give fair and consistent treatment to everyone in need of adjustments, but we will make every effort to make working at dxw as healthy and sustainable for you as we can.

If you need further support, in addition to any support we are able to provide you as an employer and through occupational health, there may be state provided benefits that apply to you. These may include disability and sickness benefits or the Access to Work scheme. If you would like support finding, understanding, or applying for alternatives outside of dxw please discuss this with your line manager or our people manager.

Pay #

Within any rolling 12 month period, a person will receive:

• full pay for the first 12 days of sickness absence
• half pay (but no less than living wage) for the next 8 days of sickness absence
• real living wage for the next 10 days of sickness absence
• statutory sick pay pay after 30 days of sickness absence

There’ll be circumstances where we’ll make exceptions, because it’s not possible to write a policy that is fair in every situation. This structure will form our starting point for those decisions. All decisions on exceptions will be made by the Directors’ group. Our aim is to ensure that we’re treating everyone fairly and consistently, while being aware of our financial requirements.

Long term medical treatment #

Regular and open communication with your line manager is important so we can support you in the best possible way through a period of long term medical treatment (a period of more than 2 weeks).

If you require long term medical treatment that would affect your ability to work as normal, but you are still able to work, we will support this wherever we can. We may consider a change of project or role where that’s an option.

If you finish your treatment, your line manager will organise a meeting to aid your return to work, or to normal working hours, and ensure your ongoing wellbeing is supported. We may look at a phased return for example.

Escalation #

If your sickness absence continues for 3 months after an absence meeting, your line manager will set up a further meeting to discuss your situation. We will look to make any further reasonable adjustments to help you get back working. This might include looking for a suitable alternative role that fits your circumstances better.

Where we’re unable to reach an agreement that means you’re able to maintain a reasonable level of attendance for work, we may consider your dismissal. We will only do this after we have exhausted all other options.

Medical appointments #

We support staff who need regular time off for medical appointments or counselling. If you need to attend an appointment, you should talk to your line manager. For meetings of a couple of hours or so (including travel time), your line manager will usually ask you to try to make the hours up during the week. If the time off is longer but less frequent, the hours can be made up over a longer period of time.

If you need to attend a one off appointment or an appointment for a dependent let your line manager or delivery lead know as far in advance as possible. If you are going to be away from work for more than half a day then you will need to track it through BreatheHR.

In both cases, this might mean a conversation with your delivery lead or equivalent to make sure work is managed in the best way. If it’s not possible to recover the time taken in a flexible way, for example, due to the amount or pattern of time needed, your line manager may need to refer to another one of our policies. That might include considering a part-time working pattern.

Compassionate leave #

If you need to take compassionate leave, let your line manager and the People team know, so we can support you in the right way. If you are on a project, we can then work with your delivery lead to manage the impact on the team.

Compassionate leave is likely to affect many of us at some time or other, in many different ways. Typically compassionate leave covers things like bereavement or the sudden illness of close relatives and friends. But we understand that loss can manifest itself in other forms which can affect your wellbeing.

This policy aims to set some guidance for line managers while also allowing reasonable flexibility to reflect different circumstances.

In the first instance, line managers can allow up to 3 days of paid compassionate leave. They should consult their Director for approval if they think further paid leave may be appropriate in the circumstances.

Our automatic parental bereavement entitlement is 2 weeks of paid leave, as set out by ACAS.

There is the option for additional time off to be taken using annual or unpaid leave. This should be agreed between the line manager and Director, in consultation with the People team. We can also provide support for people returning to work in line with our existing policies.

To record compassionate leave in BreatheHR, choose Other as the Type of Leave, and choose Compassionate as the Reason.

Jury duty leave #

Jury duty leave is generally paid for each day (or part thereof) that you are required to attend Court -

• if you are required to complete Jury Service dxw will pay your normal salary less £64.95 per day. Once you have completed your Jury Service you are able to claim £64.95 towards your loss of earnings, and any care or childcare outside of your usual arrangements here
• dxw will re-consider the payment amount if an individual is on a case that exceeds 4 weeks. This amount will be reviewed by Directors and a decision will be made with the individual

Let your line manager or the People team know as soon as you are able that you have been requested for Jury Service with a copy of your jury summons

Parental leave #

We’re aware that there is a lot to take in here - please come and talk to the People team if you have questions about anything (when you’re ready).

While many terms around parental leave are gendered, gender is not a factor in what leave you are entitled to from dxw. What matters is whether you, or your partner if you have one, are pregnant, adopting or having a baby through surrogacy.

We also make a distinction based on whether you are a primary carer (the person who will be on parental leave for the longer period of time) or a secondary carer (the person who will be returning to work first) as there will be differences in both the statutory and dxw entitlement.

This policy will be reviewed in May 2022.

Understanding your entitlement #

We’ve detailed the different entitlements that dxw offer in addition to your statutory entitlement below. There’s an online calculator for working out your statutory entitlement. If you’d like support working out your anticipated pay and you’re ready to share the news even just with a select few, you can speak to the People team for a personal breakdown of your entitlement.

If you’re having IVF or another fertility treatment #

If you share with us that you are undergoing fertility treatment you will be supported in the same way as for other longer term medical treatment. Regular, open and confidential communication with your line manager will be important, so we can support you in the best possible way.

If you’re pregnant #

Summary: In most cases, you will be paid 100% of your normal salary for the first 18 weeks of leave, reduced to the government statutory rate per week for the following 21 weeks.

What you are legally entitled to: #

If you’re pregnant, you’ll be entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave (SML) and probably entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). Statutory Maternity Leave entitles you to 52 weeks leave, made up of Ordinary Maternity Leave for the first 26 weeks and Additional Maternity Leave for the last 26 weeks.

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid by the government for up to 39 weeks. They will pay you 90% of your normal salary for the first 6 weeks of your leave. You must have worked for dxw for 26 weeks before your qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth) to be eligible for SMP or you will be entitled to Maternity Allowance instead.

What dxw offers in addition: #

If you are the primary carer, dxw will pay you 100% of your salary for the next 12 weeks of your leave and will top up your first 6 weeks of SMP (if you are entitled to it) to 100%. This contribution is called Occupational Maternity Pay (OMP) . Taken together, this means that you would have 18 weeks of leave on 100% of your normal salary.

As with all company benefits, you will be entitled to Occupational Maternity Pay once you are no longer on your probationary period. For the Statutory Maternity Pay eligibility criteria, please refer to government eligibility information for maternity pay.

After the 18 weeks, your pay will then reduce to the government statutory rate for maternity pay per week for the following 21 weeks.

A person giving birth must take at least the first 2 weeks after the birth as parental leave.

When you know you are pregnant please tell us as soon as you are comfortable. We can restrict this knowledge to your Director, Line Manager and People team and it will allow us to check that your working arrangements are safe, help you manage any pregnancy related sickness and make sure you are paid for time off for antenatal care appointments. Legally you don’t have to make us aware until 15 weeks before your due date. We will require a MATB1 certificate ahead of your parental leave, the earlier we receive this, the earlier we can help with calculations.

Please refer here for further statutory terms around pregnancy.

If you’re adopting #

Summary: In most cases, you will be paid 100% of your normal salary for the first 18 weeks of leave, reduced to the government statutory rate per week for the following 21 weeks.

What you are legally entitled to: #

If you are adopting, you’ll probably be eligible for Statutory Adoption Leave and Statutory Adoption Pay. Statutory Adoption Leave entitles you to 52 weeks of leave, made up of 26 weeks of Ordinary Adoption Leave and 26 weeks of Additional Adoption Leave.

Statutory Adoption Pay is paid by the government for up to 39 weeks. The government will pay you 90% of your normal salary for the first 6 weeks of your leave. You must have worked for dxw for at least 26 weeks by the week you were matched with a child and give at least 28 days notice of the adoption leave. Proof of adoption is required to qualify for Statutory Adoption Pay.

What dxw offers in addition: #

If you are the primary carer, dxw will pay you 100% of your salary for the next 12 weeks of your leave and top up the first 6 weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay (if you are entitled to it) to 100%. Taken together, this means that you would have 18 weeks of leave on 100% of your normal salary.

As with all company benefits, you will be entitled to Occupational Adoption Pay once you are no longer on your probationary period. For the Statutory Adoption Pay eligibility criteria, please refer to government eligibility information for adoption pay.

Your pay will then reduce to the government statutory rate for adoption pay per week for the following 21 weeks.

Only 1 person in a couple can take statutory adoption leave. The other partner could get secondary carer leave/pay instead (see secondary carer section below).

If you are taking adoption leave, you are entitled to paid time off work to attend 5 adoption appointments after you’ve been matched with a child.

If you’re having baby through surrogacy #

Summary: In most cases, you will be paid 100% of your normal salary for the first 18 weeks of leave, reduced to the government statutory rate per week for the following 21 weeks.

What you are legally entitled to: #

If you are having a baby through surrogacy, you’ll probably be eligible for Statutory Adoption Leave and Statutory Adoption Pay. Assuming you are entitled to Statutory Adoption Leave, this entitles you to 52 weeks of leave, made up of 26 weeks of Ordinary Adoption Leave and 26 weeks of Additional Adoption Leave.

Statutory Adoption Pay is paid for up to 39 weeks. The government will pay you 90% of your normal salary for the first six 6 weeks of your leave. You must have worked for dxw for at least 26 weeks by the week and advise us by way of a statutory declaration at least 15 weeks before the expected week of birth.

What dxw offers in addition: #

If you are the primary carer, dxw will pay you 100% of your salary for the next 12 weeks of your leave and top up the first 6 weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay (if you are entitled to it) to 100%. Taken together, this means that you would have 18 weeks of leave on 100% of your normal salary.

As with all company benefits, you will be entitled to Occupational Adoption Pay once you are no longer on your probationary period. For the Statutory Adoption Pay eligibility criteria, please refer to government eligibility information for adoption pay.

Your pay will then reduce to the government statutory rate for adoption pay per week for the following 21 weeks.

Only 1 person in a couple can take adoption leave. The other partner could get secondary carer leave/pay instead (see secondary carer section below).

If you are the secondary carer #

As a reminder, the primary carer is the person who will be on parental leave for the longer period of time. The secondary carer is the person who will be returning to work first.

The main statutory entitlement for secondary carers is still known as paternity leave, and that is the only reason we use the term in this context.

Summary: In most cases, you will be paid 100% of your normal salary for 5 weeks.

What you are legally entitled to: #

If your partner is pregnant, you are adopting, or you are having a baby through surrogacy, you’ll probably be eligible for Statutory Paternity Leave (SPL) and Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) or Statutory Adoption Leave and Statutory Adoption Pay.

SPL may be taken for one or two consecutive weeks, between the date of birth and 56 days afterwards. You can find the current SPP rate here.

What dxw offers in addition: #

dxw will instead pay you 100% of your normal salary for 5 weeks of parental leave. You may take these consecutively or separately during the first year from birth/adoption. If you want to take more than 5 weeks of leave you can use shared parental leave (see below).

If you are going to become the primary carer for any reason (for example medical incapacity, or bereavement) within the first 18 weeks from the birth or adoption of a child, dxw will consider your eligibility for 100% pay in line with our offer for primary carers. Please approach the Head of People to discuss this.

As with all company benefits, you will be entitled to these once you are no longer on your probationary period.

Shared parental leave #

If you’re having a baby, adopting a child, or having a baby through surrogacy, you may be eligible for Shared Parental Leave and Pay. There are a lot of factors to eligibility, please refer to the government site to review your particular circumstances.

If you’re eligible and you or your partner ends maternity or adoption leave and pay (or Maternity Allowance) early, then you can:

• take the rest of the 50 weeks of maternity or adoption leave as Shared Parental Leave (SPL)
• take the rest of the 37 weeks of maternity or adoption pay (or Maternity Allowance) as Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP). ShPP is paid at the current rate per week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

If you’re interested in taking this up, please talk to the People team. As with all company benefits, you will be entitled to these once you are no longer on your probationary period.

Keeping in touch (KIT) days #

For pregnancy, adoption and surrogacy, the primary carer has 10 paid KIT days to take during their parental leave, if they wish to come in for departmental meetings, events or just to spend some time with the team.

Those on shared parental leave can each work up to 20 days while taking SPL. These are called ‘Shared Parental Leave in touch’ (or SPLIT) days. These days are in addition to the 10 ‘keeping in touch’ (or KIT) days available to the primary carer.

This won’t affect your statutory pay and dxw will top this up so you receive a normal day’s pay for each KIT/SPLIT day.

Returning to work #

Returning to work is a personal decision - the earliest you can return to work legally after giving birth is 2 weeks, and you can take up to 52 weeks of parental leave in total. Speak with your line manager when you have an idea of how long you would like to take. You are free to change your mind while on parental leave, as long as 8 weeks notice is given for an intended change to your return date.

You may wish to consider a phased return when you do come back and this can also be discussed with your line manager. If for some reason you decide not to return to work, we do not expect you to pay back any of your parental leave.

Holiday accrual #

All carers will continue to accrue holiday while they are on parental leave and any bank holidays that they miss will be added to their holiday entitlement when they return to work. They can choose to use this annual leave before or after their parental leave, or have some paid out during their parental leave.

Flexible working #

We aim to offer flexibility for people looking for a part-time role or a role with flexible hours. Our policy is informed by the way we work and the way we charge clients for our time.

If you have an alternative working arrangement, you should make sure it’s reflected in your calendar so the rest of the team can be confident in knowing when you are and aren’t around.

Requesting a change of working arrangement #

If you would like to discuss a change to your working pattern, first speak to your line manager. They will discuss your request, and look at the impact on the team and your work.

Any changes to working patterns are agreed at our discretion and your line manager should review them with you from time to time, to check they are still working for you and dxw.

Once you would like to progress with a new flexible working pattern, please fill in the change of working pattern request form and the People team will make the necessary changes.

Normal working pattern #

The normal working pattern is 5 days per week, Monday to Friday, and 7 hours per day (excluding a break for lunch).

Part time working #

Weekly or fortnightly working patterns #

We’re happy to talk about a 3 or 4 day week, a 9 day fortnight, or a shorter working day, where it makes sense for your role. This will depend on the nature of your role, client, and dxw needs, and the impact on other team members.

Part time roles have their salary and holiday allowances (including bank holidays) prorated.

For example, when working a 4 day week, the pro rata leave allowance will be 20 days per year of annual leave and 6.5 bank holiday days, giving a total leave allowance of 26.5 days.

Note that you must book bank holidays that fall on a working day as annual leave in BreatheHR when following this working pattern.

Working patterns over longer periods #

As an alternative to a working pattern that reduces your days or hours in a week, we’re happy to talk about working patterns that involve a regular number of weeks working full-time, followed by some full weeks off.

For example, you might work 4 weeks full-time and have your fifth week off, and repeat that on a 5 week cycle: 4 weeks on, 1 week off, 4 weeks on, 1 week off, etc. Alternatively, you might work during school term times, and take the school holidays off.

This pattern works by reducing your salary and borrowing from the pro rata holiday and bank holiday allowance, increasing your total time off but reducing your freely placed holiday allowance. Your annual free holiday allowance might vary year by year depending on how the weeks and bank holidays land in the year, so the pattern must have enough free holiday to cover the maximum number of days you would need off while still allowing you to take some ad hoc holidays throughout the year.

As a rough guide on how different patterns would impact your salary:

• 7 weeks on, 1 week off: 90-95% FTE salary
• 6 weeks on, 1 week off: 85-90% FTE salary
• 5 weeks on, 1 week off: 85-90% FTE salary
• 4 weeks on, 1 week off: 80-85% FTE salary
• school term on, school holidays off: 70% FTE salary

We are happy to discuss the details and work out the best pattern for you.

Compressed hours #

Working with compressed hours involves working your full hours in fewer days. For example, 35 hours in 4 days, from 09:30 to 18:45.

We are happy to discuss compressed hours for all roles but cannot guarantee this will always be an option. Arrangements must be sustainable for your wellbeing and productivity and the needs of the role.

For working patterns with an equal number of hours every day, holiday allowance will be prorated in the same way as for part-time roles. Working patterns with varied daily hours have annual leave prorated and calculated in hours (231 hours per year). You must book bank holidays that fall on working days as leave in BreatheHR.

Returners’ programme #

We offer a returners’ programme for people who are returning to work after a prolonged break. As part of this, we’re able to offer a phased return to work. If this interests you, please talk to us when applying.

Remote working/location #

We are able to work successfully in a remote capacity, from our homes. On occasions, it may be necessary to work from one of our office spaces, a client location or another location approved by dxw in order to complete a specific task. It is important that you remain contactable and productive.

Changing your working arrangement #

If you would like to discuss a change to the standard working pattern, you can either speak to your line manager or the People team. In this initial conversation, we will discuss your request, look at the impact on the team and your work, agree the best time for this arrangement to begin and how it will be communicated to those necessary.

If you have an alternative working arrangement, you should make sure it’s reflected in your calendar so the rest of the team can be confident in knowing when you are and aren’t around.

Grievances #

If you have a grievance about your employment or a complaint about another member of staff, talk to the CEO as soon as possible.

The first step is to discuss the problem to see if it can be quickly resolved.

If this discussion does not satisfactorily resolve the problem, you should put details of your grievance in writing and send it to the CEO. They will arrange a meeting to discuss the matter, at which you may be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official. Following this discussion the CEO will provide a written response.

If you disagree with this response or the matter remains unresolved, you may appeal by responding in writing. A further meeting will be arranged and the CEO will again respond in writing. This decision will be final.

Disciplinary procedure #

If you do something that we feel constitutes misconduct, or your performance in your job has been poor, we’ll talk to you about it. Hopefully, there’s just been some misunderstanding, or some problem that’s easy to solve and won’t recur. Formal action will not be taken without careful investigation of the facts.

If we feel it’s appropriate, we may verbally warn you, explaining what has been unacceptable and what you need to do to improve your conduct or performance.

If your conduct or performance fails to improve following a verbal warning, or if the matter is serious enough that a verbal warning is not appropriate, we may hold a disciplinary meeting at which you may be accompanied or represented by a colleague or trade union official. Following this meeting, we may:

• Conclude that no misconduct has taken place, or that there is no poor performance

• Issue you with a written warning, which will explain:

  • The nature of the misconduct or poor performance
  • The change to your behaviour or performance that you need to make
  • The time within which the change needs to be made
  • The consequences of not making the change (for example, dismissal)
• In cases of gross misconduct, dismiss you without notice

If you disagree with the outcome of this hearing, you may appeal against the decision. You must do this in writing. If you do so, your appeal and the circumstances of your case will be reviewed by a member of staff who has not been involved in your case before. That member of staff and the CEO will then meet to discuss your case, and will either uphold the outcome or schedule another disciplinary meeting. dxw’s decision following that meeting will be final.