Many EYPs, alongside their colleagues across early years, feel that these are very uncertain times.
Inevitably the stresses around budgets, priorities, and local and national policy, all have an impact in our own workplaces too.
So here’s just a brief summary of five things you can do if/when things at work become a bit stressful or difficult
- start taking notes of meetings and incidents: especially meetings where priorities are agreed, specific issues are recognised, or decisions made
- get hold of your employer’s policies and read them: you never lose out by knowing where your organisation’s policies are stored or what they say
- be careful + thoughtful in your own behaviours: your best protection at any time of difficulty or stress, whether related to you personally, to budgets or to wider issues, is to make sure your own behaviour and performance is beyond reproach!
- if you get worried, alert your union rep just in case: don’t wait until the crisis hits; as soon as things start to look as if they might be difficult mention it to your local representative. If you don’t have a local representative think about becoming one!
- make sure your job description and/or role profile is up to date: it never does any harm to review the documentation around your role, and the performance management documentation to check it is up-to-date
And finally – when times get challenging you all need to be a member of a union. So if you’re reading this but haven’t joined Aspect yet – do so NOW! To join Aspect simply click here to fill in our online form.
More generally, it is also important to encourage all your colleagues to join a union so you’re all protected. That might well be Aspect for them too, but if they aren’t sure, signpost them here for support to help them find the right union.
Above all, get your support and protection in place now!
