Staff Handbook 

Supervision 

We at Remark! practice a fluid management style rather than formal annual appraisals and quarterly supervision meetings, we prefer to practice an "open-door policy". This encourages staff to share joys, raise issues and discuss concerns as and when they arise, rather than waiting for structured meetings.  

With a more flexible supervision scheme we aim to "bounce off" each other on a daily basis, with ad-hoc improvised meetings and discussions whenever needed. 

New staff members are encouraged to communicate with their line manager at least three times a day face to face or via Teams, for their first few months to update on their current tasks, forward plans and general progress. This is to help ensure they gain full understanding of their role and fulfil their potential within it. We at Remark! believe it is vital to foster a close working relationship with your line manager so they can guide you with your work.  If you do not tell your line manager what you are doing on a day to day basis it is more difficult for us to help you. 

Confidentiality Agreement 

As an employee it is your legal duty not to disclose confidential information for your own purpose or discuss it with any third party, or to any future employer. This includes any information which may have been received by you in the course of your employment at Remark!. For example, details of customers, rates, internal communications and so on. This information is regarded as the exclusive property of the employer as stated in the contract of employment. 

In addition, Remark! employees are privy to classified information discussed in the office. We expect all business matters, whether relevant to your role or not, to be dealt with in a confidential and professional manner.  

Code of Conduct 

Remark! expects employees to be punctual within your role. This includes arriving in good time before appointments to prepare where necessary.  If you attend a meeting you should come with a notebook and pen and be ready to start the meeting at the agreed time. 

Remark! wants to promote a positive working culture where employees work together and respect one another. This means maintaining a professional attitude and keeping personal comments and observations to oneself. 

Remark! is a client-led, customer focused organisation. Whether your role is office based or client-facing you represent Remark!, who we are, our values and our goals. To be a Remarkable is to share our efforts and support this collective.  This includes face-to-face contact, via email or telephone.  

Communications at Remark! 

Emails 

At Remark! we aim for emails to be replied to within 24 hours or the next working day. If you cannot respond in full, please answer with an acknowledgement email within 24 hours. 

If you have not finished a job or cannot reply for whatever reason, keep the email as "unread" or flag it up for further attention.   

We require all employees to have Microsoft Teams chat on at all times while working.  Please do not "appear offline" or "busy". If you are working, we assume you are online and are busy. 

Please ensure all your emails have a subject line which is short, succinct and relevant. 

Answering the phone 

At Remark! we aim to answer the phone within 3 rings. 

Please answer the phone with a smile, the caller will hear the smile..."Hello this is Remark! (department). How can I help?" 

Before transferring a call please take the caller's name and number before transferring, in case they get lost in transfer.  

When receiving a brand new enquiry at Remark! please ask the customer/client where they heard about Remark!. This is vital in understanding where we capture our audience and how we can make the business grow. You can note the answer on the database. 

Communication Support Worker 

It is mandatory that all CSWs sit opposite or besides their Deaf colleague. With a balanced seating arrangement, it ensures we can support each other sufficiently. 

Branding & In-house Style 

The Remark! brand colour is blue. You will also find we have secondary colours in our branding, representing each department. All flyers, posters and resource material (including email signatures) must reflect the secondary colour of the department you work in. 

Brand Colours below: 

tbc

Although you may use secondary colours, please always ensure the Remark! blue is the parent colour; it must always be the dominant colour and appear everywhere.  

When writing Remark! please always include the exclamation mark. This is an integral part of our name, therefore, whether you are writing by hand, email, text, or even sign, make sure you include ! don't miss it out. 

Our in-house font is Verdana. All written documents must be set to Verdana. This will make us clear and consistent.  

Your email Signature should look something like this: 

Requesting Annual Leave  

When booking Annual Leave please follow this process: 

• Email your line manager the dates you would like to take as annual leave 

• Your line manager will reply to approve or discuss further 

• If approved, your line manager will forward the email to the Managing Director 

• We will book it onto the annual leave system & confirm your remaining leave  

• Only once we have both confirmed, you are granted the requested leave 

• Once granted, you are responsible for adding this to your Outlook Calendar 

• Please do not book any flights/tickets until we have both confirmed your leave. 

Remark! does not permit employees to carry over holiday into the next calendar year. This may only be granted in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the employee’s Line Manager. If carry over days have been allowed, they must be used by 31st January of the next calendar year. 

Compassionate Leave 

If you would like to request time off as compassionate leave, this must be requested at the earliest instance, to your Line Manager. 

It is not legally required that employers grant paid compassionate leave. However, Remark! management as introduced the following policy: 

Employees may take one day of paid bereavement leave for the shock/grief of any close family member.  (Usually parents, siblings, children, partners, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts/uncles and nieces/nephews.) 

Employees may take one day of paid leave to attend the funeral of any of the following: parents, siblings, children, partners, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts/uncles and nieces/nephews. 

TOIL and Overtime  

If your working hours vary slightly to your normal day please make sure you change your hours to still work a normal 8 hour day. For example, if you will be finishing at 7pm, your working day will be 11am - 7pm.  

All TOIL must be agreed with your line manager beforehand. 

If you would like to be paid overtime instead of TOIL please request this from your line manager beforehand. 

If you are late for work for any reason, please make sure you make up the time at the end of the day. 

Working From Home 

Most staff are office based.  If you have any particular circumstances in which you need to work from home you must have this authorised by your Line Manager beforehand.  For example, you have a meeting in the afternoon nearer your home you may request to work from home that morning.  

The Working from Home policy sheet must be read and signed by any employee before working from home. This must be returned to your Line Manager. 

All working from home privileges should be agreed with your Line Manager beforehand and an email summary of the work you have completed in that time should be emailed to them at the end of the day/part day.  

Signing in 

Within some departments, employees will have an arrangement with their line  

manager to “sign in” and “sign out” via text.  This is to mark the start and end of their working day if you are not working in the office. It is vital you do this, so that Remark! as your employer, knows where you are and can ensure you are safe during your working hours. Failure to sign in and out appropriately if will be treated seriously.  

In addition you can “sign in” if you do not feel safe while on a booking – text your line manager to sign in, say where you are and when you are expecting to finish. They will then monitor their phone to ensure you “sign out” safely. 

When taking lunch breaks within your department, please be sure to take your break at different times, to avoid the phones left unattended. 

Staff Training 

Remark! prides itself in investing in the skills of its workforce. In return, we ask for your commitment to Remark!. Before attending the Training you will be asked to sign a Training Agreement. The terms of the agreement ask the employee to commit to Remark! for a specific period of time from the course end date. Should you leave Remark!, for whatever reason, before the agreed date you will be expected to reimburse Remark! the full value of the course. 

General Housekeeping 

Environment 

Remark! strives to be “green” in terms of looking after the environment. On every floor you will find General Waste Bins, Recycling Waste Bins and Paper Waste Bins. We strongly encourage you to use them and help us reduce our carbon footprint. 

In addition, we ask all employees to shut down their computer AND turn off their monitor every day. An electrical item left on standby can use up to 12 watts an hour. With 8760 hours in a year, it will use 106kWh per year. This equates to £15 to do nothing. With dozens of computers at Remark!, that’s a huge waste of energy (and money!). Please shut down your computer and switch off your monitor. 

At Remark! we aim to maintain a clean and pleasant environment for all. We encourage a collective effort to wash up your own cups and glasses at the end of the day, to support each other and the cleaning team.  

We have lockers to store away your possessions to minimise Health and Safety risks. And to avoid unwanted visitors, please do not leave food and drink remains in the office.  

When printing documents please be sure the document is final before printing. On occasions, the printer may be slow or there may be a queue. Be patient and do not press print again, this will waste paper and ink. If printing handbooks print one prototype first, if the prototype is faultless, then print more. We have seen twenty copies of documents be printed at once and then thrown due to  

errors. Please don’t do this. 

Domestic 

There is a fridge to store food and drink. You can write your name on items should you wish. Please ensure you dispose of any perishable products in a timely manner.  

If you are the last person in the office please be sure to close all windows, fire doors, turn off the lights and put the security bar across and lock the Aspire floor. 

Heating/cooling the office can be difficult, given how old the building is.  

On the top floor is a radiator under the stairwell window which is self-sufficient. It stays on permanently and will turn itself off once the desired temperature is met. Please DO NOT switch this off or interfere with any heating/cooling devices other than the ceiling units. Please also do not hide the remote control. As a Remark! employee we expect you to adopt a utilitarian attitude to your work and those around you.