Outside commitments guidance - Code of Conduct - Employment

Where an employee wishes to set up a business or take a second job outside of the council they must notify their line manager and ask for permission. Managers must not unreasonably stop employees from taking additional employment provided it does not conflict with the Council’s interests or cause the manager to be concerned for the health and wellbeing of staff. Managers must not unreasonably object to second employment and for more junior roles, i.e. grade 9 and below, there should be a presumption that requests will be approved unless there is clear evidence of a potential conflict or potential harm to staff or service users. This is because conflicts are more likely to occur the greater decision making or advice giving responsibility the role holds.

When considering whether or not it is reasonable to object to the proposed job or business managers are also expected to have regard to:

The time spent at work – all employees need to ensure that they have a suitable work life balance and are not overworking. All employers have an obligation to take reasonable steps to ensure that their workers do not work more than 48 hours per week and that those undertaking heavy physical or mentally straining work do not work for more than 8 hours per day. As a result, it would be more reasonable for a manager to object to an employee undertaking heavy physical activity proposing to undertake an equally demanding job each evening, as this could increase the likelihood of exceeding the relevant legal threshold.

Health and Safety – where the proposed second job exposes the council’s employees, service users or the wider public to a potential hazard, it would be more reasonable for managers to refuse permission. For example, managers are more likely to refuse permission to an employee that works a day shift with the Council and applies to drive taxis late into the night. In this example the employee is unlikely to have sufficient time to rest and so would be more susceptible to exhaustion and the effects of sleep deprivation. This could pose a risk to employees and service users at the council, as well as the wider public on an evening. A similar scenario may occur where a care worker takes night shifts with a home care firm after working for the council during the day. In this scenario sleep deprivation could expose vulnerable service users to risk of harm.

In the examples above it would still be necessary for the manager to consider the details of each case and work with the employee to explore whether the potential challenges can be mitigated. For example, care workers that take a second job on an evening may only work for a short time, i.e. wo hours, which may not detrimentally impact of the safety or service users. Managers are expected to proactively engage with staff on second job requests to find a workable solution to protecting the Council’s interests and staff and service user wellbeing where practicable.

Managers should be clear that there is, or will very likely be a conflict of interests or a working time or health and safety issue that cannot be resolved prior to refusing permission for second jobs. Seeking further advice from People Management is recommended where managers are minded to refuse permission.