Introduction

In this section we will consider how people may be managed in a radio station. In particular we will focus on the selection and retention of personnel (both paid staff and volunteers) and outline practical means to recruit them and how a station manager is affected by legislation. Finally we look at several examples of radio training initiatives relating to radio management and developing skills within in the community radio sector.

Managing People

It is generally the case that the largest cost area that a radio station manager has control over is the human resources. Indeed, given the fact that transmission, distribution, premises, capital, copyright and licence costs are usually fixed or agreed in long-term contracts it may be the only significant area over which the manager can have any influence over the day-to-day costs of the service.

Technical broadcast specifications are now so standardised, and easily achievable using off-the-shelf equipment, that only the human input, rather than any inherent physical characteristics of the service, defines the difference between one station and another. For any service recruiting, motivating and retaining the right people is crucial to the character and effectiveness of the operation.

Block (2001: 175) points out: "Management is not just about the process of production; it is as much to do with managing people". This is particularly true in a business like radio, where there is no tangible raw material, stock or physical product, where the impression created by the staff is everything.

Recent years have seen a daunting increase in the UK employment legislation and regulation that impacts on broadcasting where traditionally part-time, freelance and even volunteer workers filled roles at the bottom of the employment hierarchy. Many senior figures in the sector tell of their beginnings answering the telephones or making coffee in a local radio station for little or no pay. Most radio presenters have experience of holding down a regular programme slot while under no explicit contract. Before the trend towards automation and network programming in off-peak hours such day parts, for example the overnight shift, gave many presenters and other staff their first step on the ladder to a full-time position.

Like any other business a radio station is fully covered by regulations such as the Working Time Directive and The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 that guarantee minimum working conditions, maternity and paternity leave and pay. Similarly legislation including the Race Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Disability Discrimination Act and Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age. Recent legislation effectively requiring that short-term contract and part-time workers are offered the same employment rights and privileges (pro-rata) as full time employees may considerably change the way the radio sector is structured.

None of this should be too daunting for the well-prepared manager, however, if a clear process is followed at each stage:

1. Identify the role to be filled and whether it really requires a staff position, could the work, for example, be contracted out to another company?

2. Prepare a person specification. What skills, experience and personal characteristics will be required?

3. Decide whether the role can most effectively be filled in as a full-time or part-time staff position, on a fixed-term contract or by casual freelance labour. Community stations may wish to fill a role on a voluntary basis.

4. Fairly advertise the position, internally and/or externally to the organisation as appropriate.

5. Operate a fair and thorough selection process.

6. Give the successful candidate a clear job description with simply understood requirements and objectives and a formal contract of employment.

7. Provide regular constructive feedback on how the individual is performing in relation to your expectations, supplying additional motivation if required. This may be as part of an annual appraisal system.

8. In the event of any shortcomings offer training, support or correction as appropriate.

9. Offer opportunities for personal development and progress within the organisation.

10. Where necessary invoke the disciplinary procedure or identify poor performance in order to justify dismissal.

11. Maintain clear and consistent written records of the above.

The organisation must be able must be able to demonstrate at a later date that it followed a fair and objective selection process. A confidential record of each of the above requirements and procedures should be retained, for example simply by keeping the notes of any short-listing or interviews, in order to defend against any accusations of unfairness or discrimination from the individual or others who might feel damaged by the manager's decisions. The manager must keep themselves up to date with the relevant provisions of employment law, discrimination legislation and tax policies, here we will limit ourselves to identifying the key matters to be considered at each of the above stages.

1. Identify the role

In a rapidly changing industry planned and unplanned staff changes can offer the manager a valuable opportunity to look again at the structure of the organisation, the distribution of work within the team, and the grade of individual required.

Given the necessary, and quite appropriate, overheads of staff employment it is not surprising that a growing number of radio station functions are sub-contracted to outside companies. Where a typical small radio station of the 1970s might have employed some forty people, now it might directly employ ten or fewer; where a company employed its own overnight security guards it will now use an outside security firm or a centrally-monitored alarm system; commercials can be produced to order by an outside studio at standard rates and instantly fed to the station by email or ISDN lines; outstanding accounts can be chased by a credit agency; and engineers called upon only when there is a technical problem or project instead of paying their salary every day?

There are two further advantages to farming-out work areas: first the station hives-off the cost of the associated overheads, perhaps not requiring a newsroom or fully- equipped engineering workshop; second it pays by the results delivered, not the hours worked. When launching a new service this means knowing in advance exactly how much support services or commercials will cost, and what can be expected for the money.

Nevertheless there will always be certain core functions over which the manager will wish to retain direct control, including, for instance, the editorial content of the programmes and the fund-raising strategy of the station.

2. The person specification

The easiest way to recruit is to know exactly what you are looking for. Before considering the job's remuneration and relative position in the department, the manager needs to decide what kind of person would be able to undertake the role. A candidate profile should be drawn up that includes a list of the skills, attributes, knowledge and experience required and any qualifications necessary to perform the job. It should also provide details of any personal qualities relevant to the post such as the ability to work as part of a team, to communicate effectively or to present confidently to clients

3. Employment status

Within the typical radio station tasks may be quite properly undertaken by full- or part-time staff, staff on fixed-term contracts, freelance labour or volunteers. The manager must understand which status is appropriate to which roles.

Many different companies have adopted a 'flexible firm' structure where they retain only a small dedicated core of key staff and many functions are then contracted-out or performed by freelance workers paid by the task rather than by the hour (Atkinson 1984 and 1988). In a rapidly changing sector whilst it is appropriate to minimise the number of individuals on the staff of an individual radio service a manager should show commitment towards their staff and in return receive their loyalty to the radio station. A full employment commitment with a new individual should thus only be given where there is a reasonable chance of it remaining a long-term relationship. Where tasks reflect peaks and troughs of demand, or a temporary need, they should be covered using short-term contracts.

There is a long-standing acceptance that performers such as radio presenters may be regarded as self-employed freelances. In some situations the same status may be applied to news or sports reporters, researchers, consultants, or engineers. To be accepted as self-employed the individual will usually have to be able to supply both the same or similar service to other companies, and also their own tools where appropriate. You may employ a sports journalist to phone-in a report at the end of a soccer match and send them a cheque for their fee. But if the same journalist came in to your newsroom to work a week of day shifts you would almost certainly become responsible for deducting tax. The Inland Revenue permit full-time presenters to remain self-employed in certain circumstances, but the wording of any contract should be considered very carefully. The manager must be careful to confirm the exact position in each case because the employer can be held responsible for any outstanding amount, even if the station believed the performer to be self-employed.

In many cases, such as the newsroom role described above, it may be safer to bring the individual in on a fixed term staff contract. The company will deduct tax and NI contributions from wages but a contract will clearly state that the employment is for a limited period with a fixed end-date.

The fixed-term contract is ideal for those situations where the manager cannot be certain whether there will be a need for a particular job function in a years time, for example a development worker or someone undertaking a specific project or programme. However there are snags: given a contract with a fixed end-date the individual may be harder to dismiss prior to that date if you change your mind than if they were in a probationary period as permanent staff; and recent UK legislation generally requires that part-time, short-term and agency workers are given the same employment rights and privileges as their full-time colleagues, pro-rata to the time worked.

Many tasks in a radio station lend themselves to part-time and casual work: a lot of administrative work has natural peaks and troughs; some programmes need more support than others; the station may only need roadshow staff on a few days each summer. For this reason, and to provide emergency sickness and holiday cover, it makes sense to establish a pool of readily available local people who can be relied upon for help in each department when needed. The manager should establish standard hourly rates for each area of part-time work in order to avoid lengthy and pointless negotiation with each individual. Fixing an hourly rate for each task also ensures that an administrative assistant in sales does not get a higher rate in sales than in programmes or vice versa.

It is good policy to maintain a reasonably large pool of casual labour and avoid giving too much work to any one person. Not only does this make it more likely that someone will always be available when needed but it also avoids any one individual working for so many hours per week regularly over a long period that they will become entitled to full employment rights by default.

On whatever basis an individual is employed, unless on a fixed-term contract with a clear and final end-date, after the first 12 months of continuous employment they will gain full employment rights. Prior to 12 months employment staff are simply entitled to due notice, however after 12 months the manager will be expected to defend any action leading to the termination of their employment and any compensation and redundancy package conditions become relevant.

Many staff positions are offered subject to a 'probationary period' of perhaps three or six months. While this has little significance under employment law it is a useful device for ensuring that the individual's performance and progress is appropriately monitored and feedback and assistance provided and an early decision is made if the appointment is not successful. To an extent it can make any meeting at which employment is terminated less uncomfortable for both parties if the decision is seen as the culmination of a trial period.

Where a radio service is part of a larger group of companies consideration should be given as to whether it might be more appropriate for the new individual to work for the group rather than an individual radio station, their efforts being more readily directed towards different services as demand changes over time.

Whilst a community radio service may be largely run by volunteers with perhaps only one or two co-ordinating roles taken by paid staff a clear policy on the use of volunteers is still required. If the practice is to be widespread the manager should introduce a simple 'volunteer contract' and ask all voluntary workers to sign it. The contract will require volunteers to obey the station rules when on the premises, to attend when expected and give reasonable notice when they are not available, and draw their attention to station policies on matters such as programme content and heath and safety. The document should make clear the consequences of any breach of the rules and the grievance and disciplinary procedures to be followed. In return the station should offer appropriate training and personal development opportunities.

Experience has taught many radio managers to limit the authority to bring in voluntary help or within weeks every presenter may arrive complete with a posse of 'helpers' who will hang about after the show with no apparent purpose. Commercial operations also need to guard against undue reliance on volunteers, ensuring that all core functions are performed by paid employees whose performance, and attendance, may be more tightly controlled.

4. Advertising the position

There is no absolute requirement that every job be advertised. For example a vacant senior role might be immediately filled by promoting a long-serving deputy, or a programme manager might already have a replacement in mind for a key presentation role. (See also Michaels and Mitchell 2000 for discussion about recruitment of female music presenters). However where a post is to be filled by open recruitment it is essential that a transparently fair procedure is followed.

It is common to advertise radio industry vacancies in the appropriate trade press: The Radio Magazine, Broadcast, or the media section of the Guardian, and relevant web sites. In some cases, particularly with sales and administrative vacancies, it may be appropriate to advertise in the local press and on the station and its web pages. It is generally regarded as good policy to advertise all vacancies internally. Many radio stations have recruited valued staff through professional recruitment consultancies and agencies, but care should be taken as their fees can amount to a significant proportion of the candidate's initial salary.

The language used in any advertisement must be non-discriminatory and the role and qualifications required, together with any fixed terms of employment, should be simply defined. If the manager intends to make a point of exercising a specific equal opportunities policy the advertisement should say so, and also mention any allowable positive discrimination, for example towards women, specific ethnic groups or the disabled. The means of responding, whether simply by email or letter or by completion of an application form should be clearly defined and adequate time allowed before a stated closing date.

While, as with any advertisement, the purpose is to promote an opportunity to the reader with attractive prose extolling the benefits of the proposition, in the case of recruitment it can be useful to be upfront about any limitations or challenges implicit in the vacancy and should seek to limit response to only those with a realistic chance of being considered for the position. The success of the advertisement will be measured not by the numbers of respondents but by whether it produces the required response in the one person who goes on to perfectly fill the role. The decision whether to include details of salary and any benefits package should be taken against this background.

For some vacancies, particularly at a senior level, it can be helpful to allow candidates to phone for more information, and if so an individual who understands the rules of recruitment should be nominated to take the calls, their name or job title and number being given in the advertisement.

5. Selection process

Generally the most likely candidates will be invited for interview, or even audition, before a final decision can be made. As it can take a while to organise interviews, all applications received should be carefully collected together and, unless the process is going to be very rapidly concluded, acknowledged with a simple holding letter.

The relative importance of the vacant role might define how much senior managerial time can be spent on interviews which in turn will define how many candidates can be seen in person. Typically around 45 minutes is set aside for an interview, with additional time before or afterwards for any audition or aptitude tests. Accordingly, as a rule of thumb, only seven or eight candidates can be seen during a working day. While, in order to accommodate the availability of different external applicants, more than one day might be set aside for interviews it is usually difficult to give fair consideration to a much greater number than this, although a good manager will usually make a point of interviewing all the suitably qualified internal candidates even where they stand little chance of landing the job.

The short-listing required to produce a manageable number of suitably qualified candidates for interview may be undertaken by the manager themselves or, in a larger company, might be organised by a Human Resources department. Using the person specification already defined it should be possible to select candidates against clear objective criteria, their experience, qualifications and interests, and to keep a note of the relevant factors in each case. Such notes will prove invaluable should any applicant claim unfair discrimination at a later date. Short-listed candidates should be given sufficient notice of the interview date and time to make appropriate arrangements. The station should have a clear policy on whether any travelling expenses can be reimbursed and, if so, on what basis.

The optimum form of interview must depend upon the proposed role of the individual in the radio station. It is common to include the line manager for the vacant position, perhaps that manager's boss and the head of another department, on the interview panel and in some larger organisations it may be policy to also include a member of the Human Resources team. If these two or three people can't make up their minds they can always invite others to handle a second interview. One member of the panel should act as chairperson.

During the interview all the questions should help establish how well the individual matches the job. Due to anti-discrimination rules, many large organisations now require that all candidates are asked the same questions, often scoring their answers on a pre-defined scale, but this may not be appropriate for a small service in a diverse and creative business. Nevertheless everyone on the panel must be aware that certain questions, for example on age, sexuality, or raising children, might be interpreted as discriminatory and must be avoided. As a rule of thumb, any matter which you would not feel able to identify as a significant issue in the job advertisement should not be a factor in the rejection of any applicant. Specifically, the decision over who to recruit should not be influenced by: sex (including gender reassignment); age; disability; race; ethnic or national origins; religion; sexuality; trade union membership; marriage; pregnancy or having children.

The panel should allow sufficient time to review all the applicants at the end of the day. In practice it is common to discuss each candidate's performance briefly after each interview and use the best as a sort of bench-mark against which to judge the others. As the day progresses it is easy to eliminate earlier applicants as better alternatives come along, or to decide that nobody has beaten the person seen first.

The panel may be able to announce their decision immediately, but if there are any nagging doubts should be allowed to defer a decision for twenty four hours, perhaps while the manager checks out some facts about the favoured candidate. Except where a second interview is required, the successful applicant should be informed as quickly as possible, usually by telephone by the chair of the interview panel or their new line manager. Once at least a verbal acceptance of the offer has been received the other candidates should be informed as quickly as possible that - on this occasion - they have not been successful.

6. The job description and contract of employment

An accurate job description is an essential starting point for any analysis or discussion of how well an individual is contributing to the team. All staff should be issued with a job description when they start work and it should be kept up-to-date as their role or the nature of the work evolves over time. It is equally useful to issue job descriptions to freelance workers or volunteers.

While the job description should cover all the essential functions of the position concerned it is better to keep it as brief as possible, ideally contained within one side of A4 paper, in order that the employee, the manager and their colleagues can easily recall all the key points without constant recourse to the document. To ensure everything is covered when setting up a new organisation the station manager might approach the task by ensuring that every important task to be undertaken on the station appears in at least one job description.

The job description should at least cover the following points:

• Job title.
• Functional objectives (three or four lines stating why the company needs someone in this role)
• Responsible to: (Job title of their immediate boss)
• Responsible for: (Job titles of anyone who reports to them)
• Functional relations: (List the people and organisations they must relate to on a regular basis: job titles of other department heads for example, and the outside bodies for whom they will be the point of contact)
• Main duties and responsibilities: (A list of key tasks for which they will be responsible in very general terms)

Opinion is divided as to whether the list of responsibilities should end with the item "Any other reasonable duties". Some people believe this lets a manager off the hook as the job description does not then need to be kept up-to-date, but in a small company this line performs the useful function of reminding all staff that they must be willing to turn their hands to other appropriate work when necessary.

In addition to the job description, which is essentially a management tool rather than a statutory obligation, all staff must by law, within two months of starting work, be given a Contract of Employment which lists essential facts about their conditions of service, but which does not usually specify detailed job functions. The statement must include:

• pay
• hours of work
• holiday entitlement
• sick pay arrangements
• notice periods
• information about disciplinary and grievance procedures

The Community Radio Toolkit website contains very useful examples of job descriptions and applications forms for paid and volunteer positions in community radio.

7. Regular appraisal

One of the most important functions of the manager is to maintain the motivation of the workforce. Effective communication is essential to maintaining motivation and ongoing feedback may help to avoid the need to invoke far less pleasant (and far more time consuming) disciplinary procedures later. It is often better to inform someone of how well they are performing at the time then wait a year and then tell them during an annual appraisal. Nevertheless an alarming number of employees tell stories of never hearing from their boss unless and until something goes very wrong. Not only is this asking for trouble at any subsequent industrial tribunal hearing, at best it is an indefensible position for any manager to adopt at any time in a creative industry.

A new employee should be able to expect regular feedback on their progress in the early weeks and months of their employment, they should not be left anxiously waiting to hear, at the end of a probationary or contract period, whether they are deemed to have succeeded or failed. While in some parts of the radio business success may be more tangible, for example in advertising sales, in many others it may be defined only subjectively by individual taste or opinion, or objectively by long- term research. In such cases the manager must put their own head on the line and tell the individual if they are doing everything expected of them, or if, in the manager's opinion, they need to improve their performance or conduct.

Most people working in the radio industry will have some experience of formal annual performance appraisal schemes, more notable for the fact that most last no longer than the first year than for any startling outcomes. Nevertheless the principle that the employee should, at least annually, be entitled to sit down with his or he manager and openly discuss their own progress and aspirations can only be a good one. To ensure a full and frank exchange of views it is generally regarded as important to keep such performance appraisals separate from any annual salary review discussions.

8. Training and support

It costs far less to retrain an existing worker than to recruit a new employee, and yet many companies suffer constant employee turnover without addressing the root cause. It makes sound business sense for the manager to seek to develop the skills and talents of the existing team before looking to bring in replacements. The first time the attention of a staff member is drawn to shortcomings, whether in a general matter like timekeeping or a more specific professional area, criticism should be accompanied by a discussion of how the manager might help them to overcome the difficulty. Only in the case of repeated problems should there be a need to invoke any kind of disciplinary action.

Training in the radio sector could be divided under three broad headings: 'on-the-job' training, by far the largest category provided by in-house staff; outside training not specific to radio skills, for example team leadership, sales or accountancy training; and outside training specific to the radio industry, largely organised by trade bodies or the larger radio groups. The availability of formal radio training is often cited as an advantage of working for one of the larger radio companies.

9. Personal development

Some managers sometimes wish to discourage their more highly valued staff from moving elsewhere in the organisation. It is understandable that, having recruited, trained and motivated a person to become a key member of your team, you do not wish to see them poached by another department, or another station within the same group. However it is in the interest of the organisation that any individual wishing to better themselves, whether for increased remuneration, more responsibility, or just for a new experience, should be encouraged, where possible, to do so within the organisation. Otherwise the enthusiastic person may feel trapped and, inevitably, look for work outside the organisation.

It is customary to require the courtesy that anyone applying for a position elsewhere in the organisation should first inform their own line manager, but they should be able to do this without fear of recrimination or risk of discouragement.

10. Dismissal

While millions of would-be managers have watched Sir Alan Sugar jab his finger across the board room desk and shout 'You're fired' to a hapless apprentice the reality of dismissing staff modern business is, thankfully, rather more complex.

Employees with less than one year's service can usually be dismissed, with one week's notice, without any further explanation. Unless the individual could suggest that the dismissal was due to discrimination � for example because they were pregnant � they would have no claim against the organisation. However, after twelve months an employer must follow strict procedures and have strong reasons for acting. The minimum statutory requirements are that the employee should receive, in writing, a summary of the allegation and the basis for it, be invited to a meeting to consider and discuss the allegation, and have a right of appeal including an appeal meeting. The main justifications for disciplinary action are misconduct (for example poor timekeeping or not following company rules), gross misconduct (for example theft or fighting in the office) or capability (poor performance).

Any organisation should establish a written disciplinary procedure and make sure it is seen by all employees, including volunteers in a community station. The purpose of the disciplinary procedure is to ensure that all personnel difficulties are dealt with fairly and consistently. Where possible it seeks to encourage an improvement in conduct or performance rather than automatically leading to dismissal. Most procures follow a similar pattern:

1. Informal discussions
The manager will initially try to resolve an issue by simply discussing it verbally with the employee. In many cases there will be no need to invoke the formal disciplinary procedures, only if the desired improvement is not achieved in a reasonable time will the matter be escalated to the next stage.

2. First warning
At a formal meeting, the employee is advised that their conduct or performance has been unacceptable. The required standard will be clearly identified and the employee warned that a final written warning will be considered if there is no satisfactory improvement. The warning will be recorded in the employees personnel file but will be disregarded after 12 months of satisfactory service.

3. Final written warning
If there is no improvement in standards, or if a further issue of a similar nature arises, a final written warning will be given which will include the reasons for the warning and any relevant background. It will warn that if there is no improvement within a specified, reasonable, time the contract of employment will be terminated. Such formal warnings remain on the personnel file for a longer period, typically 18 months.

In the case of relatively minor offences or shortcomings it is usual to start with the informal discussion and progress through the procedure only if it proves necessary over time. However more serious offences may be immediately handled as formal warnings or final written warnings. In the case of gross misconduct the manager may move straight to dismissal without any prior warning. Gross misconduct is a clearly understood category of misbehaviour which can render employees liable to dismissal without notice, and which largely covers matters that could leave the organisation or individual open to prosecution or legal action, including: Misappropriation or wilful damage to property; theft or fraud; violent behaviour; being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at work; possessing any illegal substance or object; insulting or abusive behaviour; sexual harassment; reckless breach of safety or security procedures; serious and deliberate breaches of Ofcom broadcasting codes or licence conditions.

Because the employee must have a right to appeal against any formal disciplinary decision it is important that each stage in the disciplinary procedure is handled at an appropriate level in the organisation. In a typical radio station the initial discussions and warnings should normally be handled by the employee's line manager, perhaps the programme controller, news editor or sales manager as appropriate. Any appeal would be heard at the next highest level If the station manager becomes involved in a final decision to discipline or dismiss the individual the appeal would be heard in person by a senior manager from a group or, in the case of a small commercial or community station, a member or members of the board of directors.

At all stages the employee should be given adequate prior notice of any disciplinary hearing. To allow them to prepare they should be informed of the complaint against them and where possible provided with all relevant evidence before the hearing. They should be given the opportunity to state their case at all stages and are entitled to be accompanied by a fellow employee of their choice or by a union official.

Trade Unions

All radio station employees have the right to join or remain a member of a trade union if they so wish. The manager must not treat them unfairly because they belong to a trade union, for example, by refusing promotion or training opportunities, and the employer must not try to persuade staff to leave a union by offering, for example, better conditions of employment for giving up membership. Staff have the right not to be dismissed or be chosen for redundancy for being a union member or refusing to leave a union. Officers of a union have the right, at an appropriate time, to take part in legitimate trade union activities without being treated unfairly as a result.

While the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is generally recognised, if not always by every employer, as an appropriate union for journalists working anywhere in the radio sector, the representation of other workers has been patchy. The Association of Broadcasting Staff (ABS), founded in 1956 as the descendant of the BBC Staff Association, failed to gain a foothold in any of the new independent television companies but was recognised by the Independent Television Authority, later the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), as the sole representative body for its staff. The largest union in commercial television was the Association of Cinematograph and Television Technicians, which the BBC did not recognise. Radio broadcasting remained entirely in the hands of the BBC and by 1963 56 per cent of the total staff of the BBC belonged to the ABS. (Briggs 1995:382).

At the launch of UK commercial radio there was an initial rush by both the ABS and ACTT to represent the workers, other than the NUJ journalists, in the new sector. Many of the non-journalist employees and freelancers working at London's LBC and Capital, the first two stations to launch in 1973, were recruited to the ACTT while the ABS was dominant among staff in most of the stations outside London launched from 1974 onwards. The ABS, ACTT and NUJ quickly established joint recognition with the companies association, the Association of Independent Radio Contractors (AIRC), and national pay grades and terms of employment were established. However the rapid expansion of the commercial radio sector in the 1980s, with the addition of many very small employers, combined with a loss of focus on the sector by the ACTT and ABS, who were embroiled in a number of major television strikes and bitter inter-union rivalry, and the influence of the unions dwindled rapidly.

The present broadcasting union BECTU was formed following a series of mergers, of the ABS and the National Association of Theatrical Television and Kine Employees (NATTKE) in 1984 to form the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA) and finally of BETA with the ACTT in 1991. Political changes and technological and structural developments in the broadcasting industry have left BECTU with a paid-up membership (over 26,500 at December 2006) significantly smaller than the 60,000 or so members in total claimed by ABS, ACTT and NATTKE in the early 1980s (BECTU 2008).

BBC employees are now represented by three unions - BECTU, NUJ and Unite (Amicus Section) - who negotiate all terms and conditions of service on behalf of their members. While commercial radio is not heavily unionised, the NUJ negotiates an annual agreement with the commercial radio companies trade body RadioCentre defining minimum rates for freelance news shifts and contributions. The commercial radio companies and the BBC also recognise the Musicians Union and Equity and have agreements covering the employment of their freelance members in programme production and advertisements.

A trade union is said to be 'recognised' when an employer consents to negotiate with it on pay and working conditions for a particular group of workers. In general individual commercial radio stations do not formally recognise the unions. Employers can be required by law to recognise a union where they employ 21 workers or more and if the union can show that 10 per cent of workers in the bargaining unit belong to the union with a majority likely to favour recognition. The issue is decided by a body known as the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) that can decide to hold a ballot of workers in the bargaining unit if necessary. Attempts to force union recognition have generally stalled as individual stations often employ too few relevant staff to qualify.

When the NUJ gained recognition at the Stoke radio station Signal Radio in 2006, giving the union the right to negotiate terms and conditions of the four journalists based at the UTV-owned station, it was the first time the union had been formally recognised at a commercial radio station in more than a decade (Press Gazette 2006).

The more recent introduction of co-located radio stations and news hubs, employing a larger number of staff in a single location, has been used to argue for an increase in union recognition. NUJ members at Minster FM in York, part of the Local Radio Company group of stations had their claim for recognition thrown out after the Central Arbitration Committee ruled that four nearby stations, which were to operate from a single news hub, were actually all separate legal entities. The ruling meant the NUJ could not apply for recognition for a single news room covering the four stations. And because recognition laws require there to be at least 21 employees in a company before you can claim recognition, the union was also barred from making a new application in the four separate companies - because individually none of them had the required number of workers. NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear told the NEC (NUJ 2007) the decision was "bizarre and unjust, effectively denying union members at Minster FM their fundamental human right to belong to and be represented by the union of their choice."

He said: "The decision though doesn't just have implications for this one group of NUJ members but for hundreds of thousands of members of many unions across many industries. There will be hundreds of unscrupulous employers celebrating this decision.

Grievance procedures

In parallel with the disciplinary procedure it is customary to publish a procedure to deal, in a simple and fair way, with employee grievances. In many ways such clear procedures can be even more valuable in a voluntary organisation such as a community radio station, where individual motivation can be very dependent upon the quality of relationships between sections of the organisation.

A typical grievance procedure will have a number of escalating stages, for example:

1. In the first instance the employee should discuss their concerns informally with their immediate manager.

2. Only if the above does not resolve the issue, the individual should put the grievance in writing to their immediate manager. The manager should hold a meeting within a week to resolve the grievance at which the individual has the right to be accompanied by a fellow employee or union official. Any formal decision should be provided in writing.

3. If the matter remains unresolved the employee should refer the matter in writing to the senior manager at the radio station. The senior manager, supported by someone from the Human Resources department where applicable, will try to resolve the grievance at a meeting with the individual and their representative if any within a further two weeks. This final formal decision should be put in writing.

As with the disciplinary procedure natural justice requires that, should the grievance concern the conduct or capability of the senior manager, a member of group management or a director of the company should handle any final hearing. It makes sense to start all such procedures at the lowest managerial level, leaving plenty of room for later upward referral.

The importance of records

Throughout the preceding section it is clear that a manager should maintain fair and accurate records when dealing with staff. These records should start from and include the development of the job profile and recruitment process and also include notes on any informal as well as formal appraisal. Records must also be kept of any formal disciplinary or grievance meeting and the outcomes of these. In the event of any complaint unambiguous records will help to establish what occurred and when.

Managing Volunteers

As we have heard in other parts of this book, volunteers are the lifeblood of community stations and they need to be managed as much as any other human resource in radio.

There are many reasons why people become volunteers with a community radio station. For some it will be the sense of achievement gained from doing something different and acquiring new skills. Others are looking for a career in the media and want to gain direct broadcasting experience. At a more fundamental level the stations give people a focus, help alleviate loneliness and isolation and can enable them to regain confidence in themselves or other people following a personal crisis.

(Goatley 2006: 9)

Although many volunteers move onto paid work in radio or other areas of employment it is in the stations' interest to nurture their volunteers, so that their time is used efficiently and they are clear about their rights, responsibilities and any remuneration due to them.

Much of the knowledge and experience for this potentially complex area (given some of the motivations for volunteering cited above) comes from the lead voluntary sector (for instance the National Council for Voluntary Organisations) and from countries like Australia where the community radio sector has built up skills and resources. As stations can have anything between 10 and 200 volunteers the management needs to focus considerable time and effort on this area which is why most stations have a designated role of volunteer co-ordinator. Although some smaller stations can have an 'open door' attitude to volunteers it is best to develop an overall policy and strategy about how volunteers can be involved in the station. This can then be monitored. This might include:

A station policy on volunteers that has been agreed by station management and membership . This should include procedures for recruiting, training, managing and remunerating volunteers.

A volunteer charter that outlines the respective rights and responsibilities for station volunteers and station management.

An inventory of tasks that need to be undertaken by volunteers, preferably grouped, with an experienced person taking responsibility for volunteers in each task area.

A 'duty' statement for each volunteer - this is similar to a job description for an employee.

A volunteer contract or agreement that outlines station regulations and the responsibilities and rights of the volunteer. (see also section 2.7)

Managers at Wythenshaw FM, a community station in Manchester, have cleverly brought all this together for all their volunteers in a useful and accessible booklet called a 'Volunteer Passport'.

Examples of materials for volunteer management can be seen on the Community Radio Toolkit; Community Media Association; and Community Broadcasting Association of Australia websites.

Training for station staff and volunteers

There is a very wide range of courses and training opportunities now available for people wishing to enter radio and those already involved in the different sectors and jobs. The main areas for training have been identified as:

• Production & Presentation of music and speech radio
• Journalism & Sport
• Sales, Marketing, Commercials (Advertising) Production & Fundraising
• Engineering, technical operations, support and development
• Leadership and management
• Support roles: finance, HR, training & development and admin
  (Hadwin 2007: 8)

Training and educational courses take place within the BBC, in universities and colleges and in commercial and community radio stations. Increasingly there are opportunities for open and online learning and qualifications. Courses range from informal workshops in community stations funded through Mediabox, the government scheme for encouraging media production by young people and open learning modules in podcasting run by NCFE as well as foundation degrees in community radio run as collaborations between Universities and community stations. (NCFE is a national awards body for Further Education courses see http://www.ncfe.org.uk)

Skillset, the sector skills council for creative media has a radio section has carried out research to map the different sectors and job roles in the radio industry. It has identified priorities for training and improving skills shortages; priorities include maximising the potential for community radio and increasing opportunities in training for freelancers and independents (Skillset 2007). Courses for aspiring entrants to radio management include Open College Network (ONC) level 3 in Leadership and Management in Radio and Masters level courses in Media and Radio Management. Some stations in the community sector have been involved in pan European radio training funded through various European Commission funding programmes. Networks of trainers and producers from radio stations and academic institutions have developed new courses and training methodologies relating, for instance, to use of new technologies and the training of socially excluded groups through community radio. (See Lewis and Jones 2006)



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