Conference announcement – Being complained about: What can we do to support public services employees?

On Tuesday 5 December 2017, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, Queen Margaret University, and the University of Glasgow will be hosting a one day conference on the impact of complaints on the health, well being, and performance of public service employees who have been subject to a complaint.

The conference will take place at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. The aim of the conference is to address a gap in existing administrative justice research and practice, where the emphasis has tended to be on how citizens experience complaint processes. While there has been significant research on the impact of complaints on doctors and other health service staff, the impact of complaints on other public service staff has tended to be ignored. The conference will also address ideas around ‘employee recovery’ and how public services staff can be supported through the complaints process. In addition to hearing from a number of high profile academics and practitioners, the conference will present the findings of a small research study and will culminate in the production of guidance by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman aimed at helping public bodies better support their staff.

The conference will be of interest to administrative justice researchers, public service managers, human resource professionals, trade union officials, complaint handlers, regulators, inspectors, ombudsman staff, and professional bodies. Confirmed speakers include Professor Tina Harrison (Assistant Principal, University of Edinburgh) and Rosemary Agnew (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman), and the full programme will be available in early July. For more information, please see the attached flyer. Bookings can be made on the conference website.