Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE HR SERVICES MANAGER

To update the Joint Staff Consultative Committee on the progress made in the last quarter completing HR work and projects and supporting people issues.

The Human Resources Services Manager presented the Information Note entitled ‘HR Update’, following which Members asked questions.

Audio recording – 8 minutes 16 seconds

The Human Resources Services Manager presented the Information Note entitled ‘HR Update’ and advised that:

·                Paragraph 3.2 of the Information Note provided an update on recruitment. The table within this highlighted the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Q4 and the recruitment data showed that this had been met. There was also a comparison of data with the same quarter in the previous year within the table.

·                79% of vacancies were filled at the first attempt and most were filled at the second attempt, however, there were fewer vacancies in Q1 this year compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

·                Paragraph 3.3 highlighted staff turnover which continued to be approximately 9%. This was higher than last year but the Local Government Association (LGA) benchmarking tool which used Infinistats showed that their staff turnover percentage was broadly in line with other councils in the East of England.

·                National Employers had offered a 3.2% increase across all NJC pay points for the majority of employees, however, UNISON were still demanding an increase of £3,000 across all spinal column points and were advising their Members to reject the offer. 

·                Two apprentices had attended the LGA Apprentice of the Year event that took place in May. This was an online event which brought together apprentices across the country to encourage collaboration and the development of skills required to tackle challenges in local government.

·                Graduates were in their second rotation of service areas and interviews for the second cohort had been completed.

·                The graduate recruitment process was managed by LGA and candidates went through a robust assessment process to reach the shortlist for panel interviews. Graduates could receive offers from more than one employer which could lead to more interviews if their preferred candidate decided to accept a job offer from elsewhere, however, they expected the next graduate to start in Autumn 2025 if they were successful.

·                HR had developed bite sized training sessions for managers which were designed to be short and focused sessions to develop their knowledge and skills in key areas. They would continue to develop these based on feedback to fulfil the action on this which was detailed in the Staff Survey Action Plan.

·                Employee Wellbeing was detailed at paragraph 3.8 and the Council had participated in Mental Health Awareness Week in May by signposting staff to internal and external resources and providing them with videos about maintaining positive mental health.

·                The activities of the Inclusion Group (IG) were set out in paragraph 3.9 of the Information Note. Their meeting in June included a guest speaker from a charity called ProAge who worked to create inclusive workplaces.

·                The IG had discussed the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex within the Equalities Act and they would await the guidance that was due to be released on this later in the month.

·                Additional guest speakers would be invited to attend future IG meetings to shift the focus of the group to other areas and to diversify their knowledge on equality, diversity and inclusion.

·                8.54 days were lost to sickness per full-time employee in the last 12 months which was lower than the previous figure reported at the last Committee meeting.

·                This was due to a reduction in cold and flu absences as expected, with gastro and mental health related absences remaining similar to the previous quarter. 

·                Bite sized sessions were currently focused on upskilling managers to deal with short-term absences within their teams by equipping them with the skills to facilitate conversations with team members and be able to offer them appropriate support. 

·                HR continued to give support across the Council for long-term absences and involved occupational health where needed to support return-to-works and provide adjustments where necessary. Throughout that process, additional support was signposted to employees, particularly to the Employee Assistance Programme when appropriate.

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Daniel Allen

·                Councillor Ian Albert

·                Councillor Claire Strong

·                Councillor Bryony May

In response to questions, the Human Resources Services Manager advised that:

·                Office days were managed by individual service managers and because of this, the general data they held on absence due to sickness could not be linked to working from home or the office specifically. 

·                The Council had encouraged home working for several years, therefore no recent change in absence from sickness could be linked to this.

·                The LGA benchmarking system revealed that their figures on absence due to sickness were close to other authorities in the East of England. More information could be provided on that comparison to Members via email after the meeting. 

·                Two graduates were recruited last autumn on a two-year placement and their plan going forward was to recruit one graduate annually on a two-year placement to create overlap and allow the graduates to support each other.

·                Only eight apprentices were employed by the Council at any one time.

·                Personal development mornings took place on a Friday and staff were provided with resources such as online courses and webinars. It was flexible when personal development was undertaken as they were aware that some staff did not work on a Friday and they were encouraged to pick it up on another day in their week.

·                Managers were encouraged to carry out team activities for personal development mornings when all team members were present.

Councillor Ian Albert thanked the Human Resources Services Manager for presenting the Information Note to the Committee.