Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE CORPORATE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

To update the Committee on the progress made in the last quarter on the People Strategy 2015 – 2020 which covers the Workforce Development needs.

IT WAS AGREED:  That the information note entitled People Strategy Update be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION:  To enable the Committee to consider the People Strategy Update.

The Corporate Human Resources Manager presented the Information Note entitled People Strategy Update and drew attention to the following:

Pay

NHDC Payroll Service contract was ending in March 2020.  Work was due to start, looking at alternative payroll service providers with an extremely organised implementation of that service. 

In response to a Member, The Corporate Human Resources Manager confirmed that NHDC would almost certainly break away from the current payroll service provider, as it was felt that a service providing better value would be found.

Benefits

Employees Assistance Programme and Occupational Health contracts were being procured alongside Hertfordshire County Council, for which NHDC had benefitted, were also coming up for renewal. The timing was perfect, as Hertfordshire County Council was procuring a new framework, which meant alternative options would be considered through that framework and work had started on the specification of what NHDC required.

The Corporate Human Resources Manager introduced the Learning and Employee Engagement Manager who drew the Committee’s attention to the following points:

Learning and Development

That this was work based on clarifying organisational values and behaviours.  Linking that to a new simplified competency framework, and the RPR process was making good progress.  The team were working closely with the Deputy Chief Executive, and had presented initial ideas to the Senior Management Team.  Values and behaviours would be linked closely to the Corporate Plan.

The new Service Directors were being supported both in terms of their own development and the development of their new teams.  In addition, a programme for the whole team would be starting soon, with the first workshop focussed on clarifying and agreeing Values and Behaviours.  In particular, support was being given to the Commercial Service Director, in order to identify training and other opportunities that supported the commercialisation culture of work of his team which would then be carried out across the organisation.

Regular Performance Review

There was a 97% completion rate for Regular Performance Review that year, the highest since 2013.  The Learning and Employee Engagement Team were on target to have the RPR process on the GROW Zone by April 2019.  They would,  alongside that, be looking to integrate more regular one to one’s into the process.

Organisational Restructures

The ‘Meeting the Challenge’ brand was being used as a focus of training and development activity that supported change, but also considered staff wellbeing.  Workshops and focussed wellbeing days, encouraging people to tap into the pool of NHDC Coaches and Mentors.

The Corporate Human Resources Manager continued by drawing the Member’s attention to:

Organisational Restructures

There had been a lot of organisational restructure work going on and, as expected, with the changes at Senior Management level, the alignment to the new structure was taking place.

Absence

There were more long term absence cases reported, including a couple of staff with serious illness.

Flu Clinics were being held that week.  A great number of staff had signed up for a flu vaccination, and it was hoped that this would help keep the number of winter illness down.

Appraisal Performance in July was up at 97% of Regular Performance Reviews collected.  Inevitably, there would be a few appraisal completions that were submitted a little late due to people being absent.  The Learning and Employee Engagement Manager stated that there would be, in future, a more flexible approach on the timescale of that particular agreement.  NHDC were seeking to have Performance Reviews carried out approximately twice a year.

There had been a slight increase in turnover of staff compared to the year before, however, still very much in line with what was expected.

The Corporate Human Resources Manager drew the Committee’s attention to the Absence Rates table on the report, showing over the twelve month rolling period, long term absence had been increasing.  Short term absence rates had some pretty high months and it was expected there would be inflated figures over the winter months. The previous month was a very low month of short term absence, which was, however, encouraging.

IT WAS AGREED:  That the information note entitled People Strategy Update be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION:  To enable the Committee to consider the People Strategy Update.