Agenda item

The Leader introduced the Sickness Absence report which showed that stress, depression and anxiety along with musculoskeletal problems were the main reasons reported by employees.

The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance went through the report, highlighting the main concern which was long term absence i.e. more than four weeks. There had been some improvement in the mental health figures showing the efforts undertaken through various wellbeing initiatives in that area had been helpful. Adjustments had notably be made to keep people in work in office-based environments. The situation was more difficult for manual workers sustaining similar injuries or illnesses.

Data had been benchmarked both locally and nationally, showing that similar organisations were facing the same concerns. An action plan had been developed using conversations, support and further adjustments.

Members asked questions and responses were provided as follows:

-       Cllr Brockie asked about changes in neighbourhood delivery. – While there had been some changes in the purpose and focus of the work of the team there hadn’t been any changes in the headcount in those areas. The Leader commented that future quarters would bring further information. Cllr Brockie expressed her fear that the restructuring may not be saving as much money it otherwise would as well as suspicion about the targets being appropriate as these didn’t seem to be affected by sickness absences. The Leader clarified that the problem was across sectors and efforts were being put I to rectify the situation and have people back to work as soon as possible.

-       Cllr Fox-Hewitt asked about the possible outcomes referred to in the report and the opportunity of a staff survey for which numerous templates were available along with preventive measures. – The Leader supported the suggestion of a staff survey and the Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance confirmed that this was in the pipeline. Preventative initiatives were already in place and notably around mental health.

-       Cllr Panter asked about professional services available to people suffering from stress, anxiety and depression as well as if causes had been identified in the work place such as excess work and bullying. – External counselling services were available to employees, as for causes these were unfortunately difficult to identify. Most people would not mention work related stress in their footnotes and a dignity at work policy was in place to tackle bullying.

-       Cllr Waring wondered if older people in the organisation and potential support to medical treatments. – Allowing for the ageing workforce to move on to roles that are less challenging physically was part of the attendance management strategy.

-       Cllr Lawley asked about subsidized gym memberships and safe working practices for operational workers. – Health and safety was taken seriously with information shared on posters among other supports. Subsidized gym memberships were available to all employees and the gym could be used free of charge to help recover from injuries.

-       Cllr Fox-Hewitt asked about the turnover of agency staff. – This was common in most councils especially in relation to recycling and waste collection and agency workers were encouraged to join as permanent members of staff.

-       Cllr Parker asked about skills matrices showing the names of employees along with their skills. – This was something being used to facilitate rotation although there wasn’t a unified system.

Resolved:     That the content of the report be acknowledged and debated.

Watch the debate here