Agenda item

The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance presented the review on staff turnover figures over the past year, including an analysis of leaving reasons, work undertaken and next steps to provide assurance on internal processes and practise.

Cllr Fox-Hewitt, referring to the percentile turnover target, asked the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth if there was a problem with recruitment retention as last year the workforce reduced by 14% since 2018.  The turnover rate over the past year had been over 15%.  In addition, it was asked if the Council had the capacity to deliver its services.  The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance stated that the reduction since 2018 had been due to service restructures.  The turnover figures did not show who the people were or the circumstances for leaving. The Portfolio Holder for Finance Town Centres and Growth added that in 2018 there had been a lot of vacancies, specifically in Licensing and Elections.  The new administration then set about getting staff into those positions.  The One Council approach was also brought in, saving the Council over £1m each year which allowed for the filling of gaps. 

Cllr Stubbs referred to the number of people failing their  six month review which had increased due to a change in the way that the Council was recruiting.  Was this a flaw in recruitment or the way in which officers were employing the wrong people? The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance stated that it was not true that the people failing was down to a change  in the way of the recruitment process.  The Council had high expectations.  There were circumstances were not meeting the basic requirements.

Cllr Stubbs asked why such people were in the building in the first place if they were failing their probation. The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance advised that the Council’s recruitment processes were good, taking up references and DBS’s where appropriate. 

Cllr Bryan asked if anything was being done to amend the recruitment techniques to try and reduce the number of failures. The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance advised that there were a number of things to look at in the recruitment process such as interviews, presentations, exercises and there was a bank of tools that could be used to review them.

Cllr Fox-Hewitt stated that the figures had not taken into account staff sickness levels with less people doing increased or a more diverse workload.  Was that impacting on stress levels, mental health, anxiety.

The Chair  stated that there had been very detailed reports over the last twelve months about sickness absence which had been scrutinised. The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance was asked, if the average turnover was 20% and this Council’s was 15%, was 10% an ambitious target.  The Chair was advised that it was an ambitious target and also needed to be careful not to assume that the low turnover rate was positive.

The Chair asked the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth, given that turnover varies between services, was a single figure for turnover helpful.  The Portfolio Holder stated that this was an interesting point and would take it away and discuss it.

Cllr Grocott referred to the retirement figure of 24%.  Was there a plan for replacements and was it a trend that would happen over the next four years.   The Service Director for Strategy, People and Performance advised that people could not be asked to retire but managers do get a sense of when somebody intends to.  The use of apprentices was being looked into and structures were looked at to see where they could be made more robust.

Resolved:    That the information included in the report be noted.

Watch the debate here