Agenda item

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report.

The Assistant Director Human Resources, Ms Maginnis introduced the outturn report for the sickness absence levels for 2014/15.

The Committee considered the sickness absence for quarters 3 and 4, 2014/15. It was noted that the target for sickness absence, under KPI10 for 2014/15 was an average of 7 days per employee; the outturn figure for that year was 9.2 days, making the Council above target for the first time in 4 years.

During Q3, 6.6% of staff met the trigger levels or above, 30.4% had sickness absence but did not meet the triggers and 63% had no absence.  During Q4, 6.6% of staff met the trigger levels or above, 32.4% had sickness absence but did not meet the trigger levels and 61% had no absence.

The Committee noted that there was a significant increase in long term absence, however these long term absences were returning to work so the council was not loosing them.  Councillor Stavrou asked if they returned to work in their original job and was told that they did, they have a phased return to work to ease them back.

The number of employees who had taken long term absence was detailed in appendix 3. Appendix 4 showed the last two financial years and showed an increase of 93% for mental health issue. This year showed a similar trend. The Joint Consultative Committee had asked if this could be broken down by grades and professional areas of work. But, as the numbers were not large it may be possible for individuals to be identified. This was taken up in paragraph 29 of the report which set out an action plan to deal with this.

The Chairman asked if any further detailed analysis could be brought to this Committee which could be looked at in private session, and if this report could be brought here on a semi-annual basis. This was agreed by the committee.

Councillor Angold-Stephens asked if it could be broken down into work related or non-work related causes.

Councillor Stavrou noted that early intervention was essential especially for mental health matters. Ms Maginnis replied that it was quite difficult for managers to deal with this. They have now got some training in place to enable line managers to be proactive.

Councillor Surtees asked if anything was done for disability adjustments to be put in place. He was told that this was done on a continuous basis. Councillor Surtees was not happy with breaking down the figures into working and non-working causes; it was usually the case that if there were problems in both areas then people could not cope. Could things be tackled from the bottom up as well as top down? He was told that the Council had just started coaching sessions for staff looking at assertiveness etc. they also had the workplace Chaplains come around. There were various things that they were doing.

Councillor Kane asked if the number of cases also increased with the number of days off. He was told that it was a bit of both. The trigger levels had decreased and so this had increased the numbers. Councillor Kane said it was important for the number of staff not so the number of days. Ms Maginnis replied that she could say that it had doubled and that included stress, but they were only talking about 5 or 6 people.  A lot of this came down to managers being proactive.  Councillor Kane said that this highlighted the difference between percentages and numbers. Percentages gave an entirely different perspective. 

Councillor Surtees noted that effectiveness with dealing with short term absences also improved staff moral.

AGREED: The Committee noted that there was also a need to look at environmental/work factors that may also contribute to high levels of sickness. Health and Safety played a part in this and maybe a short report should go to the Chairman to consider if it should be taken further.

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Committee noted the report on sickness absence; and

(2)  That a further detailed analysis of the increase in mental health days off be brought to a future meeting. This would be discussed in private session.