Agenda item

To consider the attached report updating the People’s Strategy.

The Service Director, Paula Maginnis, introduced the updating report on the Peoples Strategy.  It was noted that the People Strategy and Plan 2020/2022 set out clear actions and timescales over a two-year period to support the Council to deliver its strategic objectives and was divided into 6 workstreams:

·                Attracting, on boarding and retaining the best talent

·                Developing our leadership

·                Embracing change to support EFDC evolution

·                Creating a culture of engagement and wellbeing

·                Developing our skills and behaviours to make EFDC a great place to work

·                Achieving organisational goals through a high performing and flexible workforce

At its core was transforming the People Team to become an enabler for the organisation.

The Strategy set out the ambition for our workforce – the right people with the right skills, highly motivated high performing and business efficient.

Appendix 1 to the report set out the achievements realised during Year 1 of the Strategy, 2020 – 2021. In summary, the People Team supported the organisation’s wellbeing, the accommodation project developing new ways of working, developing the culture to become more resilient, improving policies and process, including the use of technology to automate as much as possible.

And Appendix 2 of the report sets out the work programme to achieve Year 2 of the Strategy 2021 – 2022.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse noted that there were different streams of work in the report and asked how they measured the impact on staff given the recent turbulence and when was the last staff satisfaction survey set up. Ms Maginnis answered that they used a platform called ‘Perkbox’ which along with staff discounts and medical services also carried out regular polling surveys. The results were taken to the Service Directors for analysis. The fourth survey of which came out recently. This was an ongoing process. Councillor Whitehouse then asked what proportion of staff took part in these surveys. He was told that the proportion would be put in the minutes. There was more work needed on the promotion and development of this but there was a high level of management support. The surveys consisted of 50 random questions, so after 4 or 5 surveys we get to understand what was happening across the organisation. Councillor Whitehouse then asked who in the organisation knew the overall picture. He was told that it was the people team.

Councillor Bassett said that it had been a difficult year and it was difficult to know how teams were performing when you did not actually see them. As a manager you were effectively working blind. How could a member of staff get feedback if they were struggling working from home or had other difficulties? Ms Maginnis said that they had a process of having one to ones in place and also had a number of tools for dealing with change and working remotely. They were also hoping to deliver an interim project in the coming months with a view to making a bid on funding to do this digitally for managers and employees. As for feedback the survey asks these questions, about work remotely etc. via the ‘Perkbox’ tool. Officers had also carried out an online DSC assessment regarding what difficulties and concerns our employees were facing and a wide range of issues were picked up by managers. Councillor Bassett then asked if managers received training in mental health issues. He was told that they did, and that the Council also had 10% of the workforce as mental health first aiders. Mr Small added that working from home had been popular but had its challenges and Councillor Bassett points were well made. We needed to look to the wellbeing of staff and to make sure the staff needs were being looked after; we also need to make sure they feel part of a single organisation and make sure the organisation continues to perform. There were some of the challenges we had to recognise. He was not sure that we had got it right just yet; we needed to continue to focus and put the right amount of effort into it to make sure it was working effectively as well as looking after our staff’s wellbeing.

Councillor Janet Whitehouse asked about the induction for new staff, they were told to look at the appropriate section of our website on how decisions were made. A lot of them came from private industry and were new to how local authorities worked and they did not seem to be told anything about scrutiny. Would a way forward would be to set up a meeting between HR and Councillors and bring forward a report on what members would like new officers to be told on how we worked. It could be brought back to either this committee or to the Constitution Working Group, which ever was more appropriate. Scrutiny was very important and new officers should understand this. She would be interested to hear other people’s view on this, perhaps not at this meeting.

Councillor Neville asked about the proposed salary sacrifice scheme for private health care and what involvement the unions had had. He was told that they met regularly with the trade unions and had an ongoing dialogue with them. This scheme meant that an employee would pay on a monthly basis before tax and NI for private health care; something like BUPA, but it would not be subsidised by the Council. Councillor Neville then asked who had decided on ‘Perkbox’ and ‘Insight’. He was told that the People Team looked at several systems and decided upon these systems. The unions were also involved in this choice.

Councillor Brookes asked if the council had made special arrangements for staff to carry over excessive annual leave over this pandemic period.  She was told that arrangements had been put in place last year on this but they had insisted that staff took at least 20 days annual leave during the year for their own health and wellbeing. Councillor Brooks noted that in the last two years she had never seen such a large turnover of staff. Also, ‘Perkbox’ was not a substitute for a private survey for council employees to enable management to take note of what was said.  We also needed to know about changes in the top management structure and who was responsible for what.  Ms Maginnis said that she could provide the turnover figures for the last two years, except for Q4 when the IT staff left. Employees were offered an exit interview to provide us with feedback. We were supporting staff as there was a lot of change taking place and we also carried out anonymous surveys. Councillor Brookes added that a lot of staff had gone above and beyond of what was expected and councillors did appreciate that.

Resolved:

That the Stronger Council Select Committee considered and commented upon the People Strategy Update report.