Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

RESOLVED that Councillor Lewanski be appointed Chairman of the Employment Committee for the Municipal Year 2020/21.  

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

RESOLVED that Councillor Neame be appointed Vice-Chair of the Employment Committee for the 2020/21 Municipal Year.

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes in accordance with the Constitution.

An apology for absence had been received from Councillor Bray, with Councillor Harrison in attendance as substitute.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were none.

To approve the Minutes of the reconvened Employment Committee meeting held on 2 March 2020; the adjourned meeting held on 19 February 2020, and the ordinary meeting held on 21 January 2020.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the reconvened Employment Committee meeting held on 2 March 2020; the adjourned meeting held on 19 February 2020, and the ordinary meeting held on 21 January 2020, be approved.

This report and annex material provides the Employment Committee with an overview of the Council’s workforce for the 2019/2020 year. The high-level summary of the workforce data including sickness absence, employee turnover and equalities data, is to give an indication of the organisation’s health and workforce demographic.
The summary of our workforce during Covid-19 captures the different challenges the organisation and workforce have encountered during this period, and the effects on services and new ways of working for the future.

The Head of Organisational Development presented the report which provided an indication of the organisation’s health and workforce demographic.

Members noted that long term sickness absence affected the overall outturn for number of days lost and when that was set aside, the average number of days lost was 4.8. The Director of People explained that short term absence was closely monitored, and that a breakdown of the number of days lost to sickness, and where possible a comparison with other councils (rather than the public sector generally), would be provided for the next meeting of the Committee.   The Head of Organisational Development cautioned that comparative data was challenging to produce due to inconsistencies in how respective indicators were defined and calculated.

Members acknowledged that the employment market was changing, and that turnover of staff had decreased. Officers explained that a review of resourcing had been commissioned from OMNI recruitment consultancy, to refine the Council’s recruitment approach and techniques.

Covid-19

The Head of Organisational Development explained that the Council had managed the rapid adjustment and change to the services it provided, introduced new ways of working, demonstrated the flexibility of its workforce in responding to the emergency, and had begun organisational recovery. A staff survey had been commissioned by the New Ways of Working group, the feedback from which would enable the Council to fully understand the impact of the emergency, and the recovery, on its staff. It was estimated that over 60% of staff would respond to the survey, the results of which would be received by the New Ways of Working group.  

RESOLVED that

1.     The content of the bi-annual Workforce Data summary, comprising of sickness absence and employee turnover data, be noted.

2.     The summary of challenges affecting our workforce during Covid-19, their effects, and opportunities they provide, be noted.

To consider any item(s) which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered as a matter of urgency – Local Government Act 1972, Section 100B(4)(b).

Note: Urgent business must be submitted in writing but may be supplemented by an oral report.

There was no urgent business.

RECOMMENDED that members of the Press and public be excluded from the meeting for this item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that:

(i)              it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and

(ii)             the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED that members of the Press and public be excluded from the meeting for this item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that:

(i)              it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act; and

(ii)             the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Committee considered the exempt report, with eight recommendations relating to the senior management of the Council. A vote was taken by a show of hands, whereupon it was:

RESOLVED that the eight recommendations set out in the exempt report be RECOMMENDED to Council.