Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Menna Trenholme

 

To consider a report on the above.

 

DECISION

 

1. To accept the report and to note the observations received.
2. That the Committee notes concern regarding the high level of staff absences and requests that updates on the Strategy in future detail specific data, i.e. comparison over periods, etc. 

 

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and the officers were welcomed to the meeting. ⁠

 

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services inviting the committee to scrutinise the staff well-being field to receive assurance that appropriate arrangements were in place and the proposed Strategy would address the challenges in terms of the after-effects of the pandemic period amongst the workforce and staff absence costs due to sickness.

 

The Cabinet Member set out the context and the Assistant Head of Corporate Services provided a brief summary of the content of the report.

 

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. ⁠ 

 

It was noted that:-

·       As was always common in a staff survey, there were a lot of views in the report regarding the information and skills of middle managers, and it was noted that the Strategy was welcomed as long as it was implemented and adopted specifically by senior officers, and that the line managers, and specifically the middle managers, received regular training and leadership.

·       Although the report had quoted some words from staff to convey the feeling, it would have been beneficial to present more data and information to show the views of staff from different departments within the Council as a result of the Staff Voice Survey.

·       That the staff absences were high, and it would have been beneficial to present more information to see whether there were obvious problems in some departments, and the reasons for that.

·       The opportunity for the committee to scrutinise this field again was welcomed.

 

In response to the observations, it was noted that:

·       The data was certainly available. In terms of the Staff Voice Survey specifically, there was a clear message in terms of the statistics on well-being, with the well-being score lower than the jobs / services score. There was also a clear message that front-line staff were unaware of the support packages available.

·       In terms of the observations regarding managers, a healthy and satisfied workforce was now one of the 9 work streams in the Ffordd Gwynedd Plan, with another work stream related to staff and manager developments, and the Strategy would tie into that in terms of the programmes available to develop managers.

 

⁠It was suggested, although middle managers were experts in their field, that they were not always natural managers, and it was asked where should staff refer any concerns they had about managerial-related matters. In response, it was noted:-

·       Clearly, staff could escalate such matters within the service or the department, but, as part of the Well-being Plan, it was intended to identify well-being coordinators within each department.

·       Staff could also refer the matter to the attention of the Human Resources Service or the Whistle-blowing procedure.

 

It was noted that it would be interesting to see the statistics on pages 2 and 3 of the Well-being Plan over a period of 5 years to be able to compare the current situation with the situation before and during the Covid period.

 

The intention to identify well-being coordinators was welcomed, and it was enquired, in terms of the coordinators' own well-being, was there an intention to release them from their normal duties for periods to undertake this role. In response, it was noted that the discussions regarding this continued.

 

There was an enquiry whether staff could turn to an independent person for advice regarding well-being matters. In response, it was noted that the Council had an agreement with Medra, which had a number of counsellors across Cyngor Gwynedd, and that staff could go to them in complete confidence to discuss any concerns.

 

There was an enquiry whether it was a corporate priority for all staff to be evaluated, and what were the arrangements for that. In response, it was noted:-

·       The continuous evaluation was one of the 9 work streams within the Ffordd Gwynedd Plan.

·       The evaluation arrangement had been quite time-consuming over the year, but that work was now underway to draw up a new framework which was more flexible.

·       That the new arrangement must work for every service, from teams having one-to-one meetings with their managers on a monthly basis to a workforce that was out on sites, and who did not see their managers often.

 

Hope was expressed that the Well-being Strategy would increase low morale which still remained amongst staff. In terms of the work environment, disappointment was expressed that there was no reference to the Office Modernisation Plan in the Strategy, as simple provisions such as space for staff to go for a cup of tea and water cooler dispensers etc. would contribute extensively towards well-being. In response, it was noted:-

·       That the Office Modernisation Plan did not relate to well-being as such, and the Well-being Strategy was a corporate strategy which included every workplace, including residential homes, schools etc.

·       That the work of modernising the Council Headquarters had commenced, with the Property Department leading on the work.

·       That there was an intention to create a well-being area for staff in the old reception in the Headquarters. The exact timetable for the work could not be confirmed, but the officers could follow that up after the meeting.

 

It was enquired whether there was space in the Headquarters for staff to eat their lunch, instead of having to eat by their desks. In response, it was noted that the arrangements varied between corridors, but there was certainly an intention to create corporate space on the lower ground of the Headquarters.

 

It was enquired whether there were staff members who chose to work from home as they did not feel healthy enough to go to the workplace and mix with other people. It was also enquired whether they saw more depression since people had been working from home. In response, it was noted:-

·       That more and more staff members now came into the workplace and that many of them reported that they felt better as they were able to mix with others.

·       That the number of well-being referrals was increasing, and although working from home could be a factor in terms of that in some cases, there were no statistics available to prove that.

·       That it was now a requirement for office staff to return to the office twice a week, except for exceptional circumstances.

 

In response to the above observations, it was enquired whether it was possible to see if any research had been undertaken by universities or companies into these types of questions to be able to identify patterns.

 

It was noted that the work pressure on staff was increasing, and it was enquired whether the Council had a corporate policy or departmental policies which looked at workload assessments. In response, it was noted that the Council had stress risk assessments for individuals and services and should an individual feel that they were under pressure due to work overload, they could discuss that as part of the stress risk assessment.

 

It was noted that they understood that more people took sickness days since Covid and it was enquired whether data was available regarding that. In response, it was noted:-

·       That data was available, but there had been a delay in terms of obtaining data historically.

·       That there was an intention for a new absence record system to go live on the staff self-service system. This system would offer some flexibility, for example, if an individual had been working from home 3 days from Monday to Wednesday and did not feel good enough to come into the office on the Thursday, they could also be allowed to work from home on the Thursday, as long as that complied with the requirements of the service.

 

RESOLVED

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee notes concern about the high levels of staff absences and requests that future updates on the Strategy detail specific data, such as comparison over periods, etc.