Agenda item

To accept the Well-being Plan as a plan for supporting and promoting the well-being of staff over the next few years. 

The report was submitted by Cllr Llio Elenid Owen.

DECISION

To accept the Well-being Plan as a plan for supporting and promoting the well-being of staff over the next few years.⁠ 

DISCUSSION

Members were reminded that a Staff Well-being Plan was operational and had received a Gold Level Award from the Welsh Government a number of times for the Corporate Health Standard. However, it was explained that the Covid era had led to a number of changes to staff well-being and needs were now quite different to pre-pandemic expectations. It was explained that it was timely to review the Plan in full to ensure that it was up to date and fit for purpose for the future.

It was reported that the Well-being Plan covered a number of duties such as the moral duty to protect the health and well-being of staff. The Plan was also said to address legal duties to protect the safety, health and well-being of staff. It was also explained that there were financial duties within the Well-being Plan to ensure that staff were healthy and content. The costs of sickness absences over the past year had been confirmed at £5.7m.

'A Healthy and Satisfied Workforce' was confirmed as a work stream within the Ffordd Gwynedd Plan as it was a method of attracting new employees, retaining existing employees, lowering sick leave rates and improving the performance and development of Council staff. There was pride in the fact that an entire section of this year's 'Llais Staff' questionnaire focused on staff well-being, the results of which had been input into the plan.

The new Plan was explained as having three foundations, namely 'Leadership and Management', 'Sustainable Support' and 'Work Environment'. It was explained that the 'Leadership and Management' foundation involved the development of Leaders and Managers to better support staff well-being with an emphasis on the core role of Managers to support well-being. It was elaborated that the 'Sustainable Support' foundation ensured that the arrangements that were in place such as counselling offers, physiotherapy, health checks and Occupational Health Unit support continued to offer mental, physical, social and financial well-being support. It was pointed out that the 'Work Environment' foundation focused on workplaces within the Council to ensure that the buildings promoted well-being while also supporting teams if patterns of absences arose.

It was confirmed that the Well-being Plan had followed a consultation process prior to being submitted to the Cabinet as it had received input from the Corporate Management Team, the Health, Safety and Well-being Forum, the Health, Safety and Well-being Panel, the Management Network and Council staff through the 'Llais Staff' questionnaire.

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       It was asked whether the sick leave costs were high compared to other Authorities.

o   In response to the question, the Head of Corporate Services Department confirmed that not all Local Authorities reported these numbers. However, Cyngor Gwynedd's costs were confirmed to be the second lowest given the figures from the 13 Local Authorities disclosing the information.

·       The Plan was supported as it led to very important Preventative work. It was emphasised that promoting activities and the support available was vital to the health and well-being of staff. It was added that it was important to receive feedback from staff on these proposals and the Department was thanked for including it within the 'Llais Staff' questionnaire.

·       The 'Leadership and Management' foundation was considered to be very important and there was pride that it was a key part of the Plan following the review. It was asked whether the change in attitude and the success of this foundation would be measured as it was a new foundation for the Plan.

o   It was explained that the Well-being Plan was now part of the Ffordd Gwynedd Plan and it was confirmed that an appraisal process was being implemented as part of the monitoring system for that Plan. It was confirmed that this meant that there was a requirement for each department to appraise their development in this foundation on a regular basis.

·       It was asked whether it was possible to identify specific Departments or Services that experienced more staff absences than others.

o   In response to the question, the Head of Corporate Services Department confirmed that this data could be found. It was elaborated that an absence management and reporting policy had been adopted this year using the self-service system in order to support the Departments. It was confirmed that this had led to a complete picture of the challenges of staff absences. It was emphasised that further work was underway to identify further interventions and solutions for any services experiencing high absence challenges.

The Head of Department and Assistant Head were thanked for their work in leading the development of the Well-being Plan. Councillor Menna Trenholme was also thanked for her support to the Department in recent years.