Agenda item

Committee to receive a report on the profile of Waverley Borough Council’s workforce for the year 2022/23.

Jon Formby, Interim HR Services Manager, addressed the Committee. He explained the main scope of the report; including protected characteristics data i.e. age profile, ethnicity profile, disability, profile, gender profile as well as turnover figures, sickness absence statistics and long-term and short-term statistics.

Councillors queried the staff sickness rates being 60% higher than the national average; notably that the statistics of mental health absences were 6 times higher than the national average. Jon Formby explained that this was somewhat impacted by a number of long-term cases in some of the service areas however it was an area of concern that the Council was looking to address through health and wellbeing initiatives. The Health and Safety Executive Survey and Joint Health and Wellbeing Survey across WBC and GBC looked at identifying areas for improvement; significantly workload and bullying (data suggested that this was coming to officers through members of the public most predominantly seen in planning and housing services). He noted that the Council was looking to improve guidance to members of the public as well as offering training on staff resilience and managing workload. In terms of benchmarking and comparing to other Councils, Jon noted that the Health and Safety Executive Survey allowed broad benchmarking against other councils, in which WBC performed in the upper quartile in terms of managing health and wellbeing however it did not allow for more specific comparisons. Robin Taylor further confirmed that item 9.2.2 of the Q4 Corporate Performance Report included commentary on staff sickness and staff turnover in comparison to other Surrey District and Borough Councils. Cllr Barker-Lomax suggested that more work is done to gain clearer benchmarking figures in relation to the Workforce Profile.

Members requested more information on vacancy rates by department. Jon Formby agreed to share this information with the Committee at a later date

Jon Formby addressed the Committee and noted that one key area of concern was the age profile of the workforce and noted that the Council were looking at initiatives and succession planning to increase our younger workforce as well as retaining them. Cllr Wicks raised a point around agile working, referenced in the report and questioned its effect on staff retention and morale. She indicated that this may particularly be effecting younger staff adapting to the office environment and more challenging aspects of the job due to lack of supervision. Cllr Barker-Lomax requested specific data on the number of staff working from home by department and which measures are in place to ensure representation is in place to ensure staff are available in person on a daily basis. Members were keen to receive a separate report based on agile working data and the impacts on staff performance, retention and morale. John Formby and Robin Taylor agreed to these recommendations.

Cllrs Davidson and Wicks noted a lack of declarations in the staff ethnicity and religion data and queried the validity of this data. Jon Formby noted that this was a difficult area but the Council offers staff an opportunity to declare this information at the beginning of employment as well as annual surveys, but efforts will continue. Cllr Davidson further queried the use of AI to fill gaps in the workforce. Cllr Follows addressed the Committee and informed them that he recently attended a presentation by a provider that uses low level AI in areas such as planning checks and flags issues that will need officer input. This may be something the Council will consider in the future. He explained that this could remedy areas where staff recruitment and retention were persistently struggling such as planning. The Committee would like to further look at the potential for AI in delivering Council services; this can be added to the work programme.

The Committee resolved to make the following recommendations to officers in relation to the report:

-        Committee to receive more information on vacancy rates

-        Committee to receive information on the effects of the collaboration on staff morale

-        Committee to receive report on agile working and it’s impact on staff and staff retention rates

-        Committee to receive clearer benchmarking figures