Agenda item

The Committee will receive a power-point presentation on the Employee Absence Reduction Project.  A copy of the presentation is attached at Appendix E.

Craig Picknell, Senior Human Resources Manager for Organisational Development delivered a power-point presentation on the Employee Absence Reduction Project, a copy of which had been included in the agenda.

The City Mayor commented that it was extremely important that this issue was addressed and that the discussion took place in public. There was a responsibility as a council to address the issue as well as a responsibility to the workforce.  

The Chair commented that this was an emotional and sensitive issue but he was assured by the strategies that were in place to help the individuals concerned. He believed that the approach was a meaningful response to issues around employee absences.

Councillor Cleaver said that she welcomed the approach and said that it could be disappointing to try to speak to an officer, for example in Housing, to find that the officer was repeatedly absent, but she recognised that officers in the front line could work in stressful situations.  The management and political leaders of Adult Social Care, which was one of the most challenging departments, had experienced  severe cuts in government funding, but had carried out a great deal of work to support their staff to ensure that that they felt supported and wanted to come into work.    

Councillor Grant referred to Councillor Cleaver’s comments re the cuts in government funding and commented that this problem was not new, as ten years ago, under a different Government, the average absence of city council employees was reported to be 12 days. The Deputy Leader of the council at  that time had talked on the BBC about introducing yoga classes to reduce the number of staff absences.

A Member noted that there were delays in referrals for employees to receive help with health issues (for example to the Occupational Health Service) and it was questioned whether some of those delays were due to the way managers applied the policy. He questioned how those referrals could be speeded up, as apart from the benefit to the council, the authority had a duty of care to its employees.   A question was also asked as to whether senior managers looked at how their managers were dealing with this issue; there may be for example different managers within his team who had different outcomes when dealing with staff absences.  The Senior Human Resources Manager agreed that more needed to be done to speed up referrals. For example, it was being considered whether employees with musculoskeletal problems might be able to refer themselves to the IPRS Group for rehabilitation in future, rather than through their line manager.  Managers were also being made aware of the need to make prompter referrals.

Councillor Dr Moore praised the approach and stated that it should be published and would make a very good paper for a Human Resources journal. The Member also stated that she felt it was crucial for managers to talk to staff at an early stage about work-life balance, which could help to alleviate issues around mental health.

Councillor Cutkelvin commended the work that was being undertaken with the trade unions in relation to the strategy and asked what their assessment was in relation to the culture at the council. The Director of DCPG responded that the unions were supportive of the findings, but had concerns, as did the council, that greater consistency was needed in helping employees on a number of issues including mental health.

It was questioned whether the unions were satisfied that the council was doing enough to support employees with mental health problems. The Director commented that the role of the trade unions was to support their members, and the council understood that individuals needed support from their employer, but they also had to consider the long term impact on the service. The City Mayor added that prolonged absences impacted on work colleagues who might be taking on additional work- loads while someone was on sick leave.

The Chair drew the discussion to a close and asked members of the committee to endorse the Employee Absence Reduction Project.

AGREED:

                   that the Employee Absence Reduction Project be endorsed.