Agenda item

Kevin Gordon, Assistant Director, Professional Services, updated the Committee on the Council’s performance in reducing sickness absence, which the Committee had requested should be reported to all future meetings.  It was noted that the average full time equivalent of days lost over the year from 1^st August 2013 to 31^st July 2014 was 8.6 days, a figure above the target of 6.8 days which the Council had hoped could be achieved by September 2014. 

The Committee considered a summary of the balanced scorecards by Directorate over the last year, up to July 2014 which indicated that Slough BC  was beginning to positively manage sickness absence.  Managers would  continue to undertake formal meetings with employees when trigger points were hit and Members were advised that 97.9% of managers and supervisors had attended Sickness Absence Training.

The Officer discussed the most common reasons for absence during the period 1^st March 2014 to 31^st August 2014, with skeletal, breaks/sprains having the highest levels of absence and this was common in the Wellbeing Directorate. Mental health problems such as stress, depression and anxiety contributed to a significant number of days lost and to tackle this further mechanisms for staff to cope with stress and assistance for managers to address mental health problems were being developed as part of the Employee Wellbeing Project.

In the ensuing debate Members asked a number of questions regarding the sickness statistics including how stress and mental illness were assessed in staff. The Officer advised that patterns of sickness would be monitored and staff would be offered confidential advice and assistance through occupational health with GP involvement. A Member highlighted that on page 16 of the agenda papers the table at the foot of the page detailing reasons for sickness absence was incorrect. The % of days lost column added up to approx 50% indicating that a significant number of reasons had been omitted. Kevin Gordon advised that the reasons for sickness column would be updated for next meeting to provide a fuller picture of absences.

Resolved  -  That the report be noted.