Agenda item

Surjit Nagra, HR Business Advisor, advised Members on the Sickness Absence performance and statistics.

Members were informed that, further to previous reports, absences since the implementation of new targets and triggers had seen a marked improvement. However, performance had varied over the last three months, though scorecards showed most Directorates were performing at 70% and above, which was pleasing. The Scorecard showed that the Regeneration, Housing & Resources Directorate was the lowest performing Directorate, though it was likely that this was a reporting issue rather than absence issue. Work would continue to be undertaken with the Directorate in order to improve the reporting, which was skewing the figures and providing misleading results.

Sick days per FTE in 2014/15 remained consistent versus the same periods 2013/14 though data showed an increase in March 2015, for which no reason had been found.

98% of Managers had completed their training in absence management, with new staff undergoing the training as they join SBC.

The three main reasons for absences remained skeletal/breaks/sprains, infections, and stress. For skeletal, physiotherapy was being provided in targeted areas e.g. Wellbeing Directorate, where the majority of these issues were seen to occur. Infections were typically common, but short term. Optional flu vaccinations were being promoted. To combat stress, mental health workshops were being developed, and would likely be promoted via the Employee Engagement Group.

It was proposed that the Sickness Absence Performance update be amended to a biannual, rather than quarterly, report. By lessening the frequency of the reports to the Committee, it was felt that the data could be analysed in more detail, and the reports could be of more benefit to Members. Members agreed to discuss the frequency of the Sickness Absence reports when discussing the Work Programme 2015/16 later in the meeting.

Members noted the report, and sought clarity on a number of points, including:

Re. RHR Scorecard. There was a discrepancy between the number of staff meeting the 6 day trigger, and the number of staff subsequently referred to Occupation Health (OH). Why was this?

This was likely a reporting issue, with Managers not correctly reporting that the OH meetings had take place. The results were therefore misleading.

How does SBC pay for OH? Was it per meeting? Members were concerned that SBC was potentially wasting money if booked meetings were subsequently not attended, or if meetings were being booked due to the policy following the 6 days absence trigger, when the staff member does not require OH.

It was agreed that the details of the OH contract would be fed back to Members via email.

When temporary staff were used to fill absences, were they DBS checked?

Yes, temporary staff are subject to DBS, references, permit checks etc in line with the requirements of the job itself.