Agenda item

Surjit Nagra, HR and OD Business Partner, provided an update on staff wellbeing, the key points of which were:

The overall balanced scorecard showed consistency when compared to the previous report. Overall, the trend was that targets were close to being achieved.

Long term and short term sickness had been separated, as per previous requests. 29.3% of staff had been absent in the short term (0-5 days), vs. 4% absent in the long term (20+ days). Of the 35 long term absentees, 8 remained absent, whilst the others had returned to work. Relevant provision was in place  to support an employee’s return to work, or to instigate the process leading to dismissal.

The top three reasons for absences remained Not Stated, Infections, and Stress. Previous Member comments relating to the ‘not stated’ field had been considered, and it was confirmed that there remained a legal obligation to provide this option to employees. By law, employees were not obliged to disclose the reason for their absence.

As part of the wellbeing strategy, the new no smoking policy had come into effect on 1^st April 2016. The policy itself had had been drafted into a brief, engaging and easy to understand format.

Members asked a number of questions, including:

Was sickness absence aligned with performance?

It was recognised that persistent absence would have an effect on performance. Data being collected now meant that issues could be identified and appropriate action taken.

Whilst it was accepted that staff retained a legal right not to disclose the reasons for their absence, 21% of days lost without a reason stated was too high. Was it likely that this was due to staff members simply not being asked?

Managers were required to conduct return to work interviews with all staff members. All managers were being educated in the importance of correctly reporting absence statistics and this included probing for reasons of staff absences.

Was sick pay subject to a qualifying period?

The Council adheres to the National Sick Pay Scheme, which provides sick pay for all staff members from day 1 of their employment. The amount of sick pay would increase the longer an employee was in employment, up to a maximum of 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay.

Resolved -   That the report be noted.