corporate resources & regional affairs overview & scrutiny...
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Corporate Resources & Regional Affairs Overview & Scrutiny Committee Date: 7 July 2016
Annual Update Report for Workforce (2015/16)
Report of the Director of Human Resources
Portfolio Member: Councillor David Ledger, Deputy Leader of the Council
Purpose of the Report
The purpose of this report is to:
Provide an annual position statement in relation to workforce related areas of
assurance, workstreams/associated action plans and progress to date within key
areas for Northumberland County Council
To provide assurance to the Corporate Resources & Regional Affairs Overview &
Scrutiny Committee that there is provision and monitoring in place to achieve
necessary Key Performance Indicators relating to workforce for 2016/17.
Recommendations:
The recommendations are:
Corporate Resources & Regional Affairs Overview & Scrutiny Committee
note the contents of the report.
Link to the Corporate Plan
The Northumberland County Council (NCC) Corporate Plan for the period to 2017 has
identified a number of core strategic priorities and supporting key organisational actions
of which the following are particularly relevant to the workforce:
Make the best use of our limited resources to ensure maximum benefit for all
citizens in all communities across Northumberland.
Create a unified Council where all staff and elected members understand their
role and are motivated to deliver excellent services.
2
Listen to and value the views, concerns and ideas of staff.
Work in partnership and collaborate with others to deliver services as effectively
as possible.
Key Issues
An integral part of the Council’s success in delivering high quality services to the
population of Northumberland is based on the workforce of the Council. This report
previously considered the work of the Sickness Management Board. This report has
now been extended to cover the wider workforce issues which are managed by the
Council’s newly introduced Workforce Committee which it has established following the
appointment of a Director of Human Resources.
Background
1. Following the appointment of the Director of Human Resources, the Council has
established a wide range of metrics to manage workforce related issues across
the whole council.
2. Managers are held to account through the new Workforce Committee which is
held on a monthly basis and managers are provided with a suite of workforce
metrics for their area in advance of the meeting which is sourced from the
Council’s e-business system.
3. Focussed attention is paid to absence management but also to other key
performance indicators such as induction, statutory and mandatory training,
appraisal and overpayments for example.
4. The Workforce Committee also monitors the progress of the HR/OD Strategy
which has eleven workstreams of activity, all which impact on the workforce
across all areas of the council.
Update on the HR/OD Strategy
A HR/OD Strategy is now in place for Northumberland County Council with 11 key
workstreams which all have specific action plans. Progress within the last quarter of
2015/16 for each workstream is outlined below:
Prepare employees and the organisation for the practical implementation of agile
working
3
Agile worker training sessions developed and underway (separate sessions for
managers and employees)
NWoW Champions Group being reviewed and Terms of Reference established
with clear responsibilities and alignment to changes with accommodation, IT and
new
Initial Draft of Agile Policy drafted
Series of Intranet poll questions to be posed (for publication prior to end of May
2016) to assess baseline position
Initiate culture change and supporting programme of sustained and focused
employee engagement
SWOT analysis completed of current means of engagement
Review of past employee survey and quotes obtained for 2016 survey
Launch of screen savers across the Council
Closer working with communications and trade unions to establish key messages
to be delivered in line with an annual communications plan
Initial work undertaken to scope annual staff awards
Review employee relations and Trade Union partnership working ensuring it is
meaningful, productive and focussed
Revised Partnership Agreements drafted - 1 x schools and 1 x non schools.
Constructive initial discussions with local trade union reps regarding the number
of stewards operating within the County Council.
Established that Facility Time can be recorded and reported on via e-business
Initial Terms of Reference drafted in respect of Joint Consultative Group.
Established the process for UCATT to be recognised by the County Council.
Ensure HR Information Systems are deployed in a timely and efficient manner,
maximising the ability to extract core HR metrics and management data
Dashboards developed for the Workforce Committee identifying key metrics
Work has commenced between HR and Employee Services to understand clear
metrics for HR
Initial management data has been provided with feedback obtained.
4
Establish an organisation-wide workforce plan is in order to assure future service
delivery through having the right resources with the right skills at the right time
Draft workforce planning toolkit devised
Draft management guidance for use (toolkit) devised
Draft data set produced
Agreed pilot areas for using the Workforce Planning toolkit
Establish and embed succession planning and talent management capability
within the organisation to improve resilience and capability
Draft Succession Planning policy/process devised
Draft Succession Planning toolkit developed
Agreed pilot areas for using the Succession Planning toolkit
Evaluation completed on NCC's current position re Apprentices and Graduates
Improve recruitment process to stimulate greater supply and more robust and
consistent selection of candidates who have a long term future in the
organisation
Development of new exit questionnaire
Delivery of “Confident Interview Skills” Classroom Event
Recruitment and e-learning training modules gone live
Honorary Contract process now in place
Benchmarking exercise completed
DBS policy drafted
Refine and streamline HR/OD Policy and standards to ensure a consistent
organisational approach and the clear demonstration of effective governance
Priority Policies identified and updated
Standardised policy template and approach developed
Trade Union group established for reviewing policies
Policy review and approval mechanism designed and implemented
Learning provision being developed to support implementation of policies
Review current occupational health arrangements and step change to an overall
health and wellbeing plan built to support current and future organisational needs
Joint Occupational Health Service established with effect from 9th April 2016
5
Greater range of services in place to address sickness absence
Increased range and improved capacity of what Occupational Health service is
offered
Nurse led service now is place which is cost effective
Move to shared service delivered robustly and on time
Draft plan of focussed health and wellbeing initiatives for 2016 ready to be rolled
out.
Build an integrated and highly professional service for the organisation as a
whole which is cost effective, resilient and focussed (on delivering the HR/OD
Strategy)
Analysed HR activities/resources as delivered
Reviewed service provision with stakeholders
Restructuring plan devised to facilitate improved service position
Ensure the targeted delivery of relevant learning and development interventions
to ensure that staff and managers alike have the correct expertise and skill sets
to properly and consistently deliver on HR and wider organisational priorities.
Training Needs Analysis process completed and new required learning 2016/17
published
Ten new modules created using adaptive content and modern instructional
design techniques – over 50 hours of new content published and made available
31/03/16
New corporate induction sessions and manager guidance developed
Over 500 staff trained on back care in response to identified corporate H&S risk
and as positive management action to address musculoskeletal injuries within
Local Services.
Required Learning/ Statutory and Mandatory compliance training reports
developed and future reporting requirements agreed.
Key Performance Metrics
Labour Turnover
6
CorporateResourcesDirectorate
Fire andRescue
Directorate
HumanResourcesDirectorate
LocalServices
Directorate
Planning andEconomy
Directorate
StrategicProperty
Directorate
Wellbeingand
CommunityHealth
ServicesDirectorate
LTR Headcount % 11.72% 10.94% 10.17% 13.53% 21.05% 11.11% 12.28%
LTR FTE % 11.53% 10.56% 8.36% 12.30% 20.29% 10.57% 11.13%
NCC LTR FTE % 11.81% 11.81% 11.81% 11.81% 11.81% 11.81% 11.81%
NCC Headcount LTR % 12.75% 12.75% 12.75% 12.75% 12.75% 12.75% 12.75%
0%2%4%6%8%
10%12%14%16%18%20%22%24%
LTR Headcount%
LTR FTE %
NCC LTR FTE %
NCC HeadcountLTR %
Labour turnover over the last twelve months remains relatively static at 12.75% against
a national estimated average of 12% (LGA). There is some variance amongst
directorates which is illustrated below as follows:
Learning and Development Performance
Performance Appraisal
During 2015/16 the total % of all staff who had a performance appraisal recorded was
22%. This is significantly under the expected level of performance of at least 85%.
Need
(Headcount)
Number completed
(Headcount)
% Total remaining
(Headcount)
%
4070 906 22.26% 3164 77.74%
Work is now underway to ensure that managers and employees are aware of the data
recording requirements relating to the performance appraisal process. The appraisal
process and the associated documentation is also being reviewed and will be re-
launched during 2016/17.
Workforce Committee will agree schedules for achievement of appraisals with
Directors/Head of Service and then monitor the performance levels achieved by
Directorate and service on a monthly basis to ensure the appropriate performance
levels are achieved for 2016/17.
7
Basic Induction Programme
During 2015/16 new employees to Northumberland County Council have been required
to complete a basic induction programme online. Performance to date for all employees
has been as follows:
Need
(Headcount)
Number completed
(Headcount)
% Total remaining
(Headcount)
%
4070 2155 52.95% 1915 47.05%
From May 2016 all employees have been required to complete a half day “Welcome to
Northumberland County Council” face to face induction which outlines all of the
corporate learning requirements a new employee will be required to undertake and
ensure that performance is monitored to ensure these are achieved within the first four
weeks of employment. Monitoring of attendance and completion of both corporate and
local induction programmes are being monitored by the Workforce Committee. Initial
feedback has been excellent, those who have attended have confirmed that they have
found the session useful and that they now understand the vision, aims and objectives
of the Council as well as how the Council is structured and the expectations of them as
an employee. We are continuously receiving feedback from employees and improving
the sessions regularly. We have also delivered some bespoke sessions for seasonal
workers within local services (in local depots) and individuals have found these
particularly very helpful.
Information Security and Governance Programme
Annually all staff are now required to complete their information security and
governance training which can be completed in a number of ways:
E-learning
Face to face
Workbook
8
For 2015/16 performance was as follows:
Need
(Headcount)
Number completed
(Headcount)
% Total remaining
(Headcount)
%
4070 1769 43.46% 2301 56.54%
There are some forthcoming changes to be made to the Data Protection Act and this is
being reflected within the training materials and staff can now complete this training in a
number of ways. Workforce Committee is monitoring performance relating to achieving
the required levels of compliance for Information Security and Governance.
Statutory and Mandatory Training
A revised Corporate Training Needs Analysis (TNA) has been developed for all
Northumberland County Council staff which will be monitored for compliance directly by
Workforce Committee.
The ten core subjects that all employees are required to undertake is as follows:
Equality and Diversity – 3 yearly refresher
Manual Handling awareness – 3 yearly refresher
Safeguarding Children awareness – 3 yearly refresher
Safeguarding Adults awareness – 3 yearly refresher
Information Security and Data Protection awareness – annual refresher
Fire Safety awareness – annual refresher
Health and Safety awareness – one off
Stress Awareness – one off
FOI and Subject Access refresher – one off
PREVENT awareness or WRAP – one off
Workforce Committee has agreed schedules for achievement of appraisals with
Directors/Head of Service and the performance levels achieved by Directorate and
service are being monitored on a monthly basis to ensure the appropriate performance
levels are achieved.
9
MONTH Lost FTE Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated Cost
per Month
April 2495.53 £236,002.27 April £236,002.27
May 2382.70 £225,331.94 May £225,331.94
June 2699.30 £255,272.80 June £255,272.80
July 2789.73 £263,824.77 July £263,824.77
August 2479.29 £234,466.46 August £234,466.46
September 2800.23 £264,817.75 September £264,817.75
October 3180.06 £300,738.27 October £300,738.27
November 2901.76 £274,419.44 November £274,419.44
December 2844.22 £268,977.89 December £268,977.89
January 3299.38 £312,022.37 January £312,022.37
February 3421.30 £323,552.34 February £323,552.34
March 3432.00 £324,564.24 March £324,564.24
Sickness Absence including Estimated Costs (Last 12 Months)
£273,665.88
Total Estimated cost of sickness = £3,283,990.54
Total Number of FTE Lost Days by Month
Average Cost per month =
0.00
500.00
1000.00
1500.00
2000.00
2500.00
3000.00
3500.00
4000.00
Any compliance/performance issues are raised by the Director of Human Resources
with the relevant Director/Head of Service and compliance will be discussed on a
quarterly basis by the Corporate Leadership Team in the form of a formal Workforce
Assurance report.
Health and Wellbeing
The new shared service for Occupational Health (including Physiotherapy, Counselling
and Psychology) came into being on 9th April 2016. Transition has been well planned
and there are some significant additional benefits for staff and managers with the new
service. A Management Board is in place to review and manage the new service and
activity and quality is being reviewed on a quarterly basis. Initial feedback from staff
from staff and managers is positive and a number of individuals are returning to work
earlier than expected using the advice from the Occupational Health service.
Sickness Absence
Sickness absence for 2015/16 had an annual cost of £3.284m. The average number of
FTE lost days per month is approximately 2894 or 1.21 days per month per employee
(total 9.85 per annum) benchmarked against an estimated average of 8.8 per annum
nationally.
10
Directorate Cost of Sickness
Corporate Resources Directorate Total £327,196.96
Fire and Rescue Directorate Total £246,189.63
Human Resources Directorate Total £21,961.39
Local Services and Housing Delivery Directorate Total £1,060,707.38
Planning and Economy £77,504.58
Strategic Property £17,188.75
Wellbeing and Community Health Services Directorate Total£1,445,372.57
Cost of Sickness Absence by Directorate
£327,196.96£246,189.63
£21,961.39
£1,060,707.38
£77,504.58
£17,188.75
£1,445,372.57
£0.00
£200,000.00
£400,000.00
£600,000.00
£800,000.00
£1,000,000.00
£1,200,000.00
£1,400,000.00
£1,600,000.00
Corp
ora
te R
esou
rces
Directo
rate
Tota
l
Fir
e a
nd
Re
scue
Directo
rate
Tota
l
Hum
an R
eso
urc
es
Directo
rate
Tota
l
Lo
ca
l S
erv
ices a
nd
Housin
g D
elive
ry
Directo
rate
Tota
l
Pla
nnin
g a
nd
Econo
my
Str
ate
gic
Pro
pe
rty
Wellbe
ing
and
Com
mu
nity H
ea
lth
Serv
ices D
irecto
rate
To
tal
The cost of sickness absence by Directorate (see below) similarly shows the greatest
areas being Wellbeing and Local Services where the headcount is significantly higher.
Reporting of sickness absence using e-business is being actively promoted and
providing information to managers and HR representatives at a local level is proving
useful to managers in helping them identify trends, patterns and local issues. Work will
continue on refining this information throughout 2016/17 so that as much information as
possible will be provided in an automated way and will be accessible to all managers
and supervisors within the organisation at all levels.
It is recognised that nearly 51% of all staff assignments have had some absence due to
sickness during the last twelve months (as outlined below).
All
Assignm
ents
Assignments with Absence
Assignments
Without
Absence
Percentage
without
absence
4,070 2,063 2,007 49.31%
Staff (Assignments) without Sickness (last 12 Months)
50.69%
49.31%
Assignments withAbsence
Assignments WithoutAbsence
11
Work is ongoing to promote wellbeing with staff with the key focussed health and
wellbeing initiatives for 2016/17 identified as:
Stress
Resilience
Physical Activity Challenge
Flu
Hand Hygiene
MOT Health Checks
Occupational Health, Public Health and HR/OD are working across the Council to
deliver these areas within a structured programme during 2016/17.
Information is being analysed to ensure that each directorate understands their sickness
absence information with FTE lost days by Directorate information and the associated
costs being provided to managers and the Workforce Committee on a monthly basis.
MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 218.24 £22,077.16 April £22,077.16
May 208.54 £21,095.91 May £21,095.91
June 317.79 £32,147.64 June £32,147.64
July 226.49 £22,911.73 July £22,911.73
August 246.32 £24,917.73 August £24,917.73
September 255.35 £25,831.21 September £25,831.21
October 408.89 £41,363.31 October £41,363.31
November 353.78 £35,788.38 November £35,788.38
December 237.33 £24,008.30 December £24,008.30
January 403.52 £40,820.08 January £40,820.08
February 358.2 £36,235.51 February £36,235.51
March 324.53 £32,829.45 March £32,829.45
£27,266.41 Total Estimated cost of sickness -Average Cost per month -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Corporate Resources Directorate
£327,196.96
0.00
50.00
100.00
150.00
200.00
250.00
300.00
350.00
400.00
450.00
Ap
ril
Ma
y
Ju
ne
Ju
ly
Au
gu
st
Se
pte
mb
er
Octo
be
r
Nove
mb
er
Dece
mb
er
Ja
nu
ary
Fe
bru
ary
Ma
rch
12
MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 152.74 £17,833.92 April £17,833.92
May 156.11 £18,227.40 May £18,227.40
June 148.94 £17,390.23 June £17,390.23
July 151.23 £17,657.61 July £17,657.61
August 156.8 £18,307.97 August £18,307.97
September 161.69 £18,878.92 September £18,878.92
October 287.05 £33,515.96 October £33,515.96
November 190.64 £22,259.13 November £22,259.13
December 104.5 £12,201.42 December £12,201.42
January 207.74 £24,255.72 January £24,255.72
February 203.07 £23,710.45 February £23,710.45
March 188 £21,950.88 March £21,950.88
£20,515.80 Total Estimated cost of sickness -Average Cost per month -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Fire and Rescue Directorate
£246,189.63
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 12.22 £1,388.93 April £1,388.93
May 7.16 £813.81 May £813.81
June 0 £0.00 June £0.00
July 3 £340.98 July £340.98
August 0 £0.00 August £0.00
September 15 £1,704.90 September £1,704.90
October 32 £3,637.12 October £3,637.12
November 10 £1,136.60 November £1,136.60
December 2 £227.32 December £227.32
January 8.5 £966.11 January £966.11
February 23.5 £2,671.01 February £2,671.01
March 79.84 £9,074.61 March £9,074.61
£1,830.12 Total Estimated cost of sickness -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Human Resources Directorate
£21,961.39Average Cost per month -
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Ap
ril
Ma
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Ju
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Ju
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Au
gu
st
Se
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mb
er
Octo
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r
Nove
mb
er
Dece
mb
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Ja
nu
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Fe
bru
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Ma
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13
MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 1055.43 £85,753.69 April £85,753.69
May 1030.73 £83,746.81 May £83,746.81
June 1202.93 £97,738.06 June £97,738.06
July 1208.61 £98,199.56 July £98,199.56
August 1022.28 £83,060.25 August £83,060.25
September 1209.36 £98,260.50 September £98,260.50
October 1122.72 £91,221.00 October £91,221.00
November 906.68 £73,667.75 November £73,667.75
December 890.83 £72,379.94 December £72,379.94
January 1163.16 £94,506.75 January £94,506.75
February 1112.59 £90,397.94 February £90,397.94
March 1129.54 £91,775.13 March £91,775.13
£88,392.28 Total Estimated cost of sickness -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Local Services and Housing Directorate
Average Cost per month - £1,060,707.38
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Ap
ril
Ma
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Ju
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Ju
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Au
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Se
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Octo
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mb
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Dece
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Ja
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Fe
bru
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Ma
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MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 19.96 £2,296.40 April £2,296.40
May 23.48 £2,701.37 May £2,701.37
June 20.72 £2,383.84 June £2,383.84
July 53.1 £6,109.16 July £6,109.16
August 61 £7,018.05 August £7,018.05
September 98.3 £11,309.42 September £11,309.42
October 94.8 £10,906.74 October £10,906.74
November 74.4 £8,559.72 November £8,559.72
December 68.9 £7,926.95 December £7,926.95
January 47 £5,407.35 January £5,407.35
February 42.5 £4,889.63 February £4,889.63
March 69.5 £7,995.98 March £7,995.98
£6,458.72 Total Estimated cost of sickness -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Planning and Economy Directorate
Average Cost per month - £77,504.58
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Ap
ril
Ma
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Ju
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Ju
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Au
gu
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Se
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mb
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Octo
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14
Work is currently ongoing to address short and long term sickness absence with the
HR/OD team receiving and reviewing the data regularly together with ensuring that
managers and individuals are clear on expectations.
Further Key Performance Indicator’s to be developed
Further KPI’s are to be developed to support the wider workforce issues which include:
Reliance on agency staffing
MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 0 £0.00 April £0.00
May 0 £0.00 May £0.00
June 8.76 £1,015.81 June £1,015.81
July 13.68 £1,586.33 July £1,586.33
August 0 £0.00 August £0.00
September 13.14 £1,523.71 September £1,523.71
October 27.06 £3,137.88 October £3,137.88
November 36.33 £4,212.83 November £4,212.83
December 19.33 £2,241.51 December £2,241.51
January 14.6 £1,693.02 January £1,693.02
February 15.33 £1,777.67 February £1,777.67
March 0 £0.00 March £0.00
£1,432.40 Total Estimated cost of sickness -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Strategic Property Directorate
Average Cost per month - £17,188.75
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Ap
ril
Ma
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Ju
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Ju
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Au
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Octo
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bru
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MONTH FTE Lost Days Estimated Cost MonthEstimated
Cost per Month
April 1036.94 £99,494.39 April £99,494.39
May 956.68 £91,793.45 May £91,793.45
June 1000.16 £95,965.35 June £95,965.35
July 1133.62 £108,770.84 July £108,770.84
August 992.89 £95,267.80 August £95,267.80
September 1047.39 £100,497.07 September £100,497.07
October 1207.54 £115,863.46 October £115,863.46
November 1329.93 £127,606.78 November £127,606.78
December 1521.33 £145,971.61 December £145,971.61
January 1530.63 £146,863.95 January £146,863.95
February 1666.11 £159,863.25 February £159,863.25
March 1640.59 £157,414.61 March £157,414.61
£120,447.71 Total Estimated cost of sickness -
FTE Lost Days by Directorate Including Cost - Wellbeing and Community Health Services Directorate
Average Cost per month - £1,445,372.57
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
Ap
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15
Recruitment and Selection (including time to recruit and compliance with pre-
employment checks)
Fixed Term Contracts (Use of)
Equality and Diversity
The Council increased its score and achieved 25th place within the top 100 employers
rated within the Stonewall Equality Index as well as being the third highest placed Local
Authority. Julius Veasey, from Stonewall, gave some useful feedback to the Council on
our submission on 11th February and this will be used to inform future work.
Work is ongoing to actively promote and recruit further E&D Allies amongst the
workforce and the Council’s LGBT and Disability Network groups which are ran jointly
with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust continue to be well represented.
16
Implications arising from this report
Policy None Finance and value for money
The workforce is of significant cost to the Council and therefore it is essential that the workforce performs well to ensure that the Council achieves value for money in relation to service provision.
Legal Some policy implications which are being supported by the legal team
Procurement None Human Resources
As included within the report
Property None Equalities (Impact Assessment attached) Yes No N/A
All HR policies and procedures are subject to an equality impact assessment.
Risk Assessment
Risks relating to the ongoing health and wellbeing of staff are managed locally.
Crime & Disorder
None
Customer Consideration
Improved staff performance will impact on the quality of customer experiences.
Carbon reduction
None
Wards All
Report sign off. Authors must ensure that officers and members have agreed the content of the report:
initials
Finance Officer AE
Monitoring Officer/Legal LH
Human Resources KA
Procurement TP
I.T. NA
Executive Director KA
Portfolio Holder(s) DL
Author and Contact Details Kelly Angus Director of Human Resources [email protected]