Agenda item

The Panel received a report from the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development (H of HR&OD) which provided an update on the County Council’s recent Workforce initiatives. He provided an overview of the key issues as follows:

·         A new operating model for the HR&OD Team was being embedded, which had seen a move away from Directorate based resources to a centralised Team with the introduction of new standardised, streamlined and simplified processes and policies.

·         In the last 12 months there had been an emphasis on the performance and productivity of the workforce, in addition to workforce initiatives that could directly achieve in year savings. The key areas of focus were: performance review compliance, attendance management at work, the Voluntary Redundancy Scheme, agency spend reduction, Christmas Annual Leave Purchase Scheme, social work recruitment, apprenticeships and the Social Work Academy.

·         The Panel was informed that the performance data from previous years had shown low levels of compliance (on average 60%), combined with higher than average performance rating distribution, which had raised concerns regarding their accuracy and consistency. Added to that, the sickness absence rate had been rising against the national trend, resulting in lost productivity. The H of HR&OD advised that this situation had improved significantly in the last year, with compliance rates currently on average at 90% and expected to be 100% by the year end. The absence management figures were also now showing a downward trend.

·         Between 2017 and 2020, the County Council was required to register an average of 2.3% of its total workforce on new apprenticeships, which was approximately 74 per year. An Apprenticeship Levy was required to be paid by the Council calculated on 0.5% of the total pay bill. The Levy was paid into a digital account and could be drawn down to pay for apprenticeship training for a limited period. The H of HR&OD advised that the Council had recently obtained Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Employer Provider status, which meant that it could deliver a range of apprenticeships and retain the full amount of levy for each apprenticeship programme.

·         Future workforce priorities for 2019 included the establishment of a wholly owned company, Worcestershire Children First and the associated work around the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE). The Panel was assured that there was also a focus on staff who were not transferring to the new company.

·         The County Council’s Organisational Redesign Project involved a significant input from Human Resources. This Project was focussed on the function and form required to deliver Worcestershire County Council’s (WCC) services effectively and the skills and capabilities required to support this delivery. The Panel was informed that over 120 staff volunteers were working in groups to contribute and support the development of this Project.

·         The key statistics for the full time equivalent (FTE) profile, sickness, turnover rate and agency spend were provided for the end of Quarter 3 2018/19.

·         A new Managing Performance Policy was launched in September 2018, with an emphasis on ensuring that employee performance was measured accurately and evidenced correctly. Mandatory mid-year ratings were expected from all managers for each of their staff.

·         Social worker recruitment had been a key goal for the year and significant time and resources had been employed in reducing the Council’s dependency on agency workers and stabilising the workforce. During the last 12 months permanent staffing levels for social workers had increased to 79%, against a minimum target of 85% and turnover had reduced from 25% to 13% in the same period. The retention figures had been aided by the successful launch of the Social Work Academy this year, which had proved to be a valuable support for social workers, particularly newly qualified social workers joining WCC at the start of their careers. The next few years would prove critical for the Academy.

·         The implementation of the Voluntary Redundancy Scheme introduced in November 2018 had resulted in 40 applications being agreed with a resultant overall saving of £1.2m.

The following main points were raised:

·         A Member questioned why the number of staff taking voluntary redundancy was so low, when there was a target figure of 240. The H of HR&OD explained that the Council was required to legally notify the Government of the maximum number of redundancies likely to be made. Given the budget figures at that time, it was established that 240 was the maximum number of redundancies that could be facilitated, although the final number was always expected to be much lower. Of the applications received for voluntary redundancy, over half were not agreed, due to factors such as the post not being able to be deleted or the cost of the potential redundancy being prohibitive. Some employees were advised at an early stage that their application would not be able to be approved.

·         In response to a further question, the H of HR&OD advised that it was not anticipated that the formal Voluntary Redundancy Scheme would be repeated in the near future, however, the Council was not opposed to individual employees expressing an interest in voluntary redundancy and such requests would be explored. He stressed that this did not apply to employees who had recently applied and been declined voluntary redundancy.

·         A Member raised some concerns about the value and cost of the performance review process, in particular what the information was used for and the expected benefit. The H of HR&OD advised that the process was vital as an ongoing Council wide process to ensure that key information about the productivity and performance of employees was being obtained. The importance of the moderation role was also crucial to understand the performance and ability of a team and Managers were receiving training to ensure that they were doing this effectively. The Director of Commercial and Commissioning stressed that employees were entitled to expect a review of their work, which identified their effort and achievement. Where employees were exceeding their performance targets, it was appropriate that they should receive some recognition for that, which in turn encouraged further improvements. It wasn’t intended that the process should be complex, rather to ensure that there was quality objective setting and meaningful, productive review sessions taking place as part of the expected pattern of everyday working practices.

·         A query was raised as to how the impact of the Performance Review process on employees had been assessed and whether there was any specific feedback obtained to gauge this. The Panel was informed that the process had been kept simple with clear objectives linked to the Strategic Plan. The H of HR& OD advised that a specific question seeking feedback on the process had not been included in the recent Pulse Staff Survey.

·         A Member suggested that enabling staff to participate in meaningful activities beyond the workplace was beneficial to staff engagement, improving productivity, self-esteem and morale. He referred to a previous Scrutiny about increasing physical activity in Worcestershire. One of the recommendations from this Scrutiny was for WCC as a large employer to encourage staff to be more physically active. At the time, there were a number of initiatives to engage staff and improve motivation. Unfortunately, these initiatives didn’t appear to have been continued. The H of HR&OD advised that whilst these types of initiative had not been focussed on recently, this was something that could be considered in the year ahead. The Director suggested that one of the Volunteer Groups could be asked to explore this idea.

·         The possibility of staff being entitled to have ‘volunteer days’ could also be given some consideration. The Panel asked for feedback on this at the appropriate stage.

·         It was confirmed that WCC would have used most of its £410k Apprenticeship Levy by the year end. 

·         The Panel was informed that the definition of ‘apprentice’ was used to refer to new employees of any age or existing employees who wished to upskill or complete a qualification. Members felt that this wider definition needed to be made known as there was the assumption that apprenticeships referred to young people at the start of their careers.

·         In response to a Members question about the number of current apprentices, the HR&OD explained that there were16 apprenticeships currently being provided under the WCC Employer Provider Service, but that other apprenticeships were being run through other schemes. The Panel was advised that the16 apprentices were either in social care or business administration. Most of these apprentices were new employees, but the H of HR&OD agreed to provide specific details on the breakdown.

·         The H of HR&OD guided the Panel through Appendix 1 (HR & OD Development Business Plan 2018/19) and provided details of the numbers of staff currently in each section and additionally the Pensions Team, which also came under his remit. He advised that the culture and environment of an organisation was crucial for its future development. There needed to be clear capabilities in place or potential to develop skills to ensure future needs were met.  The H of HR&OD was keen to do a skills audit, which would help with this process.

·         In response to a question about succession planning, the H of HR&OD advised that WCC had a Workforce Strategy rather than a Succession Strategy.

·         There was some confusion between the Performance Indicators included in this Report and those included in the Performance Monitoring Report that followed. The H of HR&OD confirmed that future reports would include clear narrative to aid Members’ understanding.

·         A Member asked what protection there was for staff from workplace bulling and harassment. The Panel was informed that this was one of the new Council Policies launched in September 2018. A recent staff survey had also included a question about whether staff felt confident to report harassment. Additionally, the HR Team had encouraged the Trade Union to carry out their own survey, the details of which would be shared with them. It was agreed that the Panel would receive a further Report on this issue at the September Panel meeting, to include the results of the two surveys.