Agenda item

Report of the Director of HR

9.1     The Committee considered a report that provided the headline results from the ‘Your Voice’ Staff survey 2015. This is an annual staff engagement survey designed to give staff a voice, highlighting what does and does not work well. 

9.2     The paper gave an overview of the main areas of improvement, areas of concern, progress on last year’s key areas for action and identified potential areas for action this year.

9.3     Carolyn Beech, Director of Human Resources, highlighted that the key areas of improvement were around IT and other resources, perception that pay is fair, learning and career opportunities and a belief that action would be taken as a result of the survey. The areas which had declined were around appraisals (11% lower) and understanding of both personal, team and Council objectives and communication. In addition staff wanted to understand better what is going on within the Council and particularly matters affecting them.  Ms Beech commented that in the last year the Managed Services Programme had been introduced and had encountered problems and the Council had undergone a large reorganisation.  She considered that these issues would have had a bearing on staff responses.

9.4     In relation to bullying and harassment, although this had improved overall, there was a decline in staff affected reporting it, so this remained a key priority. Similarly although the physical environment had improved as a result of the declutter programme, the score still remained below the local government benchmark and remained a key focus area.

9.5     Miss Beech reported that there were improvements in all the areas which had been identified as areas for focus in 2014.  To address the issues identified in this year’s survey each department will develop its own action plan while the Council will also develop corporate actions on bullying and change management.

9.6     A breakdown of results by Department had been produced since the publication of the Committee report and this information would be provided to the Committee in a more detailed report following the meeting.

9.7     The Committee was disappointed to note that the number of staff that would like to be working at the Council in 12 months time was 5% below the Local Government Benchmark.  Members also expressed disappointment that staff did not feel sufficiently informed about what is going on as this helps to allay fears about change.  The Committee considered that how change is managed is exceptionally important.  Miss Beech informed members that the Council would be studying good practice in departments which had scored well in this area and would be rolling that out across the organisation.

9.8     Members commented that each time there was a large reorganisation staff became unsettled. It was put to Miss Beech that it would perhaps be more productive to avoid such reorganisations unless absolutely necessary.  In response she stated that given the significant financial savings that are likely to be needed over the next few years it was inevitable that more change would occur.  She recognised that this would need to be managed better than previously.  She advised that the Council had good relations with the trade unions and would seek their advice on better ways to handle this in future.

9.9     Miss Beech was referred to the fact that although there had been an increase in satisfaction with IT the overall satisfaction levels were still low.  She was asked whether the survey attempted to understand what aspects of IT people were satisfied or dissatisfied with.  She advised that it did not identify the different IT issues that staff have.

9.10    RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

9.11    ACTION: Provide the committee with a breakdown of the ’Your Voice’ Staff Survey results by Department as part of a more detailed paper.  (Action for: Carolyn Beech, Director of Human Resources)