Agenda item

Surjit Nagra, HR Business Partner, summarised a report providing members with an update on progress of reducing the Council’s Sickness absence.  The report provided the latest available performance figures and the Council’s Overall Sickness Absence Balanced Scorecard.  A full data set was not available as the meeting date was brought forward.

The Assistant Director provided a summary of the report and Members were reminded that the sickness absence scorecard continued to be reported at management team meetings to monitor sickness absence in service areas. It was highlighted that the HR Team had provided additional support to help manage sickness levels in the Wellbeing Directorate and this had led to a sustained improvement over the last 2 months. 

The Committee noted that the Regeneration, Housing and Resources Directorate had a fluctuating score over the last 6 months and was currently reporting as the lowest performing directorate with a performance management score of 69.2 in December.  Again, HR support was being provided to this Directorate to remind managers of their duties in terms of policy compliance and completion of the sickness tracker sheets.  It was noted that the Chief Executives directorate was the first to reach a performance score of 100 in December.  Whilst it was recognised that this was the smallest Directorate with the least sickness absence, it was an acknowledgement that good management of sickness absence could be achieved.

  Members were advised that the Council was maintaining a positive approach to managing sickness absence and managers continued to undertake formal meetings with employees when they hit trigger points and to follow the different stages of the policy.  It was noted that 97.9% of managers and supervisors had now attended the Sickness Absence Training. 

Due to the nature of the work undertaken within the Wellbeing Directorate, it was accepted that staff would present the largest number of sickness days lost and a revised target of 9.4 sick days had agreed.  The target for the Council as a whole had been amended to 8.1 days and this would be recorded on the January Scorecards. 

Members noted the individual Directorate Scorecards and it was highlighted that Occupational Health remained an important component to ensure relevant medical advice was sought in a timely manner.  43.8% of staff that had hit the sickness absence trigger had been referred to Occupational Health to enable the manager to support the employee with their sickness. 

The Officer discussed the impact of skeletal breaks, sprains, stress, and infections on sickness levels and extra physiotherapy and back care clinics that had been provided for the Wellbeing Directorate.  The success of these sessions would be reviewed when completed with a view to possibly providing similar schemes across the Council.  With regard to infections, it was noted that managers were responsible for ensuring that arrangements were in place for the vaccination of their care workers who were in direct contact with patients and service users.  Flu vaccinations were offered through the Occupational Health contract and 28 employees had attended the sessions. It was highlighted however that many staff would possibly have received vaccinations at other clinics such as with their own GP and of course this was a personal choice.  It was difficult to assess whether the offer of a vaccination had impacted on sickness levels in the respective Directorate due to the low measurable take up.

  Members raised a number of questions/ comments in the ensuing debate:

·  It was noted that in the RHR Directorate a high number of staff had met the 6 day sickness trigger but only a  percentage of these had received a formal Stage 1 meeting?  This was acknowledged but it was highlighted that 2 individuals were on long term sick leave and the figures were therefore skewed.

·  Could all staff be requested to have a flu vaccination to improve sickness levels and in particular would it be helpful to require counter staff who were in frequent contact with the public to participate in a vaccination programme? It was accepted that staff in these areas would likely benefit more from a vaccination but the decision on whether to receive a flu jab rested with the staff member and the employer could not insist on this. There was also some evidence that the vaccine was not always 100% effective in controlling influenza levels.

·  How did Slough BC compare with other councils in terms of sickness triggers?  It was reported that other councils had a 10 day per annum sickness threshold.

  Resolved -  That the report be noted.