Agenda item

Discussion:

The Chief People Officer introduced the report which provided the Committee with a breakdown of the 2016 staff survey as a summary of results which were set out at Appendix 1 to the report.  She explained that the response rate had increased by 3% compared with the previous year’s figures.  She added that engagement forums had been set up within Adult Social Care and Finance Teams which were to encourage open dialogue with staff and there was an intention to set up more engagement forums around the Council.  In addition it was explained that the survey had been altered to enable benchmarking comparisons to take place in the future.

Members then raised a number of points and questions, which included: -

·         Differences in response rates by directorate – The Chief People Officer explained that one aspect of the large variance across the directorates was due to the quantum of staff within each directorate.  Another factor had been engagement with satellite locations and although there had been some work in engaging with staff that were not within Gun Wharf, more of this was needed in the future.

·         Percentage of people feeling they were able to access the right learning and development opportunities when they need to – disappointment was raised by Members on this percentage which had been reported as 64%.  The Chief People Officer also expressed her concern regarding this result.  She explained that had there been a higher response rate from staff within the Children and Adult Directorate then she would have expected this figure to rise, particular in relation to Social Workers as there is now a high level of support for Social Workers, aided by the Social Work Academy which was now in place at the Council.

·         No data relating to relationships with trade unions – commenting on the data obtained from the survey in relation to Medway Makers, it was asked whether there should be similar data obtained about trade unions, which the Chief People Officer undertook to consider.

·         Percentage of people reported to have experienced harassment or bullying – concern was raised that 12% of respondents reported to have experienced bullying or harassment at work in the past year.  This concern was again shared with the Chief People Officer who explained that this had been an area of concern for the Corporate Management Team who were looking carefully at this issue and how it can be addressed through improved communication and training courses for managers and staff.  It was confirmed that the data received could be assessed in more detail to identify specific directorates and teams within the Council where this was a particular issue so that targeted work in those areas could take place.

·         Discrepancy of declarations by staff about disability – a Member asked if there was any analysis with regard to the number of staff that had reported to have a disability via the survey, which was much higher than the number of staff that had formally declared their disability via selfserve4you.  The Chief People Officer explained that there were two primary factors, one being people not updating their information on selfserve4you, particularly if they have developed a disability since being employed by the Council or since the classing of a disability had changed nationally and others consciously choose not to declare their disability to the employer.  A great deal of work was done in terms of publicising the support available to staff with a disability through the Disabled Workers Forum, which continued to be proactive.

·         Percentage of staff believing that senior managers will take action on the results of the survey – a Member commented that more needed to be done to improve the result against this point, which had been reported as 25% of staff.  The Chief People Officer explained that the engagement forums were one tool, running with a ‘you said, we did’ ethos in providing a two way dialogue and feedback tool between staff and senior managers.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report and requested that the results of the annual staff survey are reported annually to the Employment Matters Committee.