Agenda item

The report presents the findings of the 2024 Employee Engagement Survey.

Discussion:

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer introduced the report which outlined the results of the employee survey undertaken in May 2024. She provided a detailed presentation of the results and changes compared to the last survey which was undertaken in 2022.

The following issues were discussed:

Communications – Members welcomed the improved two-way communication between management and staff. In response to a question to what extent was this planned and what part represented a cultural change in the organisation, the Chief Operating Officer replied that there had been a deliberate choice by senior leadership to be more accessible following the employee survey of two years ago where communication was identified as an issue of concern. This meant that a number of events had taken place such as Medway Live, Chief Executive team visits and senior managers were more visible in Gun Wharf.

It was noted that electronic communication between management and staff was less favoured than other forms of communication, it was asked whether this was a risk for the Council in relation to the move toward more digitisation through Medway 2.0. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer explained that the Council needed to improve some systems to promote digital communication, for example, intranet Medspace messages disappear after 24 hours. The Council would also consider increased use of social media to promote the Council, but Medway 2.0 would support staff through increased digitisation.

Healthy work practices – A Member asked if constraints on the Gun Wharf building was a causal factor in less healthy working practices. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer acknowledged that restrictions on officers being in the building meant some staff were working in less healthy ways, such as being less active and talking to colleagues less. In addition, that the Council had some positions vacant for an extended period and this created additional workload pressure. The Council had undertaken some rightsizing of teams to ensure it was able to respond to demand but also needed to improve the speed of its recruitment.

Bullying – in response to a question how the Council defined bullying, the Chief Organisational Culture Officer replied that the Council did not provide a specific definition for staff as defining bullying would not take away from officers experiences of it, so it was based on how staff felt they experienced bullying.

Pay and recognition – a Member commented that following last year’s pay award, 30% of responders reported being satisfied with the pay and recognition and this was a disappointing result. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer replied that in any organisation she would expect a percentage of staff to say they were not satisfied with the pay. A cohort of staff would not receive a pay increase following the competition of Medpay review and this would be naturally disappointing for those affected.

Mental Health – Members expressed concern at results related to mental health and requested further information. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer explained that the results suggested there was not one particular problem related to mental heath in the Council, staff dealt with a number of issues some of which related to work. In addition the Council had improved how it addressed poor performance, this would create higher levels of sickness, stress and complaints as staff were held to account.

A Member asked if successful strategies promoting positive mental health could be shared, the Chief Organisational Culture Officer, said that Mental Health Champions had been a positive development for the Council. More training for mental health champions would be useful ensuring managers had the knowledge of the available support. What mental health champions and managers found difficult was the line between where the role of the employer ends and the role of the mental health professional begins.

Disabled staff - a Member expressed concern that the most experienced discrimination was related to disability, and asked if the Equality Board would take this issue up. The Chief Organisational Officer explained that work was being undertaken to ensure the Council was a disability confident employer, and the needs of disabled staff included in all Council project work, for example, Gun Wharf project board were reviewing adaptations required for the building to meet the accessibility needs of staff.

A Member asked if there was any evidence that neuro diverse staff had reported mental health issues at a higher rate, the Chief Organisational Culture Officer replied that she did not have the data available and undertook to review and provide information to the Committee outside of the meeting. It was commented that this may be an issue of how staff and workers considered themselves, differently abled rather than disabled and more inclusive language was required. The Head of Planning and Programmes explained that the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy which was being development would ensure the Council used inclusive language.

Decision:

a)     The Committee noted the report.

b)     The Committee noted the comments of the Joint Consultative Committee that 30% of staff were satisfied with the pay and conditions and that 60% of staff who had reported bullying were unhappy with the outcome.