Agenda item

The report presents the findings of the 2025 Staff Survey.

Discussion:

The Chief Organisational Officer introduced the report outlining the results of the recent staff survey. The survey was completed by 55.5% of staff which was slightly lower than last year and showed significant improvements in a number of areas such as improved communication between management and staff and pay and reward. However, there was also a number of areas where further action was required.

The following issues were discussed:

Staff retention – The Committee discussed staff retention and the Chief Organisational Culture Officer was asked for her thoughts as to why 10% of staff wanted to leave the Council in the short term. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer stated that the results had improved compared to previous surveys, with an additional 7% of staff reporting a desire to work for the Council for the long term. With regard to the 10% that intended to leave the Council in the next year, part of this figure could be explained by those planning retirement which reflected the aging workforce within the Council. The figures also showed some staff wanted to leave to seek carer progression. Officers would investigate how the Council could provide additional opportunities to staff in response to the survey results.

It was asked how the Council compared to other comparable authorities and local public sector organisations. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer undertook to discuss with external partners if they would be willing to share their results and provide additional information outside of the meeting.

Bullying – concern was raised by Members in relation to the results of the survey relating to bullying, discrimination and harassment. A Member asked if officers were concerned given a significant proportion of staff that completed the survey were managers and this may have affected results and the views of staff who had not completed the survey had not been heard.

Improving response rates – a Member noted that a significant proportion of those completing the survey were managers, she asked whether this would affect results and how the Council could improve response rate across divisions. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer stated that there had been some anecdotal feedback which suggested that some staff wanted to engage in different ways such as group discussions or shorter surveys. It was the intention of the Council to undertake the principal staff survey every two years in future and compliment this with shorter focused surveys on particular issues. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer acknowledged that the bullying, discrimination and harassment results remained similar to previous survey which was disappointing. She did not believe that the results were misleading due to the cohort that had completed the survey, however, further investigation into the data was required.

She added that she was concerned that the results showed a reluctance to report issues by some staff, 20% of staff reported not knowing how to report issues despite additional work undertaken by officers to promote the survey and 55% of staff that reported issues were dissatisfied with the outcome. Results were being investigated and free text responses anonymised. This would provide additional insight as to the causes of the results. In response the Council was considering options such as a chatbot to assist staff in finding helpful information on the internet.

The Committee discussed the importance of culture in ensuring that staff felt supported to raise issues. The Chief Organisational Officer explained the importance the Chief Executive and administration placed on engagement and the positive work that has been undertaken in the area had been reflected in other areas of the survey. She added that the Equalities Board was undertaking some work to understand how the directorates worked in different ways and to create a safe space for staff to report concerns. In addition, some specialist training would be commissioned regarding microaggressions.

Loneliness – a Member raised concern about the numbers of staff reporting feelings of loneliness. It was asked whether the questions relating to loneliness referred to staff experience of workplace loneliness or more widely. The Chief Organisational Culture Officer stated that she believed it referred to workplace loneliness but would confirm this and report back to the Committee. She added that workplace loneliness and wellbeing would be a priority for the Council following the survey. The Council had put in place a number of groups and activities to support wellbeing in the workplace following the end of Covid restrictions, however, the partial closure of the building due to RAAC had affected some of those schemes.  HR intended to work with Public Health to consider some of these issues and provide additional support for staff to support wellbeing.

Recruitment and Retention - in response to a question about progress in improving recruitment and retention the Chief Organisational Culture Officer stated that there had been significant progress made. This was reflected in survey results which showed 7% more staff satisfied with pay and rewards and significant rise in staff who would recommend Medway as a place to work which had risen 20% over the last six years.

Trade Union representatives at the Joint Consultative Committee had expressed concern at the results related to bullying, discrimination and harassment and had agreed to work with the Council in finding proactive solutions.

Decision:

a)              The Employment Matters Committee noted the report.

b)              The Committee requested a briefing note to include benchmarking information regarding staff retention and percentage of staff seeking to leave the organisation with other authorities in the area and NHS partners.

c)               The Committee requested further information regarding staff who experienced feelings of loneliness, particularly whether it referred to in work, or as a whole.

d)              The Committee requested additional information regarding the Members of management and non-management staff that completed the report and whether this had affected results.