Issue - meetings

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager introduced the report, highlighting the key areas to Members. He said that staff sickness levels had reduced in Quarter 3 compared to Quarter 2, with short-term sickness due to minor illnesses such as viruses. He said that long term sickness was actively managed by Human Resources with help from Occupational Health and that mental health training was being introduced to prevent work related absences.

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that difficult to fill vacancies remained in Planning and Environmental Health, which as previously discussed, was a national problem for local authorities. He said that a review of the market forces supplements for Planning and Legal Services was planned to ensure that these remained attractive, with a new applicant tracking system (ATS) launching to improve recruitment.    

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that there were currently 44 roles unfilled within the council, for reasons including the DMA review, budget related holds, service reviews, and both pending and active recruitments.

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that there were new management training initiatives planned in development such as a manager’s essentials bootcamp and a train the trainer programme. 

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that reporting had improved with regards to health and safety accidents and incidents, with 3 minor workplace accident and 4 near misses recorded for the quarter 3 period. He said that workplace safety audits and contractor performance monitoring would continue and that a mental first aid refresher was scheduled for Quarter 4.

The Chair thanked the Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager for his report.

Councillor Swainston thanked officers for their work and asked again if comparisons could be included within the report. She said that her own research which compared East Herts data with that of the Office for National Statistics suggested the council was performing well in certain areas but not in others.

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that that statistics from the Office from National Statistics were always higher, but the council was now able to provide data via the Local Government Association portal. He said that this would allow the comparison of data with authorities of a similar makeup to that of East Herts, (on the proviso that such similar authorities also provided their data) which could be included in the next report.  He said that time would also be spent to ensure that managers reported staff sickness correctly, so data was not skewed.   

Councillor Buckmaster referred to the vacancies within the council and asked how many were within the Planning Department.

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Service Manager said that recruiting to the Planning Department remained a challenge. He said that he would respond with the required information via email.

The Chair said that it was good to see that BEAM was now a member of the Safety Committee, and that issues at Buntingford Depot had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 319