Agenda item

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report. She said that a verbal update would also be given regarding the recruitment and retention of staff within the Planning Department. 

Councillor Dumont asked if recruitment for disabled applicants had progressed as discussed and minuted at the meeting of the Committee on 21 September 2022. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that due to the recent Council IT outage and Officer absence an update on this subject and the whole plan would be forthcoming by the next meeting of the Committee.

Councillor Alder referred to paragraph 3.3.10 of the report and asked for clarification of how an employee could be long term absent from work for ‘minor reasons’. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that long term absence from work was normally due to serious diseases or stress, but believed that the employee in question was suffering from a combination of several ‘minor reason’ complaints. She said that the department was working with this employee to try and get them back to work.  

Councillor Bull said the Council’s IT Communications were not good and gave an example of recently having to obtain a new password for his laptop. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that she would feed Councillor Bull’s concerns back to the IT Department.

Councillor Dumont asked for further information about the ‘How to Find Your Brave’ workshops. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that the workshop was part of a series, aimed at aiding participants’ resilience, bravery and enabling them to say the things which they needed to say. She said that the fifth workshop had just been run and was very positively received, with videos also available to view on the intranet.

Councillor Dumont asked who had oversight of the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that a Human Resources Officer had been allocated to each Council Department, with Human Resources Admin carrying out back-room ATS functions.  She said that an end-to-end review of the Human Resources Department (including ATS, which was in its infancy) had been commissioned via Lean Six Sigma.

Councillor Dumont said that Lean Six Sigma was a powerful tool and asked if the Council had any expert Black Belts. The Health and Safety Officer said that at present there were no Black Belts within the organisation, but there were eight change champion practitioners, supported by the Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Operations that all qualified as Yellow belts before progressing to Green Belts.

The Health and Safety Officer explained to the Committee that Lean Six Sigma was a method which used collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. He gave examples of how challenging conventions could help organisations to deliver services with time and cost savings.       

Councillor Buckmaster referred to the Equalities Monitoring Indicators included within the report and noted that although over 70% of the Council’s employees were female, only 40% of the Leadership Team were female. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that all Councils were female heavy. She said that the Talent Management Scheme and the Future Manager Scheme were both programs which could help to increase the number of female staff in more senior roles, adding that a Full Skills Audit was to be undertaken in the new year which would look at how an employee’s previous job skills could be utilised in new Council roles.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that the vacancies within the Planning Department continued to be a concern. She said that the Department was too reliant on temporary agency staff, with recent recruitment incentives proving unsuccessful. She added that these problems were country wide and not just an issue faced by East Herts.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that a campaign-based approach to recruit and retain Planning staff was now being taken, this included a separate Planning Department landing page on the internet with videos from the Head of Service. She said that the career grading which was previously removed from posts had been reintroduced, with an academy approach to learning and a copywriter had been engaged for job adverts.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that in addition it had been agreed in principle that Market Forces Supplements could be applied to Planning Department vacancies. The Chairman said that the use of Market Forces Supplements fell under Section 7 of the Pay Policy Statement 2022/2023 which was approved by the Committee in February 2022.

Councillor Bull asked if Planning staff could be ‘tied into’ contracts to stop them being trained and then leaving the Council for jobs in the private sector. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that this was not possible (as even with a payback clause, staff could not be stopped from leaving). Exit interviews with staff did not indicate that all left employment with the Council for a higher salary. She said that it was important to look at the ‘total package’ of employment at the Council, including pensions, free car parking and a sense of belonging.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development gave Members a verbal update on the work of the Human Resources and Payroll Department since the last meeting of the Committee. This included:

·            A review of the Corporate Induction Process, to include the assessment of job applications when received and engaging with any prospective employees before the closing date.

·            Analysing the outcomes from completed Lean Six Sigma processes.

·            The development of the Future Managers Programme.

·            The development of the New Leadership Programme.

·            The completion of the Payroll review, this was now being examined and reference workbooks were being compiled for staff as back up.

·            Work completed by Payroll to enable staff pay rises and any backdated pay to be received in December 2022 pay.

·            East Herts Together continues, this now incorporates Transforming East Herts.

·            A review of the Human Resources support given to Broxbourne Council. Broxbourne have been advised that they need to recruit to their two vacant Human Resources posts, as East Herts can only trade services if they have capacity. 

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that this verbal update will be complied and sent out to Members of the Committee by email.

The Chairman thanked the Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development for her report and update.

RESOLVED – that the Human Resources Management Statistics for Quarter Two, July 2022 – September 2022 be considered and received.