Agenda item

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report and said that the Human Resources payroll system continued to provide challenges, which were being worked through under the charge of the highly skilled and knowledgeable Payroll Manager. She said that the payroll system was a shared service with Stevenage Borough Council and that there were some tie ups required.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that in terms of training and development eight ‘The Art of Brilliance’ workshops had been offered to staff. She said that the Corporate Induction was working and that there was a strong push for a Future Managers Programme to aid the council’s ageing workforce profile.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that it was understood from the results of the Staff Wellbeing Survey that people preferred to learn face to face rather than virtually. She said that surgeries for managers to enable further Management Development Training were planned and that she was keen to have a structured learning plan, corralling resources.

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that she was keen for the East Herts Together Group to continue to enable staff to be involved with the Transformation Programme and the results of the Wellbeing Survey. She said that as she was the Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development, she did not wish to undermine the plans of the regular post holder and wanted the team to be able to follow through on any plans made in his absence when he returned to work.   

Councillor Newton referred to paragraph 5.3 of the report and said that the services provided to external organisations by the Human Resources Department were brilliant, but variable. She asked where the division was should Members need Human Resources advice separate to that structure. The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that should anything be outside of the Service Level Agreement Members should contact her, adding that such trading of services was great, but that East Herts Council must be the priority. She said that all charges for providing such services were now covering costs, but that tracking was needed to ensure that all activities were being accounted for and that staff were getting job satisfaction.

Councillor Dumont asked who had ownership of the newly implemented Applicant Tracking System (ATS), ensuring that users were being trained and delays avoided. The Human Resources Officer said that Claire Kirby, Human Resources Officer had responsibility for the ATS managers, all of whom had received system training (which was recorded). She said that managers had also been given the customer services contact details for the system supplier and each manager was monitored monthly to check if they had any issues with the system. The Human Resources Officer said that to date no issues had been reported, and the system was working well. 

The Interim Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that it was very important that all recruiting managers followed good practice to maximise opportunities to capture good staff.

Councillor Newton referred to paragraph 7.3 of the report and asked why the submitting of overtime claims via MyView by staff had not progressed. The Human Resources Officer said that although the module was easy to build and easy to train staff to use, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development had wanted to review the overtime policy prior to his sickness leave.   

RESOLVED – that the Human Resources and Payroll Team Update Report be noted and received.