Nikki Gibbons, Director: OD,
Transformation and HR was invited to the Commission to provide an
update on the outcome of the retention and recruitment workshop
which had been requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission in
2018 in order to review the problems facing the Council in
recruitment and retention of staff.
The Director: OD,
Transformation and HR gave an overview presentation which focused
on a number of issues that had been looked at and the key priority
areas.
As the item was heard under the
Exclusion of public and press, it was requested that the
presentation be circulated to Members of the Commission.
(ACTION: Hannah Stevenson to circulate presentation to
Members.)
As a result of Members comments
and questions, the following points were made:
- There was a sense of
satisfaction with Members that the issues in the presentation were
the ones raised at the workshop which was very
gratifying.
- The reasons why staff
were leaving had been recorded in data sets. The trends had been
identified and the turnover had increased, which was to be expected
and not necessarily a bad thing as the percentage was still below
the national average and the Council was undergoing a
Transformation Programme.
- A staff social club
was still in existence, it was so successful that it was self run
across the Council. The events were often sold out, with waiting
lists to get onto events.
- A healthy turnover
was needed for an organisation to prevent the organisation from
becoming stagnant and create movement and career
opportunities.
- Career pathways
across the Council were being created and there was investment was
being made to develop Managers.
- The employment rate
was high in Bracknell, indeed also in the South East and it was a
very competitive labour market with some job roles being difficult
to fill due to having to compete with the private sector and being
located near to London. This was an area which needs to be kept
under continuous review to remain competitive.
- Transferable skills
were being developed across the Council, an example of this was in
the Transformation Team were there was a continuous pool of staff
being trained and supported to become project managers on a
secondment basis.
- In each staff members
annual performance appraisal there was a section about personal
development. All staff also had access to the development module
and were able to create their own plan. Staff were encouraged to
self-serve and take ownership of their own personal
development
- There was strong,
robust performance management in place.
- There were often
secondment opportunities available across the Council.
- There is a continuous
risk that staff with in the Social Care area could leave. In order
to mitigate this a review of some retention payments had been
undertaken and agreed by the Employment Committee last
year.
- A staff survey was
under taken every three years which was undertaken by an external
company and all responses were anonymous. In addition a pulse
survey was also being planned to ask specific questions around
certain areas from the staff survey, including staff
morale.
The Chairman thanked the
Director: OD, Transformation and HR for her useful, interactive
presentation and requested that the item be on the agenda annually
for the January meeting.
(ACTION: Hannah
Stevenson to put an update on retention and recruitment on the forward plan.)