Agenda item

Cabinet Portfolio: Corporate Services and Finance

Strategic Directorate: Assistant Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance and the Assistant Director – Human Resources and Organisational Development attended the meeting to present a report that provided a progress report on the recommendations made in February 2020 by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in response to the Board’s concerns relating to the underperforming sickness absence measure in the Council Plan.

The Cabinet provided a progress report on the three recommendations that had been made.

1.    That consideration be given to developing guidance for managers around enhanced emotional support for employees during a restructure, given the links to absence through stress and anxiety.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance advised that a Rotherham Leader Wellbeing Guide had been developed for managers in response to the recommendation. It was noted that the guide included information and guidance for managers on identifying the early signs and symptoms of mental distress, the appropriate support mechanisms that were available and on how to promote the Five Ways to Well-Being within their teams. The report stated that the Five Ways to Well-Being were: Be Active, Connect, Give, Keep learning and Take Notice, and advised that managers were being encouraged to promote these actions within their teams in order to help maintain good mental health for staff.

2.    That data be disaggregated regarding absence through anxiety, stress and depression, as these should be recorded as discrete issues and to have a better understanding of sickness absence.

The Cabinet Member advised that the HR and Payroll system was able to break down the broad anxiety, stress and depression category into work related and personal stress, work relates stress, non-work-related stress and depression anxiety. The full year break down of sickness for 2019/20 was detailed in the officer’s report. It was noted that the most frequent reasons for sickness absence were: Other Musculo/Skeletal (20%), Genito Urinary/Gynaecological (14%), Infection/Virus (11%) and Depression/Anxiety (9%).

3.    That follow up work be undertaken to ensure managers proactively support staff and manage workloads across teams to prevent any potential knock on effect in terms of sickness absence as a result of staff assuming additional work to cover for an initial long-term sickness absentee.

The Cabinet Member advised that the Council’s Performance Development Review (PDR) process had been updated with managers advised to start conversations by focusing on the well-being of the individual employee rather than going straight into discussions regarding their performance.  It was noted that the PDR process provided a good opportunity for managers to find out if team members were facing any particular challenges and if there were any specific actions required in order to support them. The report stated that the HR Consultancy Team continued to provide advice, guidance and support to managers in relation to long-term sickness absence.

Members noted concern about the amount of sickness absence attributed to anxiety and depression and asked whether comparisons on this issue had been made against levels of absence for this reason at other authorities. The Assistant Director – Human Resources and Operational Development advised that comparisons regarding the levels of sickness attributed to anxiety and depression was planned, noting that the Council did speak with other authorities to share and learn from each other’s experiences.

The Chair asked for further information on sickness absence amongst staff who had been working at home since the restrictions due the pandemic had been implemented in March. The Assistant Director advised that having compared levels of sickness against the same period in 2019 that the number of occurrences of sickness absence in 2020 were comparable to those previously experienced but noted that the average length of absence had increased. The Assistant Director advised that this had been potentially been caused by home working practices making it slightly more difficult for managers to support staff with their return to work.

Members asked whether staff who were absent from work due to stress or anxiety would be considered for redeployment into less stressful roles in order to manage their return to work. The Assistant Director advised that in such situations all options would be explored including redeployment in order to manage a successful return to work.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Finance and the Assistant Director – Human Resources and Organisational Development for attending the meeting and for answering members questions.

Resolved: -

That the report be noted.