Issue - meetings

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources concerning attendance management at the end of November 2017. A copy of the report, marked “Agenda Item 9”, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion, the following points were raised:-

      i.        Members recognised that there were differences in the absence levels of Council departments. The Chief Executive’s Department remained the only Council department currently with a sickness absence level within the corporate target of 7.5 days. Members also recognised that sickness levels and type of illness directly related to the type of job completed by individuals.

    ii.        Absence levels for “stress/depression, mental health”, “other musculo-skeletal” and “viral infection not cough/cold/flu” showed that these were in the top three illness categories for the period up to November 2017.

   iii.        Members highlighted that it would be beneficial to include details of the actual number of employees within each Department, as well as the percentages, affected by sickness in each Department, so that an accurate comparison could be made year on year, by Department;

   iv.        Following a review, it had been decided not to continue with the First Care Absence Triage Service beyond 31 March 2018, when the pilot was due to end;

    v.        Consultation with the Trade Unions on the first draft of the Increments Policy had begun in September 2017 and they had expressed a range of concerns regarding the approach and potential impact on recruitment. It had been agreed with the Trade Unions that the consultation on the draft Increments Policy would be paused, to allow more time for the success of the intensive support project to be assessed.

RESOLVED:

That the report on Attendance Management at the end of November 2017 be noted.