Issue - meetings

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources which provided an update on the County Council’s overall position on sickness absence as at the end of June 2018.

Arising from discussion the following points were raised:-

(i)    There was a target in the County Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for departments to reduce sickness absence.  The overall annual cost of absence to the Council was £4 million.  Members did not feel that this was acceptable but recognised that it was difficult to change the culture of the organisation.

(ii)   Stress and depression were one of the main causes of sickness absence.  To address this, the County Council had a wellbeing offer in place.  A recent workshop with the Trade Unions had confirmed that the offer was comprehensive.  It included a support package for managers to enable them to intervene early and support staff members with stress and depression to remain well and in work.  The network of Mental Health First Aiders and its visibility was also being improved.  The counselling service currently had an eight to ten week waiting list, although calls were triaged and urgent cases dealt with more quickly.  Staff could be signposted to other services if the counselling service was not appropriate for them.  Another full time trained counsellor had been employed to address the wait times and there were currently two trainee counsellors working with the service.

(iii)  The Occupational Health contract was due to be retendered in 2019.  It would include the opportunity to procure an Employee Assistance Programme.  This would be in addition to the Council’s own counselling service and would include a 24/7 telephone support line.  The Committee welcomed this opportunity.

(iv) Musculo-skeletal problems were another major cause of sickness absence in the Council.  The majority of these were short term injuries.  A deep dive had been undertaken to determine if the Council should develop a physiotherapy offer; however this was not felt to be necessary as most long term absence cases related to breaks and operations where staff were already in receipt of physiotherapy.  The HR Business Partner for the Environment and Transport Department was currently investigating measures which could help prevent staff from suffering from musculo-skeletal problems.  The Committee welcomed this assurance.

RESOLVED:

That the update on the County Council’s overall position on sickness absence as at the end of June 2018 be noted.