Issue - meetings

(Report of the Assistant Chief Executive – People & OD).  To approve a revision of the council’s trigger levels when managers need to formally review an employee’s sickness absence. 

The Chair agreed to vary the order of business to allow for the taking of this item together with an informal deputation.

The committee received this report to approve a revision of the Council’s trigger levels for when managers formally needed to review an employee’s sickness absence.

The Trade Unions stated they were unhappy with the proposal as it currently stood, citing both equalities implications and a perceived lack of evidence of likely impact on the Council’s overall sick rate.

Officers informed Members that the proposed measures were not intended to be punitive, but were designed to encourage a dialogue between the manager and employees on the issue of sickness.  It was re-iterated that the measures contained no disciplinary element; they merely amended the milestones for Managers to have conversations with the staff over the issue of sickness levels.

The impetus for the change stemmed partly from the fact that currently there were 3 different trigger levels which some managers found confusing.  As a result appropriate action to discuss sickness was not taking place.  Officers had consulted with the Unions and planned to issue guidance to Managers on the new measures, with emphasis on their supportive nature.

Members noted that the five days per year measures, as proposed in the report, would make the authority one of the tightest in London by the Council’s own benchmarking, and, whilst supporting the thrust of the measures, agreed to vary the number of trigger days to six.  It was stated that this would strike a balance allowing the management of sickness absence in a supportive environment, without seeming to be excessively punitive.

RESOLVED:

That amendment of the Council’s trigger level for formally monitoring an employee’s sickness levels to at least 6 days absence in a rolling 12 month period, or earlier if there is cause for concern, with the arrangement being pro rata for part time staff.