Agenda item

The People Report is designed to give officers and members relevant workforce data in an easy to understand format in order to support informed strategic decision making.

Dan Paul, Chief People Officer, introduced the report, as set out in the agenda. It was noted that the level of agency staff reported was higher than usual, due to the testing sites being entirely staffed by agency staff. 

Discussion took place surrounding apprenticeships reporting and it was confirmed that this would be included as part of the people report from the next meeting.

In response to a question regarding the impact of Covid on the Council’s sickness figures, Dan Paul stated that the overall sickness levels had gone down, both long term and short term. It was believed that this was as a result of the majority of staff working from home and therefore often too ill to travel into work but were able to still work from home where possible. It was however noted that it was important that if staff were too ill to work, they did take time off. It was also stated that the responsibility was on the manager to accurately report any staff sickness and it was felt that this was no more inaccurate than before the pandemic.

In response to a question regarding the recording of Covid related absence and data on long Covid, Dan Paul stated that Covid related sickness absence was recorded under a Covid specific code on the system. Instances of long Covid sickness absence were also recorded under a specific Covid code and the number of staff off sick as a result of long Covid was currently in single figures. He added that the World Health Organisation’s definition of long Covid was instances of sickness of 12 weeks or more.

Dan Paul also confirmed that occupational health were still making referrals where necessary, even though the majority of staff were still continuing to work from home.

Reference was made to the number of young people being recruited at the Council and it was questioned what was being done to encourage more young people to join the council. In response, Dan Paul stated that of a comparison of all 33 London boroughs, Haringey had the lowest proportion of staff under the age of 25 years old. The council was looking at various ways of increasing these numbers and creating a balance within the workforce. 

It was confirmed that the data included in the people report detailed the key workforce statistics tracked over time, which were of interest of the Committee, and did not provide a full analysis of the whole workforce. More detailed data of the ethnicity and gender split of the overall workforce would be subject to a separate, more detailed report. Dan Paul stated that he would circulate the Workforce Development Strategy 2019, which provided a more detailed breakdown of the council’s workforce. ACTION: Dan Paul.  

The Chair made reference to the use of consultants and questioned whether there was only 7 within the Council. In response, it was stated that it was dependent on how you define the term consultant and that the majority of these were either filling a vacancy whilst it was being recruited to or undertaking a separate project of work. It was noted that the number of consultants in the past had been much higher than at present.

Discussion took place regarding the potential mental health impacts of working from home and Dan Paul advised that there had been a lot of engagement with employees throughout the pandemic. The Chief Executive had hosted a number of Let’s Talk sessions with staff throughout the pandemic to keep them informed on what was happening, as well as regular check in sessions with managers. Where possible, staff had also attended the office on an adhoc basis. The Council was looking at the best ways of working going forward, balancing the needs of the organisation as a whole, as well as staff and it’s residents.

RESOLVED that the report be NOTED.