Basingstoke & Dean Borough Council Human Resources Committee Meeting

Councillor Harvey was replaced by Councillor Tomblin

The Chair confirmed that following the changes made at the Council Meeting held on the 28^th February Councillor Bound was now a main member of the Committee and Councillor Rhatigan was now a reserve member.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent matters.

The Chair confirmed that the minutes of the meeting held on the held on the 6^th September 2021 were confirmed by the Committee as a correct record.

The Head of Human Resources (HR) Communications and Policy introduced the report and advised that the purpose of the pay and benefits review was to provide a fair and transparent system for establishing pay grades and relevant allowances which ensured the council could attract and retain staff, respond to market changes and comply with equal pay legislation.  It also sought to enable a full review of spans of control across the organisation with a view to rationalising the current structure.

To achieve the purpose, the pay and benefits review had been designed with four workstreams which are inextricably linked:

§  Introduction of a new job evaluation system to enable a fair and transparent system for assessing the worth of job roles within the council moving forward;

§  Review of existing job roles within the council in line with the job evaluation system as job families;

§  Review of full benefits package including pay benchmarking; and

§  Review of spans of control across the organisation.

The council were working in partnership with KornFerry to deliver the two workstreams associated with the new KornFerry Hay job evaluation system.

Following the completion of the job evaluations, pay modelling would be undertaken to enable the development of options for future pay and grading structures.

In addition to the review of all roles in-line with the KornFerry Hay system engagement work would be undertaken with staff from across the council to ascertain both their feedback on the current benefits package and an understanding of which types of benefits/ rewards were most beneficial as part of an overall staff retention approach.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments which included:-

§  Welcomed the job evaluation and the involvement from UNISON as part of the process.

§  Concerned with the amount of work required for the internal evaluators and the impact on their team.  Advised that job evaluation panels were usually twice a week but they had enough evaluators so they were on average attending weekly to minimise the affect on the service.

§  Ensure that staff would be fully consulted on the benefit packages.

The Chair invited Keith Farmer and Kerri Swinfield from UNISON to address the Committee with their comments.  Mr Farmer advised that although it had been a challenging process, the evaluation panel had been very inclusive and had shown no bias and the method had been upfront and constructive.

Resolved that:  The Committee notes the report.

The Head of Human Resources (HR) Communications and Policy introduced the report and explained that there was a requirement for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) to publish information relating to the relative pay gap between male and female employees which was within The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 and Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

Overall, the council was in a good position and compared favourably with the gender pay gap of other organisations.  It reflected the council’s aspiration to be a fair and inclusive employer, making best use of its talent regardless of gender.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comment:-

§  Really positive report and particularly liked the case studies presented in Appendix 1 of the report.

Resolved that:  The Committee notes the report and the council’s Gender Pay Gap report in Appendix 1.

The Head of Human Resources (HR) Communications and Policy introduced the report and advised that the report proposed a pay policy statement for 2022/23 for the Human Resources (HR) Committee to recommend to the Council.  It was based on the statement for 2021/22. 

She confirmed that at the time of writing the report the 2021-22 national pay award had yet to be confirmed. As a result, any national pay award offer for 2022-23 had also not been determined. 

However, the position had now changed as of that week as nationally the pay award for 2021-22 had been agreed, therefore with the agreement of the Committee the Head of Human Resources (HR) Communications and Policy would update the pay scales to reflect the new national pay award prior to the Pay Policy Statement being presented to the Council.

Resolved that:  The Committee

§   Agreed for the Head of HR, Communications and Policy to update the pay scales at Appendix 1 and figures within the pay policy statement itself to reflect the recently agreed 2021/22 national pay award;

§  Recommend the updated pay policy statement at Appendix 1 to Council.

§  Note the existing delegation to the Head of Human Resources, Communications and Policy to update the pay policy statement as a result of any pay awards which the council is contractually bound to agree.

The Head of Human Resources, Communications and Policy introduced the report which set out key people indicators and management information to the end of the third quarter 2021/22 and made comparisons with the previous years’ performance.   She advised that here had been an increase in headcount and FTE during the first three quarters of 2021/22, largely due to 10 staff who had transferred to the council under TUPE arrangements from Hart District Council

The workforce age profile remained stable with majority (51%) of staff falling within the 35-54 age ranges, which was no change on previous years.

The number of staff that have left the organisation in the first three quarters of 2021/22 had increased significantly compared to 2020/21, as did the voluntary resignation rate. There were reduced movements within the labour market during 2020/21, in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated fiscal measures, however this situation had changed significantly in 2021/22 with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) noting increases in vacancies and job to job moves.  Of the 60 leavers so far in 2021/22 (excluding dismissals), 15 completed an exit questionnaire.

The average days lost in quarters one to three of 2021/22 due to sickness was 6.49 days, an increase from 2020/21 and above the pro-rated target for the period. Sickness absence related to COVID-19 was the second highest reason for absence in this period and therefore a significant contributor to the sickness levels.  Mental health related absence continued to be the most prevalent cause of sickness across the organisation, although positive to note was that the average length of absence for this reason had decreased, meaning that on average individuals were returning to work sooner.

Sickness absence directly attributed to COVID-19, where someone had tested positive and experienced symptoms too severe to work, made up 13% of all absence in the period (2021/22 Q1-Q3), or 467 days lost. Previously in 2020/21, absence due to COVID-19 was very low as a result of the national lockdown restrictions, with only 11 days lost for that reason despite most of the period falling after mass testing became available. Without that absence, the corporate average days lost figure would be 5.64 days.

The Smarter Ways of Working (SWOW) programme was designed to support the council as part of the Fit for the Future Transformation Programme.A staff consultation exercise which was held during quarter two of 2021/22 regarding a change to the location clause within contracts of employment. The proposed contractual change for posts in scope of the consultation set out an average 40% of working time being undertaken from home (in roles which can be performed from home) subject to service requirements. The formal consultation exercise saw a 95% sign up to the revised location clause to date.

The Deanes building had fully reopened but monthly meetings were still being held with the Change Champions. Those meetings remained a key opportunity to gather feedback from the champions on any questions that they or their colleagues might have about SWOW and the return to the office.

The Council promoted a variety of health based initiatives which were organised by the Wellbeing Group.  This was made up of staff from across the Council and chaired by the HR team.  The purpose of the Wellbeing Group was to assist in the delivery of the Council’s Wellbeing Strategy by promoting a safe and healthy work environment.

The Council is actively involved in the Kickstart programme as well as continuing to focus on the role of apprenticeships within the organisation as part of wider learning and development activity.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments which included: -

• Concern was expressed on the continuity of service with replacing the staff that had left and sickness absence.  It was advised that if there was an issue in a particular team with long term sickness, they would look to put temporary measures in place.  In addition, there was continued monitoring and review by the Senior Management Team.

• Questioned the high level of sickness in the front line services and what measures had been put in place to support the staff especially when working from home.  It was acknowledged that it had been a challenging time due to COVID-19 and measures had been put in place to enable staff to come into the office on a rota basis together with regular team meetings, so they had support from colleagues and managers.

• Turnover level figures were quite good but asked for insight in the two areas that had higher levels of leavers.  Those areas cover a broad area of regulatory and operational staff and historically the operational staff had always had a high turnover, but they continued to work with those areas and actively support staff.

• Encouraged by the council’s participation in the Kickstart programme which provides work placements for a period of six months for 16 to 24 year olds and the importance of engaging with younger people to gain their views.

• Commended the focus on apprenticeships and where possible the retention into permanent positions.

The Chair invited Keith Farmer from Unison to address the Committee with his comments. 

§  UNISON was strong on equality and there was some active work going on by the Council to try to understand from a senior management level people with various ethnic backgrounds to try and understand any issues they face.

§  From the last staff briefing there was a clear need for a staff survey that would show how people found the organisation and their concerns in a different way than previous surveys. It was advised that a staff survey is planned for later in 2022.

Resolved that:  The Committee notes the report.

The Head of Human Resources Communications and Policy introduced the report Constitutionally, the Human Resources (HR) Committee were responsible for the approval of a set of policies that had a significant impact on staff and/or on costs to the council.

 A previous report went to the HR Committee in September 2021 which proposed an updated schedule for policies which, under the constitution, fall within the remit of the HR Committee to review.

 Four policies were scheduled for review at the HR Committee in March 2022:

§   Disciplinary Policy and Procedure.

§   Statutory Officer Disciplinary Policy and Procedure (previously known as Chief Officer Disciplinary Policy and Procedure).

§   Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedure.

§   Sickness Absence Policy and Procedure.

Minor revisions had been made to those policies which were outlined within the report.   Approval of those updated policies in appendices 1 – 4 was sought from the HR Committee.

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments which included: -

§  Clarification was sought on whether UNISON had been consulted on the policies.  It was advised that UNISON had been sent the policies and the key changes were highlighted to them in a meeting with the Head of HR Communications and Policy.

§  Requested that the Investigating and Disciplinary Committee (IDC) receive a refresher training session to include their role and process.

Resolved that:  The Committee review and approve the following updated policies:

§  Disciplinary Policy and Procedure

§  Statutory Officer Disciplinary Policy and Procedure

§  Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedure

§  Sickness Absence Policy and Procedure

The Head of Human Resources Communications and Policy confirmed that the policies listed below had been updated to reflect the SWOW principles and would be completed imminently.   Therefore, she proposed to circulate them to the Committee Members rather than waiting for the September Committee.  The Annual Review of Policies Report would be on the agenda for September and any clarification on those polices could be discussed at that meeting.