Agenda item

Report of the Chief People Officer & Executive Director of People and HR.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Chief People Officer and Executive Director of People and HR, concerning the overall findings of the recent staff survey to assess employee satisfaction, engagement, and areas for improvement within the organisation. The report specifically highlighted the Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EEDI) responses collected during the survey.

The Sub Committee welcomed Costa Antoniou from People Insight and received a presentation of the slides included within the agenda pack. Questions and comments were made of the presentation, as follows:

·       On the cross over of demographics, there were some observations to be made, such as on age and length of service, and that those who were disabled having generally lower or less favourable responses to questions.

·       The Sub Committee noted and expressed concerns on responses relating to Members. It was queried whether this was benchmarked. The response was that this was not benchmarked for Members specifically. Scores for senior leadership teams (SLT) could also vary dependant on the organisation. The Sub Committee heard that the concerns raised following the staff survey on members was being addressed, such as via a member behaviour review which was due to be received by the Policy & Resources Committee. It was further explained that there was a piece of work to educate and explain the role of elected members within the organisation, such as at the new staff induction, and attending the new internal EEDI Staff Forum.

·       The option to include free text was not included for each question, as this could have caused user fatigue. It could be considered for future surveys.

·       Relating to the ‘honeymoon period’, or those recent employees tended to react more positively, the Sub Committee heard that it was becoming more typical that this positivity would reduce after one year of service, whereas previously this had been closer to three to five years.

·       In terms of the workplace attendance, typically many organisations required employees to work two to three days in the office per week. Some organisations viewed it as a risk to move to four days a week, as it could cause retention issues.

·       The questions on EEDI varied at a team level, and where an officer worked could also influence the data.

·       The next steps following this staff survey were to work toward increasing the reported rates across all the protected characteristics. There was a campaign for staff to update their records to report this data. It was hoped that this would increase, to help prioritise activities relating to EEDI that related to staff survey responses.

·       The Town Clerk had commissioned work with the lens of EEDI, such as events including talks on racism. All Chief Officers were being held into account with the actions required following the staff survey, which included working to improve those respondents who were neutral.

·       The People Strategy had a range of initiatives on cultural development, talent, behaviour, and management. It was hoped that this would assist in increasing reporting on EEDI and assist in prioritising and making real cultural changes.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.