Councillors and committees

Agenda item

People Strategy 2018 - 2020

To present to Members an overview People Strategy 2018-2020 in support of the Surrey Vision 2030 and the Council’s Transformation Programme.

 

Minutes:

Declarations of interest:

 

None

 

Witnesses:

 

Jackie Foglietta, Interim Head of HR & OD

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

 

1.     Members heard that there was a need to reduce the number of layers of management across the organisation which could be achieved by creating greater spans of control. The Committee was also informed that 25% of staff leave the Council within the first year of employment and that it was vital to improve this retention rate to ensure knowledge stayed within the Council and to reduce expenditure. A high proportion of the Council’s workforce was also scheduled. A high proportion of the Council’s staff were approaching retirement age over the next few years meaning that there was also a need to improve knowledge transfer between staff to ensure that vital skills and experience were not lost.

 

2.     The Committee requested further information on why so many staff chose to leave the Council within their first year of employment. The Interim Head of HR & OD advised Members that it was necessary to review the Council’s recruitment processes to ensure that the story told to potential applicants about what it was like to work for the Council was aligned with reality. It was also necessary to implement a policy requiring exit interviews with all staff leaving the organisation to provide good quality information on why the Council was struggling to retain staff and understand how retention rates could be improved. Members requested that analysis of exit interviews be brought to a future meeting of PPDC.

 

3.     Discussions turned to spans of control and officers highlighted that existing organisational structures within the Council had fostered a culture of staff seeking approval from managers for relatively low-level decisions instead of having the confidence to take these themselves. Members asked how staff would recognise a change in management culture and were informed that they would be actively encouraged to take the initiative and not fear being blamed if something goes wrong.

 

4.     Clarity was requested on what was meant by the term ‘presenteeism’. The Committee was advised that this referred to existing practise at the Council whereby management was conducting on the basis of whether staff were in the office rather than being based on outcomes. One aspect of the People’s Strategy was to introduce mobile working and manage staff by their output rather than whether they are physically present in the office.

 

5.     Members drew attention to the results of the Staff Survey which demonstrated that the Leadership Team were perceived to be remote and officers were asked whether this should be referenced within the Strategy. Officers advised the Committee that this was included within the People’s Strategy in relation to the Collective Leadership Impact.

 

Actions/ further information to be provided:

 

1.     Analysis of exit interviews to be brought to a future meeting of the People, Performance and Development Committee (Action Ref: A14/18).

 

 

RESOLVED:

 

The People, Performance and Development Committee:

 

i.            endorsed the draft plan on a page People Strategy 2018-2020 appended as Annex 1 to this report;

ii.           noted that further work is being undertaken to develop a programme of activities that will deliver the aims of each of the themes as set out in the Strategy; and

iii.         noted that this programme of work will be brought to the November meeting of the People, Performance and Development Committee for consideration.

 

Supporting documents: