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Workforce Report 2015-2016

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 3

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................... 4

3. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE .............................................................................. 6

4. WORKFORCE ......................................................................................................... 8

5. RECRUITMENT & TURNOVER ............................................................................ 11

6. SICKNESS ABSENCE .......................................................................................... 15

7. TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 17

8. DIVERSITY ............................................................................................................ 19

9. PAY, REWARD AND ENGAGEMENT ................................................................... 22

10. FORMAL PROCESSES (GRIEVANCES & DISCIPLINARIES) ............................. 25

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Workforce Report provides Members and senior managers with information about the Council’s workforce in order to inform the development and maintenance of human resource policies and practices to support the achievement of strategic priorities and service objectives.

1.2 The report includes information about: -

Organisation structure

Workforce

Recruitment & turnover

Sickness absence

Training & development

Diversity

Pay & reward

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2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Workforce

2.1 In 2015/2016 the Council’s workforce stood at 294 (an FTE of 258.53). This is the lowest recorded headcount and FTE. By way of context in March 2006, prior to Managed Change the Councils headcount stood at 646 an FTE of 587.

2.2 The Council has fewer officers per population served than other comparable non- metropolitan district councils. (See paragraph 4.7)

Year Heads FTE Staff per 1000

population

2007/2008 608 548 3.77

2008/2009 615 551 3.75

2009/2010 533 480 3.31

2010/2011 521 469 3.23

2011/2012 366 319 2.2

2012/13 335 278 2

2013/14 316 275 1.9

2014/15 297 261 1.8

2015/16 294 258.53 1.7

Recruitment & Turnover

2.3 In 2015/2016 27 people joined the Council and 32 left. This is a turnover rate of 10.83% which is within the Council’s target of 10 to 15%.

Year Turnover

2007/2008 13.03%

2008/2009 11.95%

2009/2010 12.20%

2010/2011 9.11%

2011/12 40.27%*

2012/13 9.77%

2013/14 9.37%

2014/15 14.33%

2015/16 10.83%

*When TUPE transfer is excluded (128 staff) this figure reduces to 11.79%

Sickness Absence

2.4 In 2015/2016 the sickness absence rate was 2.79 (an average of 6.35 days per person per year). This is an small increase from last year’s rate of 2.17%

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2.5 In 2015/2016 23% of overall absence was due to “stress, depression and mental health”, 18 % “muscular skeletal”, 14% “viral infections”, and 13%, “operations and recovery”

Year Absence Rate

2008/2009 4.12%

2009/2010 3.70%

2010/2011 4.17%

2011/12 3.11%

2012/13 3.11%

2013/14 2.17%

2014/15 2.47%

2015/16 2.79%

Training & Development

2.6 In 2015/2016 the Council spent £139,212.00 on training and development (1.12% of the total salary cash limited budget) which equates to a spend of £437.51 per officer

2.7 In 2015/2016 67% of staff attended at least one internal training course/completed an e-learning course. This was a small decrease from last year where 68% of staff attended at least one course.

2.8 It is estimated that staff took 589 internal training places (including e-learning) in 2015/16 an average of 2 per officer which is a small increase from last year.

Diversity

2.9 The Council’s workforce is in balance with the composition of the local community; however, black and ethnic minority staff continue to be under-represented in senior grades. The district councils who completed the national Local Government Workforce Survey 2012/13 (the latest available) had no people from BEM backgrounds in their top 5% of earners.

2.10 Recruitment & selection, staff turnover rates and training & development activities are consistent and are generally in proportion with the Council’s gender, ethnicity and age composition.

Pay & Reward

2.11 In 2015/2016 43% of officers were assessed as performing to an “excellent” standard, 54% to “standard” and 2% below standard. 1% were not eligible. (new starters, leavers etc.)

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3. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

3.1 Over the last few years the Council has undergone significant organisational change. Overall staffing numbers have reduced and service areas joined. The Council has 1 Chief Executive, 1 Corporate Director, 6 Heads of Service, 1 Major Projects and Estates Executive and 19 Service Managers.

3.2 Paul Shackley has replaced Ian Westgate as Corporate Director focussing on growth and regeneration.

3.3 Heads of Service and Service Managers are responsible for service delivery and statutory responsibilities. Steve Richardson – The Head of Finance and Commercial is the Section 151 Officer. Julie Openshaw is the District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer.

3.4 The 6 service groups are: -

Community Democratic, Legal & Policy Services

Environment Finance and Commercial *

HR, ICT and Shared Support Services

Planning & Sustainability

* Includes Estates

3.5 In 2015/16 restructures took place in the following areas:

Community Services IFS Restructure (Inward Facing Services)

Museum Transfer – work ongoing

Environment: Administration reorganisation, restructure in Housing Options including an extension of the emergency duty rota to employees, and the appointment of a secondee to a permanent post.

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Wycombe District Council

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4. WORKFORCE

Overview – numbers & costs

4.1 The Council employed 294 officers, a full time equivalent of 258.53 at 31st March 2016. This is a decrease of 3 (2.94 full-time equivalent) officers from last year.

At the end of 2015/2016 90 officers (31%) worked reduced hours.

4.2 The cost of employees in 2015/2016 was £12.4m.This is a decrease from last year. There was a 1% cost of living award to NJC staff this year and next year and a 2% award was made to JNC staff.

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WDC Headcount/FTE 2008-2016

Headcount

FTE

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31%

Full Time & Part Time Staff

full-time 204 part-time 90

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4.3 In 2015/2016 the Council spent £448.720.00 on agency workers (a spend within salary cash limits and budgetary provision) Agency workers have been used to provide cover for staff redeployed to other projects and to meet temporary increases in work load.

4.4 The table below shows the expenditure on agency staff as a percentage of salary cash limit in the last 5 years.

Year

Salary Cash Limit Agency Spend £ % of Salary Cash Limit

2015/16 12,437,000 448,720 3.6

2014/15 12,486.000 461,190 3.8

2013/14 13,306,300 481,113 3.6

2012/13 13,500,000 1,148,000 8.5

2011/12 16,500,000 1,078,000 6.5

4.5 Agency staff have been used across the organisation. The top users of agency staff are in Development Management £126,702, Building Control £57,694, Housing £57,495 and Car Parks £50,506. A breakdown costs for 2015/16 by Service Area is provided below:

Service Area Team Costs £

Democratic, Legal and Policy

Legal 41,407

Communications 15,145

Finance Accountancy 8,342

HR, ICT and Shared Support Services

FM – Cleaners 34,247

HR 12,465

Environment Car Parks 50,506

Housing 57,495

Community PA 6107

CCTV 8028

Estates 30,582

Planning Building Control 57,694

Development Management 126,702

Total 448,720

4.6 Agency spending has levelled out and is anticipated to be around 3- 4% going forward.

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Comparison with others

4.7 WDC employs generally fewer officers per population served than other top 10 non-metropolitan districts and local councils.

Service Groups

4.8 The following table and charts show the number of officers employed within each Service Group.

Service Group

Employees at 31 March 2016

%

Headcount FTE

Chief Executives 5 5 2

Community 36 28.6 13

Democratic Legal & Policy Services 33 29.21 10

Environment 51 49.14 20

Finance & Commercial 56 50.61 18

HR, ICT, Shared Support Services 38 30.5 15

Planning & Sustainability 75 65.47 22

Total 294 258.53 100

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Staff Per Thousand Population

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5. RECRUITMENT & TURNOVER

Recruitment

5.1 In 2015/2016 27 people joined the Council and 32 people left.

5.2 In 2015/2016 the cost of recruitment was £64,315.40. This is an average spend of £1531.31 per recruitment exercise.

5.3 86% of recruitment & selection exercises were successful. Unsuccessful recruitment exercises were for: FM Project Manager, Development Surveyor, Capital Projects Accountant, Temporary Planning Officer, Policy Officer (Planning), Technical Officer (Pollution)

5.4 Nationally for District Councils the top two posts with recruitment difficulties were planning officers (43%) and legal professionals (31%)

Turnover

5.5 In 2015/2016 the Council’s overall turnover rate was 10.83% which is within the Council’s target of 10 to 15%.

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Starters and Leavers 2011-2016

Starters Leavers

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Turnover 2006-2016

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Turnover by Service Group

5.6 The following table and bar chart shows staff turnover by Service Group. Turnover was particularly high in Community due to restructuring.

Turnover by Grade

5.7 Turnover is consistent across grades.

Turnover by Ethnic Origin and Gender

5.8 The turnover rate for black and ethnic minority staff in 2015/2016 was 12.5% (4 leavers). 59% of leavers were women and 41% men.

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Number of Leavers

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Turnover by Age

The highest rate of turnover is in the age groups 30-34 and 60-64.

Causes of Staff Turnover

5.9 The following graph provides an analysis of the reasons for officers leaving the employment of the Council in 2015/2016.

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5.10 Normal resignation is the most common reason for leaving the Council, followed by redundancy.

5.11 In 2015/16 2 officers at risk of redundancy were deployed to other teams in the Council.

Exit Interviews

5.12 On leaving the Council, officers are provided with the opportunity of an exit interview and to complete an exit questionnaire providing their reflections about the Council as an employer and their reasons for moving on. Exit interviews are voluntary.

5.13 34% or 11 officers leaving the Council in 2015/2016 completed exit questionnaires. Of these 4 left for promotion/career development, 2 relocated, 2 wanted a change, 2 left for personal reasons and 1 retired.

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Causes of Staff Turnover

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6. SICKNESS ABSENCE

6.1 The Council’s overall sickness absence rate for 2015/2016 was 2.79% (an average of 6.35 days per person per year) which was a small increase from last year. This year’s absence rate equates to a loss of 7.72 full time equivalent employees.

6.2 According to the Local Government Workforce Survey an average of 8.8 days were lost to sickness absence in local government.

6.3 31% of officers had no sickness absence in 2015/16 whilst 56% of officers took two days or less.

Long and short term absence

6.4 14 officers experienced long-term sickness absence (an absence of 28 days or more) in 2015/2016 Long term sickness absence contributed 54% of the overall absence rate.

6.5 46% of overall absences were short term (an absence of less than 28 days).

6.6 In 2015/2016 69% of employees suffered some form of sickness absence.

Causes of sickness absence

6.7 The following table sets out the nature and significance of the causes of sickness absence within the Council in 2015/2016.

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Sickness Absence Rates 2010-2016

Sickness Absence Rate

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6.8 In 2015/2016 23% of overall absence was due to “stress, depression and mental health”, 18 % “muscular skeletal”, 14% “viral infections”, and 13%, “operations and recovery”

6.9 17 officers experienced absence due to stress & depression in 2015/2016. Where stress & depression is cited as the reason for the absence, interventions, such as referral to Occupational Health, are made.

6.10 The LGA sickness absence levels and causes survey for 2012-2013 (the latest available) reports that 20% of sickness absence in district councils is due to stress & depression, a slightly lower rate to that reported in the Council in 2015/2016. Stress and depression is usually one of the three highest reasons for absence and usually contributes around 20% of overall absence.

6.11 People Asset Management has the contract for occupational health/employee assistance programme. For the year 2015/16 the telephone counselling advice service was used 25 times, the website 58 times and the legal advice service 4 times.

Absence by Service Group

6.12 The following table shows absence rates by Service Group.

ABSENCE

2014/15 (%)

ABSENCE 2015/16

(%)

Chief Executives 1.56 1.27

Community 1.43 0.99

Democratic, Legal & Policy 3.23 2.48

Environment 3.18 2.81

Finance 1.54 3.50

HR, ICT & Customer Services 2.93 2.98

Planning & Sustainability 3.44 4.07

WDC TOTAL 2.47 2.79

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Causes of Sickness Absence 2015-16

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Long Term Absence

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7. TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

7.1 In 2015/2016 the Council’s spent £139,212.00 on training and development. This represents 1.17% of the total salary cash limited budget and equates to a spend of £473.51 per head.

7.2 In 2015/2016 67% of staff attended at least one internal training course/ completed an e-learning course. This was a small decrease from last year where 68% of staff attended at least one course.

7.3 Of those attending training courses 60% were female and 40% male. 12% were from a black and ethnic minority background, 24% worked reduced hours.

7.4 It is estimated that staff took 589 internal training places (including e-learning) in 2015/16 an average of 2 per officer which is a slight increase from last year.

7.5 During 2015/2016 the Council ran a total of 36 internal training courses an average of 0.75 per week. In addition to this staff took 89 places on courses run by partner organisations (15% of the total).

7.6 Internal courses are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent and 1 being very poor. The average score of the effectiveness of these courses in meeting training needs is 4.5. The highest scoring courses are Excel Introduction and Excel Intermediate (5) Evacuation Chair Training (4.9) and Automatic Electronic Defibrillator & CPR Refresher Training (4.8)

7.7 22% of the overall training & development spend was allocated to the Approved Qualification Scheme which provides funds for staff to gain professional qualifications. In 2015/2016 15 officers were supported under this scheme. Of these 47% were female and 33% from black & ethnic minority staff. Those supported include staff where we are experiencing difficulties in recruiting, for example Legal and Planning.

7.8 In order to increase accessibility of training to all staff and increase choice over 70 on-line courses are made available to staff via the Council’s e-learning portal “E-Train”.

7.9 In 2015/16 there were 155 on-line training course completions. This represents 17% of the total. 84 people used the eLearning portal (28% of employees) The average number of courses completed by each person was 1.85. The average cost per course was £38.71.

7.10 Delegates used 41 different courses. The top used courses were Introduction to Child Protection (51), The Recruitment Process (23) and the Corporate Induction (11).

7.11 The Council has been introducing new Adapt courses which are more fluid in content and can be used across multiple devises

Investors in People

7.12 The Council has held the IiP award since 1992 and are reviewed against the standard every three years. Our last formal assessment took place in January 2013 when the Council successfully achieved “bronze” level accreditation and was also awarded the Health & Wellbeing Award.

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7.13 Over the years the Council has consistently achieved or exceeded the requirements of the standard

7.14 In 2015 the IiP standard was reviewed and the cost of assessment increased significantly. Our approach to best practice in people management is well embedded across our services and we no longer feel that this formal assessment represents value for money.

7.15 We are still committed to using best practice in people management and will be exploring different ways to assess our policies and practices both internally and through external feedback. This, of course, may mean that we return to the standard sometime in the future.

The Successful Wycombe Manager

7.16 In October 2014 the “Behaviours of a Successful Wycombe Manager” were developed and all Senior and Service Managers and some Team Leaders

underwent 360 assessments against the behaviours.

7.17 We have developed the Successful Wycombe Manager Programme which consists of a range of core and elective training to address skills gaps identified at 360 assessments. This year we have delivered Recruitment & Selection and Supporting Employee Development training and managers will be going through further programmes in 2016/17.

The Apprenticeship Levy

7.18 In order to fund its apprenticeship programme the government is introducing a new Apprenticeship Levy for employers with a wage bill in excess of £3m. The levy will be 0.5% of the wage bill with an allowance of £15,000 paid through PAYE.

7.19 As part of the scheme the Council is able to access apprenticeship vouchers to contribute to the training and development of apprentices. Vouchers are only available for accredited apprenticeship schemes. Vouchers can be used to supply apprenticeship training for current employees as well as for people employed as apprentices.

7.20 The apprenticeship levy will cost the council approximately £45,000 in 2016/17

7.21 The government expects the public sector to play a leading role in delivering apprenticeships and are consulting on a 2.3% target for public sector bodies.

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8. DIVERSITY

8.1 The Council has a long established aim of achieving a workforce that is balanced in terms of reflecting the composition of the local community.19% of the Wycombe District population is made up of people from ethnic minority communities and 50% women. The figures used come from the 2011 census.

8.2 At the end of 2015/2016 17% of the Council’s workforce was black and ethnic minority staff. 62% of the Council’s staff is female and 38% male. *6% of the Council’s workforce are people with disabilities (*based on a survey undertaken in 2014).

8.3 The following graph shows the Council’s workforce in terms of age group. Local Government has the oldest workforce of any sector within the UK economy (according the Local Government Employers’), with 31% of staff over the age of 50 and 6.3% under 25. At Wycombe, 2% of officers are under 25 and 43% are 50 or over.

8.4 50% of senior managers (the Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service) are female. No senior manager posts are currently held by black & ethnic minority staff.

8.5 The district councils who completed the national Local Government Workforce Survey had no people from BEM backgrounds in their top 5% of earners.

8.6 35% of service manager posts are held by female staff. 1 service manager post is held by a black & ethnic minority member of staff. 56% of team leader posts are held by women. 16% are held by black and ethnic minority staff.

The following tables provide information about the composition of the workforce in terms of ethnic origin and gender by grade. Although we have made some progress in grades 5 and 6 ethnic minority staff are somewhat over-represented amongst lower grades and under-represented from Grade 7 and above.

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Composition of Workforce by Age

Age Range

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Recruitment & Selection

8.7 The progress of under-represented groups is monitored at each stage of the recruitment & selection process. The table below sets out an overall breakdown of people applying for posts of all grades, being short-listed for interview and being appointed to posts between 2014 and 2016 .

Recruitment to all grades 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16

Applications received

Minority ethnic community 44% 41% 37%

Female 42% 47% 40%

People with disabilities 3% 4% 6%

Short-listed candidates

Minority ethnic community 34% 27% 33%

Female 54% 52% 48%

People with disabilities 2.5% 6% 6%

Appointment

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Composition of Workforce by Gender and Grade

Female Male

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Minority ethnic community 25% 21% 20%

Female 45% 63% 60%

People with disabilities 5% 3% 8%

8.8 The Council continues to recruit in balance with the wider community.

8.9 Female and black and ethnic minority staff are under-represented in senior grades. The following table provides information about people applying for senior posts (Grades 7 and above), being short-listed for interview and being appointed to posts between 2014 and 2016.

Recruitment to senior posts 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16

Applications received

Minority ethnic community 42% (42/100) 25% (14/56) 32% (21/66)

Female 39% (39/100) 43% (24/56) 38% (25/66)

People with disabilities 3% (3/100) 2% (1/56) 5% (3/66)

Short-listed candidates

Minority ethnic community 40% (16/40) 13% (3/24) 32% (10/31)

Female 43% (17/40) 42% (10/24) 58% (18/31)

People with disabilities 2.5% (1/40) 4% (1/24) 6% (2/31)

Appointment

Minority ethnic community 33% (2/6) 14% (1/7) 1/7 (14%)

Female 50% (3/6) 43% (3/7) 4/7 (57%)

People with disabilities 0% (0/6) 0% (0/7) 1/7 (14%)

Flexible Working

8.10 Any employee with at least 26 weeks continuous service can make a request for flexible working. The Council goes beyond the statutory requirements in considering requests. Examples of flexible working arrangements in place are:

Part time working

Working compressed hours

Job sharing

Term time working

Working from home

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9. PAY, REWARD AND ENGAGEMENT

Salary Grades

9.1 The following graph shows the distribution of officers across the Council’s grade structure.

9.2 The average full-time equivalent pay for an officer at the Council at the end of 2015/2016 was £35,663.67. The average full-time equivalent salary for male officers was £38,510.95 and female officers was £33,886.09.

9.3 The Office for National Statistics prefers using the median position to compare male and female salaries (as this removes the influence of small numbers of high earners). The median full-time equivalent salary for an officer of the Council in 2015/2016 was £34096.

9.4 The median full-time equivalent salary for male officers in 2015/2016 was £35,220 and for female officers £32,2257

Performance Management Framework

9.5 Incremental progression within grades is performance based. Progression between increments 1 to 4 requires a “standard” performance assessment. Progression between increments 5 to 7 requires an “excellent” performance assessment (achieved over one or a series of years).

9.6 In 2015/2016 43% of officers were assessed as performing to an “excellent” standard. 54% of officers were assessed at “standard” and 2% below standard 1% were not eligible for the scheme.

9.7 36% of officers received incremental progression. Of those that did not 10% were not eligible (because they had received an increment within the previous 6 months or were still within probation period), 49% were at top of grade and 5% were in increment positions 5 to 7 and fell short of the required assessment (and therefore had assessments held over for following years.

9.8 This year the Performance Management Framework has been reviewed. The updated framework will take effect from 1/4/2016.

9.9 Following focus groups, staff and managers told us the framework needed to

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be:

Simpler and less bureaucratic

Incorporate behaviours

Improve focus on all round performance

Focus on the discussion, not the score

Allow managers latitude to determine a performance rating

Change the “standard” performance definition

9.10 The main changes to the framework are:

Objectives and performance targets focus on behaviours as well as tasks

5 levels of performance instead of 3: Outstanding, Exceeding, Successful,

Partially Achieved/Working Towards and Unsatisfactory

There is now an overall performance assessment rather than a points score

Greater employee participation in the process

More explicit links between the Corporate Plan, Service Plans, individual

objectives and Council’s Values

The wide range of personal development tools have been made available

have been drawn to managers attention

Sign off by the managers’ line manager and moderation by HOS

Cost of living awards

9.11 The Council applies nationally agreed terms & conditions for cost of living awards, hours of work, leave entitlement and the sickness absence scheme.

9.12 The National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) agreements are applied to officers graded 1 to 9. The Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers of Local Authorities agreements are applied to officers graded 10 to 12.

9.13 In 2014/2015 the NJC awarded a cost of living award of 2.2%. This award covers the period January 2015 - March 2016. The JNC made a pay award of 2% to officers graded 10-12 from January 15 - March 16.

Staff Benefits

9.14 In the Local Government Workforce survey 88% of Council’s said that they offered voluntary benefits to their staff including salary sacrifice schemes (such as cycle to work and childcare vouchers). 30% of Councils offered staff the opportunity to buy and sell annual leave and 71% offered other benefits.

9.15 The Council currently offers the buying & selling of annual leave, childcare vouchers and a cycle to work scheme. Private medical insurance is available for officers Grade 7 and above. Personal accident cover is provided to all employees.

9.16 93% of staff are in the Local Government Pension scheme

9.17 In 2014 the Council introduced Wider Wallet an Employee Benefits portal. All of the benefits available to employees are now consolidated on Wider Wallet including pension, travel choices, buying and selling leave, employee assistance programme as well as discounts from local and national retailers.

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The portal was funded by changing childcare voucher provider.

9.18 68% of staff are registered users. Top five offers viewed were: Travel Choices, childcare vouchers, local offers, flexible holidays and gym membership.

Reward and Recognition Scheme

9.19 An informal reward and recognition scheme was developed in consultation with staff and managers in autumn 2014. The scheme was designed to encourage achievement and recognise staff that go the “extra mile” or exhibit exemplary conduct in keeping with WDC values and goals.

9.20 The scheme allows for managers to reward excellence individually or at team level using a range of rewards of financial and non-financial value. Examples of rewards include: thank you cards, personal letter/email from Director or Head of Service, recognition at All Staff Meetings, small gifts for example chocolates or wine or shopping vouchers.

9.21 In January 2016 a short SNAP survey on reward and recognition was sent out to managers and employees. The aim the survey was to obtain feedback on the Council’s scheme.

9.22 The survey found that most managers know about the reward and recognition scheme and where to find information about it. They were using a range of formal and informal mechanisms to recognise and reward their staff and say “Thank You”. However, the majority of employees did not know about the scheme

9.23 Following the success of the scheme SMB have agreed to extend it by encouraging colleagues to nominate each other as well as managers nominating their staff.

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10. FORMAL PROCESSES (GRIEVANCES & DISCIPLINARIES)

10.1 No appeals against performance assessment were received this year.

10.2 4 grievances were raised.1 of these was partially upheld, 1 was resolved informally and 2 were not upheld. Out of these 1 was for a BEM member of staff and 3 were for female staff.

10.3 There were 6 disciplinary cases in 2015/16, 4 resulted in 1st written warnings 1 in informal management guidance and 1 the individual concerned resigned prior to the outcome being delivered.. Out of these 1 was for BEM staff (16% of the total), 2 were female and 4 were male.