Issue - meetings

Kate Sullivan (Strategy and Commissioning Lead, Organisational Development) introduced the report which provided details of employee engagement activities during 2023/24 including key achievements; areas for development; a focus on equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI); and objectives for the year ahead.

Kate Sullivan reported that:

·       Two surveys had been undertaken during 2023/24 – the ‘Your Say’ survey in January 2024 and ‘Thrive’, the wellbeing survey, in June 2023. Positively, there had been an increased response rate to both surveys.

·       Overall, there had been a slight improvement against Key Business Measures (KBMs) which had each scored at 78% or above. The KBM for Engagement had risen to 79% which was a 3% improvement on the score for 2022/23. The KBM for Wellbeing was 82%, a 4% improvement on the 2022/23 score.

·       The Council had performed well against other local authority benchmarks by an average of +13%.

·       A range of bespoke interventions had been undertaken to improve the response rates of teams which had previously shown lower levels of engagement.

·       Project work had been undertaken to review engagement, communication and wellbeing challenges experienced by community-based teams. This had shown positive results.

Kate Sullivan outlined the priorities for 2024/25 which included a focus on continuing to drive up response rates and work to demonstrate that the organisation had listened and taken action using the ‘You Said, We Did’ approach. Priority themes for focused interventions would be Leadership, Development and Progression, Communication, and Wellbeing.

Kate Sullivan advised that the next ‘Your Say’ survey was scheduled for January 2025. It was also proposed to hold a series of ‘Working in Warwickshire Conversations’ to invite feedback from staff of what they liked about working for the Council and what would enhance their employee experience.

The Chair praised the good progress that had been made. The benchmark comparison against other local authorities demonstrated that the Council was performing well.

In response to Councillor Kettle, Kate Sullivan stated that there was a strong focus on improving levels of engagement. Good progress had been made; however, more work was needed to achieve continued improved response rates. The proposed ‘Working in Warwickshire Conversations’ would provide an opportunity to explore the potential barriers to engagement.

In response to the Chair, Lucy Gillings (Service Manager, Workforce Development) advised that bespoke interventions to target teams which had previously shown lower response rates would help to lift levels of engagement. This had previously shown good results, making a positive difference. It would help to inform an understanding of why some staff had not previously been inclined to respond to staff surveys.

In response to Councillor Hammersley, Rob Powell (Executive Director for Resources) stated that response rates depended on a range of factors, including workloads. It was unlikely that concerns about the anonymity of surveys had been a cause of lower levels of engagement. He praised the quality of the work being undertaken by HROD to refresh approaches to engagement with community-based staff which had shown positive results. He emphasised that the Council’s Leadership Team took  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2