Agenda item

Councillor L Davenport-Ray, Executive Councillor for Climate, Transformation and Workforce to present the Workforce Strategy for approval by the Council.

(The Strategy was considered by the Employment Committee at their meeting on 26th June 2024).

With the assistance of a report by the Strategic HR Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the Council were invited to consider the approval of a new Workforce Strategy for the District Council.

By way of introduction, the Executive Councillor for Climate, Transformation and Workforce, Councillor L Davenport-Ray, outlined the importance of the Council’s workforce in contributing to the aims and objectives of the Council and explained that the draft Strategy had been developed to support their hopes and aspirations.

In terms of the development of the Strategy, Councillor Davenport-Ray explained that it had been the culmination of a significant level of staff engagement. It was reported that over 73% of staff, which equated to 472 employees had participated in engagement sessions to form the recommendations and attention was drawn to their feedback which was set out in detail with the draft document

Council was informed that the Strategy had been broken down into three key areas or ‘pillars’ that covered the core areas that needed to be focused on. These were attraction and retention, engagement and well-being. Should Council choose to adopt the Strategy, Members attention was drawn to the proposed next steps which were set out in detail at the end of the document and would include continued communication, investment in the Action Plan, the use of relevant governance procedures to report on progress and the monitoring of its impact.

Councillor Davenport-Ray went on to explain that the development of the Strategy had been closely monitored by the Council’s Employment Committee, who at their last meeting had suggested that the Strategy should be adopted separately from its Action Plan. This would enable further time for refinement of the Action Plan and input from Members. In this regard she urged Members who had any comments to provide these to their Employment Committee representatives. It was also reported that positive feedback had been received from Union, employee representatives and Council staff. Councillor Davenport-Ray concluded her remarks by reiterating that the aim of the Strategy was to build a workforce where there were opportunities for development and growth and where every staff member felt valued, included and appropriately rewarded.

Councillor S Cawley outlined his support for the Strategy and the decision to adopt the Strategy separately from the Action Plan. However, he urged the Joint Administration to ensure that they responded to and implemented recommendations at pace given that staff expectations had been raised. Comment was also made regarding the concerns raised by the Peer Review at the likely financial impact of the pay and remuneration review, and he urged the Joint Administration to considered this as part of the budgeting process.

In response to a comment from Councillor J A Gray regarding where responsibility for Council employees lies democratically, the Executive Councillor for Climate Transformation and Workforce explained that in her view there was a distinction between policy and operation. Operational responsibility sat with the Head of Paid Services but setting the strategic direction was the responsibility of Cabinet members and in that regard, it would have been remiss of her to have developed a Workforce Strategy without seeking the views of Council employees. However, it was her view that all Members had a responsibility to some extent for Council staff. In response to other comments regarding the potential for an annual staff survey, the Executive Councillor explained that this was certainly one of the issues being considered, including whether surveys should be undertaken more frequently so it could be gauged whether there were issues to be addressed.

In taking his opportunity to address the Council, Councillor R Martin welcomed the development of the Strategy. He went on to refer to the new Employment Rights Bill that had been referenced within the Kings Speech earlier in the week. Whilst it was not yet known what this would contain, Councillor Martin suggested that it would be beneficial for the Strategy to return to full Council for further discussion. He reiterated the comments that had been made regarding the importance of Council staff to the District of Huntingdonshire and the need to consider the management of expectations. Councillor Martin also commented on the remarks made by the Peer Review team regarding the need for the recommendations to be implemented at pace and his hope that extra resources could be obtained to prioritise this. In terms of the Action Plan itself, comment was made regarding the length of time a number of the actions might take and a suggestion was made regarding the need to prioritise a number of these. The Employee Value Proposition being given as an example.

The Executive Leader Councillor S J Conboy outlined her appreciation to the number of staff that had taken the time to engage with the development of the Strategy and the positive feedback that had been received. Whilst welcoming the comments by Members which had been made regarding the desire and will to move at pace and the need for investment in the Council’s staff, she reiterated that one of the challenges would be to recognise and manage this within the Council’s current financial position.

Finally, Councillor P Hodgson-Jones commented on the need to involve and empower staff to bring forward their own ideas on how things could be done differently and where improvements could be made for the better of the organisation. In response to which the Executive Councillor agreed with this sentiment and explained that she had already been impressed with the ideas and ingenuity of many of the officers she interacted with. In this regard she explained that the motto – ‘Do, Enable, Influence’ had been suggested by a member of the Open Spaces Team. She agreed to take these comments on board further.

Whereupon and having been proposed and duly seconded, it was

RESOLVED

that the Workforce Strategy as set out in Appendix 1 to the report now submitted be approved.