Issue - meetings

Cherry Bennet, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager and Amanda George, HR and OD, gave a presentation to the Panel which covered the following:

·  Background

·  Key challenges and risks

·  Attraction, retention and workforce planning

·  Talent and Development

·  Staff engagement and performance

·  Preparing for the Future Programme

·  Health, Safety and Wellbeing

Panel members asked the following questions and raised the following points: (Officer responses are shown in italics)

Councillor Furse asked the following questions:

·  How do we embed the new apprentices into the Corporate Environment when they are working from home. The officer explained that some apprentices are working on the front line so they are in workplaces. There has been less request for apprenticeships for roles that are totally based on home working. If they are based at home, we create planned opportunities for chats and structured time with colleagues from the team. We can manage new starters, our managers are very supportive.

·  Regarding the new blended working and working from home – what is the situation with more outward facing roles such as licensing officers, the public realm and planning teams. During the Covid period, officers have been doing a mix of homeworking, working from Lewis House and the Guildhall. They can still have a base in Bath but are encouraged to mainly work at home. The Licensing team have been needed in the centre for enforcement, so they are using Floor 4 of Lewis House. In the future Keynsham Civic Centre will be used for team meetings and collaboration sessions. There will be desks available to book in the Guildhall and other venues.

Councillor Warrington asked the following questions:

·  Have you looked at succession planning, especially as we have lost some senior staff. We will pick this up when the worst of the Covid situation is over.

·  Surveys – are there summaries? Yes they are available, I will send these out and they are also available on the intranet for members.

·  What are the tactics considered for the recruitment challenge around social care? This is very pertinent, We need help to cope with the situation as there are staff isolating and off sick and our services are under significant pressure at present. We will be undertaking some local campaigns and considering our position in the market. We are working with BANES/Swindon/Wiltshire CCG and local authorities jointly to explore some of the challenges together.

·  There is a perception that there is a lack of staff in the Council, can we do a gap analysis? We will pick this up in the summer when the worst of the Covid situation is hopefully over. There is no significant restructuring or redundancy planned for this or next year. Amanda George added that there is a meeting every Monday to discuss Business Continuity and Capacity Planning. Discussions have been around reallocating staff from services that are closed such as the Roman Baths to other services such as helping with the Business Grants service. We are very much reactive at the present  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51