Issue - meetings

Jeff Wring, Service Director One West, introduced the report.

Panel Member made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Hodge asked about the risks involved in staff retention and recruitment (workforce resilience). She stated that the workforce had undergone a huge change with the move to ‘work from home’ and hybrid working. This will have had an impact, some departments still do not know how they will work. The officer explained that offices have now reopened so things should be a bit more settled. There are ‘hard to fill’ posts in any organisation. The officer explained that a risk receives focus if it is medium or high, it only comes off the risk register if it is low.

Councillor Blackburn asked at what point do we acknowledge that we are no longer a premier league employer? People leave for other jobs in the industry and this should be reflected in the risk register. The officer explained that BANES is a good employer, there is good feedback. A lot of people may be moving to work from home jobs for companies in London, there has been a lot of movement but this will settle down. People do value work life balance and value doing jobs that ‘give back’.

Councillor Blackburn asked about the staffing costs regarding the ‘ring of steel’ manned barriers and also how much people are being put off cycling in the centre. The officer stated that he did not have a detailed answer and that this was part of a wider conversation.

Councillor Hounsell stated that there are only 2 enforcement officers in BANES which impacts on remaining staff. He asked if we head hunted staff. The officer explained that traditional recruitment is rare now, we use social media, LinkedIn and careers fairs.

Councillor Duguid commented that the information is not as stark as when you have the numbers, it is missing quantification. The officer stated that this was a good point but that this was only part of the puzzle.