Issue - meetings

This report presents Medway Council's annual Workforce Report for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Discussion

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer introduced the report which presented Medway Council's annual workforce report for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, attached at Appendix 1, and the accompanying workforce report action plan, attached at Appendix 2.

The workforce report provided an overview of workforce composition, equality monitoring, recruitment, retention, turnover and sickness absence. It highlighted positive improvements in workforce stability, alongside areas requiring further attention, including equality data quality, succession planning and workforce retention. The workforce report action plan set out the actions that would be taken to address identified workforce priorities and to support continuous improvement across the organisation.

Contracts - In response to a question the Chief Organisational Culture Officer clarified that the difference between established contracts and casual and relief contracts, was one had committed hours and the others did not.

Aging workforce - In response to questions regarding the ageing workforce, the Head of HR advised that there had been positive progress in retaining employees for longer periods. Significant efforts had also been made to strengthen the early talent pipeline and attract younger people into the organisation largely due to the success of apprenticeship programmes, work experience placements and other early entry schemes. Members were informed that opportunities such as work experience and internships had been affected by reduced office attendance following the move away from the former Gun Wharf working arrangements. Nevertheless, the Recruitment Team continued to proactively engage with colleges, the Department for Work and Pensions and job fairs to promote the wide variety of career opportunities available within the Council. Further work was being undertaken with education partners to develop "taste day" opportunities to enable apprentices and new entrants to gain broader knowledge of potential career pathways to retain skills and experience rather than losing them altogether. Turnover among younger employees was expected and further analysis was required to understand whether this was concentrated within particular teams, professions or areas experiencing recruitment challenges and high vacancy levels.

It was noted that the Apprenticeship Academy was now providing enhanced support to apprentices and young employees. This included pastoral support, mentoring and assistance in adjusting to the workplace. Training and support was also being strengthened for managers to ensure that younger employees were effectively supported to settle into the organisation.

Turnover - In response to questions concerning the one-year turnover rates, it was noted that overall turnover had reduced in line with the ambitions of the Workforce Strategy, and the target turnover rate of 10% had been achieved, however this did remain a concern. Fixed-term and grant-funded posts contributed to this figure and further detailed analysis was required to determine the extent to which the figure reflected contractual endings as opposed to employees actively choosing to leave the organisation. It was suggested that consideration should also be given to the geographical location of employees and whether commuting distances had any impact on retention rates.

Children's Services and Adult Social Care continued to experience the highest one-year turnover rates and faced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 316