Agenda item

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 significant recruitment challenges, high vacancy levels and elevated sickness absence rates, all of which contributed to increased workloads. Evidence from exit and stay interviews indicated that workload pressures were a key factor influencing decisions to leave.The Chief Organisational Culture Officer agreed to look at employee location data, to identify any emerging patterns.

Sickness absence - Sickness absence had reduced by 19.7%, however, short-term sickness absence remained persistent. It was noted that a detailed report had been submitted to the Corporate Management Team identifying sickness-related concerns across the organisation and highlighting the limitations of available resources to support managers in managing cases effectively. Additional resourcing had subsequently been approved, and recruitment was underway for a dedicated HR team that would focus on areas with particularly high levels of sickness absence, notably Children's Services and Adult Social Care. The ongoing work with Public Health to achieve an elite level Healthy Workplace status was also noted, with a range of wellbeing initiatives and actions, detailed within the Healthy Workplace action plan, intended to support employee wellbeing and help address sickness absence across the organisation.

In response to a query as to the high number of sickness absence days recorded under "unknown" , and absence of cancer-related sickness, the Committee was advised that a new self-service system was being introduced, requiring managers to record sickness reasons directly and whilst a small number of absences might remain as "unknown", it was higher than expected and was being reviewed and managers challenged if continued.

Apprenticeship retention and progression -  The Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised that the Council currently achieved a retention rate of 73% and demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting apprentices throughout their employment. Apprentices received ongoing support through forums, employability training, interview preparation and mentoring. Whilst some apprentices would ultimately pursue opportunities elsewhere, considerable effort was made to retain them within the Council wherever possible.

There was currently no specific process for tracking the onward destination of all younger employees when they left employment, however whether additional work could be undertaken in partnership with education colleagues to understand and support the onward progression of younger employees, particularly in relation to those not in education, employment or training could be considered.

Members noted the Joint Consultative Committee comments from the earlier meeting.

Decision

a)            The Employment Matters Committee noted the contents of the workforce report 2025/26, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

b)            The Employment Matters Committee noted the workforce report action plan, attached at Appendix 2 to the report.

c)            The Employment Matters Committee requested further detailed analysis of one-year turnover rates, including consideration of employee location and retention factors, together with further exploration of how the Council could support positive onward outcomes for younger employees leaving the organisation.