Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Strategy and Resources providing analysis of the recently completed staff survey following a request from board members to receive this analysis.

The report of the Director of Strategy and Resources provided an update on the latest Staff Survey carried out in Spring 2023. In total, 14729 staff were sent the survey and 7647 completed it – an overall response rate of 52%. Figures for response rates for offline staff were also provided. The report outlined the survey approach and response rates, the results and analysis, and how the Council is responding to the feedback.

The following were in attendance for this item:

-  Cllr Debra Coupar, Executive Member for Resources

-  Mariana Pexton, Director of Strategy and Resources

-  Graham Sephton, Head of Human Resources

-  Frank Perrins, Senior Intelligence and Policy Officer

Supported by presentation slides the Board were given an overview of key findings, results and planned actions resulting from the staff survey. One key piece of data highlighted by those attending was that colleagues gave an overall satisfaction score for their jobs at Leeds City Council as 7.4 out of 10.

The links between the staff survey and the ‘Be Your Best’ Organisation Plan and manager development programme that have featured at the Board in recent months were highlighted. Having an effective, productive and happy workforce gives the Council the best chance of delivering against the Best City Ambition and delivering stronger services to Leeds residents and within localities. Ensuring that staff have a voice and are listened to is a key element of this.

The following areas featured in the presentation:

• Why the survey matters - understanding how the majority of staff feel about their job, their team, their workplace and employer, identifying what is working well and what is not and why, capturing honest feedback and fresh ideas, delivering better services and supporting managers to get the best from everyone and to help direct the Council’s employment/people agenda and identifying improvement actions for the future.
• What has been done so far on the 2023 survey and what future actions are planned.
• Analysis of the results has revealed that on the positive side response rates are up, staff know what is expected of them at work, receive support from management and colleagues, and feel that their team supports equality and preventing discrimination. Where there is more work to do focussed on career progression, better tools and equipment, workloads and the need for more support through periods of change.
• The need for key issues to be addressed from the survey findings in the coming weeks and months.

The Executive Member for Resources, Cllr Coupar, emphasised the strong positives that have emerged from the staff survey and in particular highlighted the increased response rate (especially for offline staff) but also noted the need for staff concerns to be addressed and the importance of staff are voicing concerns and having them responded to.

In response to comments and questions from the Board, discussion included the following:

• Members were interested in the response to staff concerns about tools and equipment and how improvements might help staff do their jobs better. In terms of digital improvements, it was suggested that IDS colleagues are contacted to ask for more information in terms of specific actions and plans. It was noted that the quality tools comments were not just about digital tools but also related to frontline staff such as park staff for example. The issue regarding tools and equipment on the frontline does not relate to health and safety concerns which was immediately checked out when the result from the survey were analysed. Further work is ongoing on the equipment and tools concern to get more detailed information about specific issues.
• The Board asked about the systems and support in place when staff are really struggling from a well-being perspective or from the demands of their role. Throughout Covid a strong well-being offer was developed to support staff and this has continued for staff who need extra support beyond what their managers offer, this offer is widely promoted and there are ongoing efforts to increase take up where appropriate.
• Whilst recognising the clear improvement in responses to the survey there were concerns about the high variation of response rates, with some areas scoring as low as 12%. Additionally, members sought further information on appraisals and the quality of them given feedback from the staff survey. On the different levels of response to the survey work is underway through direct contact with those teams to understand the reasons and also to ensure that those staff can still have their voices heard, consideration is being given to how response rates might be higher in the future for areas with low response rates, with Core Business Transformation hopefully helping this. 
• On appraisals it was recognised that more training on appraisal and performance management is required to ensure consistent quality of appraisal discussion. Building on the recent manager EDI training, which has delivered significant improvements in that area, there are plans to deliver more mandatory face to face training for managers to deal with appraisals. It was also emphasised that the staff survey is an ‘additive’ and not the only way in which feedback from staff is sought.
• Members picked up on the identified staff groups where there was more likely to be positive feedback for example recent appointees and Black/Black British. Some of this did not tally with direct feedback heard by members. Analysis is ongoing on these results and members were informed that there are quite a lot of factors at play when analysing demographics for example certain demographic groups are more prevalent in some services so disaffection or happiness can be based around service management and culture more than simply demographic groups. More work is planned with HR on this to understand the data and ensure that the right problems are being worked on.
• In response to questions relating to cultural awareness the Board were assured that the training for managers is not yet complete and there is more to come in terms of that training for managers being taken back to wider teams and the actions that will follow.
• Members raised questions around neutral responses both in terms of how that is interpreted, as in not necessarily a positive, and the validity of having a survey that allows a neutral response. Some members believed that it would be preferable to have at the least slightly negative or slightly positive options, rather than neutral options.
• Following further questioning on EDI and the broadly positive responses in the survey, members were keen to understand if this positivity represents staff who have protected characteristics or more an overall feeling of staff who do not in terms of how that agenda has been progressed. The board was assured that staff with protected characteristics have been part of the analysis and there are plans to drill down into this as some of the positive response to EDI from those with protected characteristics has not been as positive. A request was made for any additional information on this once the work is complete to be shared with the various elected member champions for protected characteristics.
• Members suggested that a ‘you said, we did’ type approach could be adopted in response to the staff survey findings. This was met with a positive response, building on work done in advance the survey that took this approach, and with an additional commitment to assure members that managers are being encouraged to adopt that approach in dealing with staff engagement in their respective services.
• Comparison of staff survey results with other local authorities has taken place along with other public sector organisations and where the questions match in terms of each survey comparisons are made.
• Referring to the lower response rates for offline staff, members wanted to understand more about the reasons for that and possible digital solutions that might address it such as use of smart phones to complete the survey. One third of offline staff responded (two thirds of online staff did for comparison) and digital solutions were offered such as QR codes. Members were also informed that there was a significant effort to increase responses through site visits, liaison with Trade Unions, videos from members, and poster campaigns, it was noted that 33% was the highest response ever from offline staff. It was also hoped that the Core Business Transformation Programme could assist in driving response rates up further.
• Members wanted to know more about techniques to manage workloads and it was suggested that a further report could come back on the corporate approach to managing workloads. The LGA Peer Challenge also noted growing workloads as an issue and work is underway to tackle the problem through digitising, automating and simplification of policies. It has been decided that single solutions such as ‘email free Fridays’ that have been used elsewhere are not suitable for the Council due to the complexity of the differing council services and varied workloads. Instead, the Council does encourage extension of deadlines where possible, taking regular breaks, the wellbeing offer, and other innovative local approaches that can make a difference to staff who are struggling with high workloads.
• In terms of the next staff survey this is likely to take place in 2025.
• The Board also stressed recognition of work and also continuing to encourage managers to say thank you when work has gone well and delivered positive results.

RESOLVED – To note the content of the report and survey results, analysis and response plans and:

a)  Receive further updates and reports as this work progresses, making links to the current and future scrutiny work programme as appropriate.

b)  Once the further EDI analysis is complete share the findings with the elected member champions representing the staff networks