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Question from: County Councillor Matthew Dorrance Subject: HR processes
Question:
Why did valued members of staff learn about proposals regarding the future of their work through the press rather than through more appropriate channels?
Will the Cabinet Member agree to properly consult with staff and trade unions before proposals are taken any further?
Minutes: Response by the Portfolio Holder:
The Council responded to the articles in the press on 23rd September clarifying that it did not recognise and was disappointed by the comments made by Unison, which did not reflect the engagement that had taken place.
Indeed, there had been extensive internal messaging to staff about the ‘New Ways of Working’ (NWOW) project before the report to Cabinet on 21st September, with 20 such messages having been shared since March this year. Alongside this the local trade unions have been able to comment upon and feed into the development of the proposal through a lengthy consultation process and felt that as an outcome what was being proposed to Cabinet was a progressive move by the Council.
It’s was pleasing to see that this approach has enabled staff to help shape and inform the proposals through; their feedback and responses in the three organisation-wide staff wellbeing surveys undertaken over the past 16 months, by raising questions with and receiving responses from the NWOW project team and through the extensive consultation process with local trade union representatives.
More recently staff were informed on 9th July that Cabinet would be asked to make a final decision on the proposals, were then reminded again ahead of the meeting that Cabinet would be making a decision about this on the 21st September, with the decision of Cabinet then being shared with staff later that afternoon.
Engagement and involvement about NWOW did not of course end on 21st September, as advised at paragraph 3.18 of the report to Cabinet, consultation with the trade unions and engagement with the wider workforce continues. To this end, the report recognised the engagement undertaken so far and confirmed that their will be further opportunities for staff to be engaged as their service plans the transition to NWOW. Importantly the approach planned for rolling out NWOW will provide each service with a great opportunity to engage staff in reviewing how working differently can better support their future vision of service delivery, the outcomes they want to achieve and how the workforce can be best supported through the transition and beyond.
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