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Meeting Performance and Resources Board Agenda Item 7

Meeting Date 20th November 2017 Report Number

James Mark, HR Workforce Information Officer

Report Authors:
Sam Lerioza, HR Policy & Strategy Manager

Presented By Jack Brown, Assistant Director of HR

Subject HR Monthly Report

Type of Report: Information

This is the fourth of our enhanced HR reporting, we are on a journey that:

 Starts at the provision of up to date data that can be accessed easily, that we use consistently and
that we communicate well,
 Moves on to analysis of that data,

 Finishes at using different data sets to explore hypothetical scenarios and predict trends.

We will continue to provide monthly reports until the end of the calendar year after which the reporting
period will move to quarterly. The first quarterly report will be presented in April 2018.

Workforce Composition and Demographics

Wholetime On Call Support Control *

  2016-17 2017-18 2016-17 2017-18 2016-17 2017-18 2016-17 2017-18
Apr 733.0 614.5 379.5 379.5 257.1 259.4 33.8
May 731.0 612.5 376.5 392.5 255.2 261.2 35.8
Jun 725.8 610.5 377.0 393.5 252.2 263.4 34.8
Jul 721.8 610.5 380.5 392.5 276.1  268.0 33.9
Aug 712.8 606.5 377.5 394.0 247.6 266.2 32.8
Sep 710.8 606.0 379.8 404.8 240.6 269.2 32.3
Oct 673.8 601.0 374.5 409.3 239.4 249.3 32.3
Nov 671.8 379.5 241.3  
Dec 667.8 379.0 246.5  
Jan 662.3 382.3 254.3  
Feb 657.3 380.8 259.0  
Mar 620.5 383.5 257.6  
* Control FTE data not readily available for Financial Year 2016-17 Support Agency Workers

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 Monthly Support Agency Workers FTE
50

40

30

20

10

0
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

2016-17 2017-18

The process for hiring Support Agency Workers was centralised within the HR Support team in April 2017.
HRBPs and Finance Managers review temporary resource allocations and spend by department at
monthly meetings with an overall objective of reducing spend and focusing on the effective utilisation of
resources. The graph above shows a successful reduction in the number of agency workers being
engaged across Support functions.

Monthly Employee Turnover

Monthly Employee Turnover - Operational Staff

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Wholetime 2016-17 On Call 2016-17 Wholetime 2017-18 On Call 2017-18

Turnover levels continue to broadly mirror those from 2016-17, with a reduction in Support/Enabling
employee turnover compared to last year. The absence of an Early Exit programme in 2017-18 is reflected
in the lack of a turnover spike this year.

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 Monthly Employee Turnover - Support/Enabling Staff
6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

2016-17 2017-18

Recruitment & Selection

Talent Pool

The first process for Area Managers, Group Managers, Station Managers and Crew Managers is complete.

The Talent Pool for all employees launched at the end of October. Through our Talent Pool process we
will be able to develop high-performing, high-potential employees with the potential to be able to assume
greater responsibilities when opportunities become available in our Service. The Talent Pool is designed
to identify and bring on the talent that is ready, or near ready, for promotion or lateral moves into key
parts of our Service. The Talent Pool focuses on succession planning, not filling vacancies, and it will
become the normal source for all temporary promotions.

Recruitment

A new automated system for on-call firefighter applications launched on the 30 October. The tracking
system will make the process smoother for the applicant by having a single point to log into and check the
process of their application, giving them a more positive journey from day one of their career with us.

The recruitment of twelve Wholetime Firefighters launched on the 9 October. These vacancies are
initially open to our on-call firefighter colleagues an opportunity to apply for a career in [COMPANY
NAME]. This opportunity allows us to value the contribution that our on call colleagues already make to
the service as competent firefighters.  It builds on our commitment to break down perceived barriers
between on call and whole time crews and to encourage inclusivity.  It underlines a message that taking a
role as an on call firefighter can be a route into a Fire and Rescue Service career.  It is a way of delivering
the crewing levels that we require to deliver a service to the public as quickly as possible and represents
value for money and a prudent use of public funds. 

Induction

The first ‘Welcome to [COMPANY NAME] took place on the 25 th October 2017 This face-to-face session
aimed at introducing new colleagues to the strategy and values of our Service. The event included a
‘market place’ in the muster area of our Service Headquarters showcasing our services.

Two Manager Inductions sessions for new/newly promoted managers were also held.

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Attendance

The following reflects the amount sick leave (in calendar days) taken in the 12 months to 31 October
2017.

Corporate
Entire Service Operational
(inc Control EEs)

Proportion of EEs taking sick leave 60% * 60% * 71%

Median sick days 6 7 5
Mean sick days 21.7 24.5 17.8
Max sick days 359 359 254
Total calendar days lost to sickness 12,051 7,964 4,087
* Data excludes On Call employees due to system limitations which mean that we are unable to report On Call
sickness.

In future reports, we will be able to start presenting information regarding sickness trends – e.g. whether
sickness rates are increasing/decreasing over time. We will also have access to family group data for
comparison.

Employee Relations

Case Management

Corporate
SW SE NW NE Total
(inc Control)

Grievance 0 2 2 1 4 9

Disciplinary 3 4 0 2 0 9

Absence Management 10 15 8 10 13 56

Performance Management 2 1 6 1 0 10
Case raised formally, but
resolved informally using 1 0 0 3 0 4
alternative methods *
Case resolved prior to
1 1 1 0 0 3
being raised formally *
* Informal case management figures as reported to [COMPANY NAME] SLT in September 2017.

Despite a falling trend in formal disciplinary cases over the past three months prior, October saw an
increase from 5 in September to 9 in October. There were a total of 4 new cases opened during October,
two of which related to the same incident and no cases were closed during this month.

Grievance cases remained at 9 although it should be noted that 5 of these cases were resolved during
October.

Overall absence management case have increased to 56 cases, the highest number since this reporting
began however 8 of these cases were resolved during October with these employees returning to work.

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The number of cases raised as a disciplinary or grievance but resolved informally using alternative
methods or cases resolved prior to being raised formally is increasing. This indicates that early
intervention is effective and employees are attempting to resolve their concerns informally with their line
manager before raising a formal grievance. Likewise, consideration is being given by managers to
resolving behavioural matters informally where possible.

Further to the launch of the Dignity at Work Policy we are developing a group of fifty employees to act as
Dignity at Work Advisors. Four courses have been scheduled with 32 attendees being held on 13-14
November 2017, 23-24 November 2017, 27-28 November 2017 and 15-16 February 2018.

An external company held a further Unconscious Bias training during a Leadership Forum in October to
help us better understand its impact and what we can do about it. The Service understands that
unconscious bias can influence decisions in recruitment, promotion and performance management. The
aim of the training was to challenge our natural unconscious biases and make us aware of them. Tests
were made available for all employees to test themselves to measure their own unconscious bias through
Harvard’s Implicit Association Tests (IAT).

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HR Support Team Activity

Call Volumes

In the past 12 months, the HR Support Team have handled an average of 186 telephone calls per week.
The dip in calls in late August corresponds with the August Bank Holiday, when the office was closed. On
Call recruitment activity was separated in Nov 2016 and HR Support team call volumes decreased
accordingly.

Following on from the implementation of the Cherwell Employee Relations Case Management system, we
are working with Sollertis, the software provider, to devise a set of reports that will allow us to
interrogate the Cherwell transactional call management system and report upon the HR Support Team’s
productivity. This will extend to both Business as Usual transactional activity and On Call recruitment
activity.

HR Support Team Telephone Call Volumes

450
Weekly Number of Telephone Calls

400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

2016-17 2017-18

As recommended by the organisation’s external auditor in January, the Support Team is audited, on a
monthly basis, on the completeness of their transactional files. The audit, conducted by the HR Support
Team Manager and Workforce Information Officer involves a review of each transaction and audit trail
checks of affected employees’ personnel files. If an item is missing, then a file is deemed to be
“incomplete”.
This is an ongoing requirement.

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 HR Support Team File Audit - Oct 2017
100%
78%
80% 74%

60%

40%
26%
22%
20%

0%
Oct Average YTD

File Complete File Incomplete

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Occupational Health & Fitness Team activity

Monthly Management Referrals

  2016-17 2017-18
OH Management Referrals - Top 5 Reasons - 2017
Apr 19
May 25 Injury/Fracture. 12
Jun 29
Back Problems. 18
Jul 20
Aug 13 Mental Wellbeing. 86
Sep 18 MS Upper Body. 22
Oct 23
Nov
MS Lower Body. 25
Dec
Jan 22
Feb 23 Figures above reflect number of referrals not percentage share.
Mar 20
Occupational Health Appointments – Jan to Oct 2017
Additional Health Surveillance 9
Annual Health Surveillance 34
BA Instructor Health Assessment 7
LGV Health Surveillance 67
Physiotherapy 127
Pre-Employment Assessment – Operational 53
Pre-Employment Assessment – Non Operational 20
Standard Health Surveillance 237
Unscheduled Consultation 33
Workshops Assessment 15
Total 602

Referrals have increased in the past month, some longer term cases/chronic health conditions appearing.
These will impact on sickness absence levels and also numbers of employees who may be transferred to
modified duties for varying periods.

Work still needs to be done with managers at all levels to ensure early referrals; we are still finding that
referrals are late and far down the path of someone’s health problem – often for best intentioned reasons
- but it delays the advice and support we can give which is often valuable at an early stage.

Some of our referrals come from the Fitness team and are part of the supportive measures to ensure that
operational firefighters can achieve adequate fitness levels which ensures their ability to undertake
strenuous activity safely in the operational setting.

Occupational health is part of the working group for the IOSH ‘No time to lose’ campaign around
occupational cancers; we are looking at what resources we can utilise to inform and educate employees
during their contacts with us and also what health promotion tools may be of value across the service.

We are looking at an education and information project around hydration and its importance for
operational firefighters, we hope to collaborate with Anglian Water and utilise their ‘love every drop’
logo; it may also be helpful for Anglian Water to utilise our community safety teams to deliver messages
about healthy water in the domestic setting.

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Fitness Team activity

Station Visit Fitness Assessments

The Fitness Team conducted 57 fitness assessments (FITECH) on station visits in October 2017.

RESULT Wholetime On Call TOTAL

Passed 36 21 57
3 monthly review 1 7 8
6 weekly review 1 0 1
3 weekly review 2 0 2
40 28 68

Station visit FITECH tests - October

FITECH Result Wholetime On Call

Passed 36 21
3 Monthly Review 1 7
6 Weekly Review 1 0
3 Weekly Review 2 0

Employees that are placed on a 3-weekly review are removed from operational duties by their Station
Manager.

Monthly Appointments attended at Service Headquarters

As well as individual FITECH assessments which are performed on stations and follow-up reviews at
Service Headquarters, appointments were also conducted for functional assessments, On Call pre-
assessments and On Call assessment days. These are mainly conducted at Kelvedon Park in the fitness
suite.

Fitness Team Activity - Apr-Oct 2017

Functional Assessment
On Call Assessment Days

Individual Yearly FITECH at KP

On Call Pre-Assessment
3 monthly review

3 weekly review 6 weekly review

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 Appointment Type Number
Wholetime station visits 7
On call station visits 4
Individual Yearly FITECH at KP 16
3 monthly review 19
6 weekly review 5
3 weekly review 2
On Call Pre-Assessments 36
On Call Assessment Days 2
Functional Assessments 1

In September the fitness team launched an Instagram account (@companyName) to provide health and
fitness advice. The aim of this account is to help increase interest in the on call recruitment.

The Fitness Team have achieved the above while one full time member of the team has been on
maternity leave. Therefore, the team have slightly reduced the amount of educational / guidance work
they would normally do for both stations and KP. The introduction of the new fitness policy that is due to
be implemented, including the 6 month support period will also have an impact on the team’s workloads.

Workforce Diversity

In September, we reported specifically on the diversity of our employees. This information will be
provided on a quarterly basis and is being presented again in January 2018, to reflect the positions at the
end of 2017-18 Q2 and Q3 respectively.

Calendar of events
Date Event
12-19 November Inter-Faith Week
13-17 November Anti-Bullying Week
3 December International Day of Persons
with Disabilities

James Joseph to work with Paul Pemberton and Corporate Comms to appropriately mark the
International Day of Persons with Disability with relevant information sharing. Some focus will be given to
the Disability Confident Scheme, what this means to us as an employer and the influence this will have in
recruitment in 2018.

In October we signed the Faith Covenant alongside the OPFCC, [COMPANY NAME] Police and [COMPANY
NAME] County Council. James Joseph will be the Service Representative at the Faith Covenant Steering
Group.

Dyslexia awareness sessions to be offered in December and January aimed at individuals that think they
may be dyslexic, Managers, HR Staff and Training Staff. Sessions will be held during the day and during
the evening to maximise the opportunity to attend.

We are holding a collaborative event with [COMPANY NAME] Police and East of England Ambulance
Service on 8 March 2018 for International Women’s Day.

Job Evaluation

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 Four panels have been held since the end of August; the last on the 6 th October 2017. From November to
January 2018 there are 5 more panels booked and confirmed with panel members. Two panels will be
held per month until summer 2018 depending on demand. The internal panels have evaluated 20 roles to
date. 12 panel members have already sat on a panel with the remaining 3 due to do so by December.

Overview of JE appeals per directorate

Appeal
Number Appeal
outcome
of JE Number of Final outcome no
differs
Department appeals employees outcome change from Commentary
from
(per affected received original
original
role) evaluation
evaluation

Finance 5 8 5 3 2 complete

3 outstanding appeals:
2 await final submission from
Property 5 7 2 0 2
manager, 1 received 31/10 for
submission to Hay

Purchasing 1 2 1 1 0 complete

Workshops 5 5 5 4 1 complete

Safer
6 32 6 5 1 complete
Communities

HR & OD 4 6 4 3 1 complete

TOTALS 26 60 24 16 7

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