02 Q3 2022 23
Renfrewshire Council · 7 February 2023
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 7 February 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers On: 7th February 2023 Heading: Absence Statistics – Quarter 3 2022/23 ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide the committee with absence monitoring information for quarter 3 ending 31st December 2022. 1.2 The report details the absence statistics by service and by category of staff. The report provides information in relation to absence targets and how services have performed against them. An analysis of the reasons for absence has also been compiled and details are included within the report. 1.3 The council continues to support those employees on longer term absences, particularly where the absence has been impacted by delayed or postponed medical interventions. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the committee notes the content of this report. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Sickness absence statistics for quarter 3 - 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022. 3.1 A comparison of the council overall absence performance for the quarter (Q3) with the same quarter in 2021 is detailed in table 1. Table 2 details services performance. In line with the reporting requirements for Scottish Councils, absence is expressed as a number of work days lost per full time equivalent (FTE) employee. Table 1 Council performance – Q3 Employee Group Quarter Ending December 2021 Quarter Ending December 2022 Variance +/- year on year Local Government 3.81 4.22 +0.41 Teachers 2.07 2.36 +0.29 Council Overall 3.35 3.74 +0.39
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2 3.2 Service performance for Q3 is detailed below. Table 2 4.0 Sickness absence reasons and related support measures during Quarter 3. 4.1 The main sickness absence reasons, and their total of the overall absences expressed as a percentage, quarter were: Council wide Teachers Psychological 25.5% Respiratory 30.1% Respiratory 23.4% Psychological 23.7% (Psychological (work related) 0.8%) Muscoskeletal 18.6% Stomach/bowel/blood and metabolic disorders 18.9% 4.2 To support employees with psychological absences, the council provides a range of support services that employees can be referred to at an early stage for assistance, such as the council’s Occupational Health Service and the Time for Talking employee counselling service. 4.3 The Time for Talking (TFT) counselling service provides 24-hour confidential support to employees with a range of personal health and well-being issues. It operates a flexible approach to appointments offering telephone consultations in the early mornings or evenings as well as throughout the day. 4.4 297 sessions were offered by TFT during quarter 3 of which 86% were attended. 82% of the staff attending felt significantly better after their sessions. The main presenting issues are detailed below: Service Quarter Ending December 2021 Quarter Ending December 2022 Variance +/- year on year Chief Executives 1.37 1.35 -0.02 Childrens Services 3.07 3.62 +0.55 Communities and Housing Services 3.89 3.88 -0.01 Environment and Infrastructure 4.01 4.10 +0.09 Finance & Resource Services 2.02 2.38 +0.36 Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership 5.05 5.58 +0.53 Council Overall 3.35 3.74 +0.39 Council Overall Target 2.80 2.80 n/a
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3 Personal Stress/anxiety/depression Family Relationships Change Work & Personal Stress/anxiety Work related Change Demands Please note, this is the presenting issues from all staff who attended the service and includes teachers. 4.5 Stress risk assessments are undertaken to support employees who have identified stress as having an impact on their wellbeing. An action plan is agreed and undertaken at a local level with the specialist support from HR and OD. 4.6 HR and OD work in collaboration with NHS colleagues, to offer safeTalk and ASIST courses on suicide awareness and prevention as well as anxiety awareness courses. We also promote the “Doing Well” service which supports employees with depression and low moods. 4.7 The Physiotherapy service supports employees with Muscoskeletal and Joint Disorder conditions through the council’s Occupational Health Service. The service has continued to be provided throughout the quarter using secure face to face appointments, video conferencing and telephone consultations. Employees will receive an appointment within 10 days, following a referral. 4.8 The overall council’s usage of the Occupational Health Service (OHS) for Q3 was 1013 appointments. OHS provides advice and guidance on the impact of ill health on work and what steps the council and/or the employee may make in order to secure a return to work. _________________________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers - none. Author: Steven Fanning, Principal HR and OD Adviser, Finance and Resources, telephone 07747790211