Minutes for Personnel Committee meeting, Jan 25 2010, 6.00PM official page

 (a) To receive the Part I minutes of the Personnel Committee held on 2 November 2009

 (b) To receive the minutes of the Joint Staff Consultative Group held on 2 November 2009

(a)               The part I minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 November 2009 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

(b)               The minutes of a meeting of the Joint Staff Consultative Group held on 2 November 2009 were received.  The Committee noted that these minutes had been accepted at the Joint Staff Consultative Group meeting held earlier in the day.

To consider the report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive on the revised Disciplinary and Grievance Procedure to be included in the Council’s A-Z manual of Policies and Procedures. 

Members noted that: -

¨      The Council currently had separate procedures for Disciplinary matters and for the bringing forward of Grievances by staff. In addition, the Arbitration and Conciliation Service ACAS had issued new guidance in April 2009 in the form of a Code of Practice which sat alongside advice on Mediation in the event of employment disputes. Whilst the Code was not statutory, Employment Tribunals take it into account when judging cases.

¨      The suggested new arrangements were attached as Appendix 1 to the report covering both Disciplinary and Grievance matters in a single procedure document and was set out as follows: -

v                 Part A :      Principles applying to Disciplinary and Grievance issues

v                 Part B :      Disciplinary Matters

v                 Part C :      Grievance Complaints

v                 Part D :      Appeals

v                 Appendix :  Procedural guidance for Disciplinary and Grievance issues

which drew heavily on the existing arrangements but had been updated for modern practice and simplified wherever possible – the existing Grievance Procedure in particular was very complex.

¨       This procedure had been the subject of consultation with staff (4 December 2009 – 6 January 2010) and the Staff Side had been invited to put forward any comments on behalf of staff with any comments received incorporated into the procedures – no comments were received during the consultation period; and was in accordance with the ACAS Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures Code of Practice (April 2009 edition).

¨      The new Procedure would be a change to Conditions and would form part of each employee’s contract of Employment.

Members asked a number of questions about detailed aspects, sought clarifications and explanations on certain issues concerning Part C and requested that a minor amendment be made to section 1 bullet point 5 which would now read as follows: -

Where the issue is being dealt with under the Whistleblowing procedure, a separate procedure would apply.

To consider the report of the Director of Services

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Services on: -

·         the commission scheme for the golf shop assistants on permanent contracts for the 2009/10 financial year

·         approval for the ongoing continuation of the golf shop commission scheme with quarterly targets to be agreed by the Director of Services

·         approval for the introduction of an annual bonus scheme relating to green fee income to be introduced for all permanent professional shop staff regularly based at Farnham Park Golf Course.

From the report it was noted that: -

·         Golf Shop Sales Commission

¨       The amount of commission payable to staff was determined each quarter by golf shop staff meeting a quarterly profit target. Once this target was reached, staff received 50% of any profit above a pre-determined base rate which was slightly lower than the target.  The total commission payable to each staff member was then calculated in line with their individual turnover figures

¨       The profit targets for 2009/10 were broken down into quarters based upon previous year’s sales figures

¨       The commission scheme has had a positive impact on the motivation of golf shop staff since its introduction, with profit margins and actual profit increasing in both 2007/8 and 2008/9

¨       If the commission scheme were to be removed, motivation of staff at the golf shop was likely to decrease sharply.  It was essential to maintain motivation to ensure that staff continued to drive sales and achieve the Council’s income targets.  If the golf staff were to achieve their targets, the Council would earn £31,300, which would result in £1,600 for staff to share and the Council retaining £29,700.  The Council had budgeted for profit of £30,000 from golf sales in 2010/11, and these targets therefore protect the Council’s income to a high degree whilst still providing realistic and achievable goals.  It was essential that targets remain achievable to ensure staff did not become de-motivated.  A 50% share of any profit over the target would be paid out as commission, providing further incentives to staff to continue their sales drive once the target had been achieved, as well as providing enhanced income to the Council.

·         Green Fee Target Bonus

¨       Green fees provided the main income stream at Farnham Park Golf Course; however this was vulnerable to external events such as inclement weather, major sporting events, and the effects of the current economic climate.  Green fee income had declined significantly over the past six years,

¨       The golf shop sales commission scheme, showed the positive impact that financial incentives could have on staff.  It was proposed that a further incentive scheme be introduced for all permanent professional shop staff who work regularly at Farnham Park Golf Course.  This would be paid out upon green fee income reaching a set level.  The proposed scheme would provide a lump sum of £6,000 to be shared equally between Farnham Park Golf Course professional shop staff on permanent contracts upon reaching a set target of £480,000 in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To receive an oral update report from the Chief Executive

The Committee considered an oral update on Pathfinder - Support Services Project, from the Chief Executive

·         The Chief Executive made the following comments on Support Services Project: -

Ø             Aylesbury Vale DC, Wycombe DC and Bucks/MK Fire and Rescue Authority – had pulled out of the project before completion of the tender process;

Ø             Buckinghamshire CC and SBDC, the two remaining councils, could not continue without the other partners because the tenders were not valued under the procurement rules and the project was aborted;

Ø             Alternatives to the project would be looked at to try to deliver the same level of savings leading to additional uncertainly for those involved.

To note the report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive setting out the staff turnover within the Council, including details of specific recruitment activity; updates on: - absence statistics, particularly relating to working days lost due to sickness; Health and Safety issues and key projects within the Section.

Members noted that the report covered: -

·        Leavers October 2009 – December 2009 (including reasons for leaving)

·        Advertisements placed over the same period

·        Sickness days lost covering the period from January 2005 until December 2009 with long term sickness having an impact on the figures

(The months from October 2009 – December 2009 were also represented by graphs showing levels of sickness by unit, bar, pie charts and tables)

·        recorded accidents and incidents for July to end of December 2009

·        Due to the reduced human resources within the Personnel Section projects were being progressed as speedily as could be achieved and would be reported on as appropriate to future meetings: -

¨      Management Information (incl. Absence Monitoring) Development - ongoing

¨      Management Development Programme – evaluation to be carried out with possible further training requirements identified

¨      IIP Diagnostic Review – actions from this were being finalised in readiness for IIP Accreditation Assessment due this year.  The Council had been advised that there would be a different Assessor this time

¨      Occupational Health Contract – a new contract was in place which was being monitored.  An Employee Assistance Programme was being considered for implementation – sourcing supplier and contractual details

¨      HR Strategy – drafted – ongoing

¨      Various policies and procedures were being reviewed including the sickness absence policy with the  following being looked into: -

o pattern of sickness including days of the week (Fri/Mon), adjacent to holidays

o reason for absence – identify issues

            RESOLVED that the report be noted

To note the report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive on the findings from the latest Staff Opinion Survey held in December 2009.

The Council had carried out Staff Opinion Surveys for many years although last year was not surveyed and the previous year was in shortened form. New for this year was a section relating to Staff Health and Wellbeing which is intended to provide an indicator to the Council of the general health of its workforce and to take any action needed to assist.

The attached appendix represented a summary of replies from the Survey and also showed comparisons with recent surveys with the latest survey achieving a 55% response rate.

Overall the results from respondents were positive and encouraging with: -

¨      92.9% of Staff clear about how their job related to the service unit

¨      82.4% of Staff clear about how the work of their service unit contributed   to the Councils aims

¨      88.3% of Staff liked their job and enjoy working at the Council

¨      74.2% of Staff had a positive view of the Council as an employer

¨      Any comments made by staff had been put in part II as they contained in some cases comments of personal issues.

There were several areas of concern including: - pressure at work, and communication which would be looked into.

After considering all the details available including all the various comments /points contained in the Part II report it was

RESOLVED that: -

(1)   feedback from the Joint Staff Consultative Group and Personnel Committee regarding the initial report be received and formulated into an Action Plan;

(2)    Action Plan be agreed with the Staff Side with a report to the next Personnel Committee (12 April) for consideration prior to being implemented.

Members noted that this would be held on Monday 12 April 2010

The Chairman to move the following resolution: -

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

RESOLVED that under Section 100.A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act

To receive the Part II minutes of the Personnel Committee held on 2 November 2009

(Para 1 and 3 because of information relating to an individual and also the financial or business affairs of a particular person)

Arising from the minutes: -

[21 Review of Recruitment and Retention Schemes for Building Control and Development Management - Part II]

It was noted by Members that a paper was out for consultation with affected staff with any feedback / comments received at the end of the consultation period would be incorporated into the report and presented to the next Personnel Committee for consideration.

The part II minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 November 2009 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To note / consider the information

(Para 1 and 3 because of information relating to an individual and also the financial or business affairs of a particular person)

The Committee noted the comments from the 2009 Staff Survey.

The meeting having commenced at 6.00 p.m. terminated at 6.43 p.m.