This report provides a year end summary of sickness absence for 2017/18. Cabinet notes and endorses the approach to absence management.

Transcription

1 NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL Cabinet 29 May 2018 Title: Purpose: Recommendation: Maximising Attendance Performance 2017/18 Summary This report provides a year end summary of sickness absence for 2017/18. Cabinet notes and endorses the approach to absence management. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 This report provides a summary and analysis of the sickness absence figures for 2017/ Background 2.1 The Council target for maximising attendance performance has been set at 7.53 days lost per FTE for 2017/18. The year-end outrun was The table below shows the days lost per FTE by Directorate for the year against respective annual targets. 2016/ /18 Difference Days Days Lost per FTE Lost per FTE Actual Target Variance Actual Target Variance 16/17 17/18 Democratic Services Economy & Communities Education & Youth Employ Finance & Corp Support HSCP Place North Ayrshire Total

2 2.3 The Council continues to support employees back to work and reduce sickness absence through; - Absence analysis to identify trends to enable targeted initiatives to be delivered - Stress management support. o Work-Life balance. o Employee counselling. o Financial wellbeing support. o Employee shadowing opportunities to ensure cover is available during periods of absence - Case management discussions with Occupational Health and Service Managers to have a joint approach to support individual employees. - Healthy working lives initiatives. o Workwell. o Livewell. o Well-being Wednesday drop in sessions. - HR professional support, such as attendance at meetings to help manage cases consistently and effectively. - Employee counselling via Place 2 Be (Third Sector Organisation), currently supporting six primary schools. - Occupational Health Service providing a programme of mini health checks. - On-Site physiotherapy sessions. o Promotion of physiotherapy as a preventative measure rather than a cure. o Employees encouraged to self-refer for minor issues before they escalate to absences. - Implementation of a Bereavement Leave Scheme o Paid time off o Support for bereaved employees 2.4 The performance indicator detailed below is a positive measure which shows the percentage of staff by directorate who were not off sick during 2017/18. Staff With No Sickness 2016/ /18 Difference Democratic Services 63% 68% 5% Economy & Communities 54% 60% 6% Education & Youth Employ 53% 57% 4% Finance & Corp Support 53% 48% -5% Health & Social Care 40% 38% -2% Place 54% 55% 1% North Ayrshire Total 50% 52% 2%

3 2.5 The following table shows the pay costs (Excluding employers on-costs) for sickness absence in 2017/18 Quarter 2016/17 Cost 2017/18 Cost Difference Q1 Apr - Jun 1,640,944 1,463, ,793 Q2 Jul - Sep 1,355,586 1,234, ,428 Q3 Oct - Dec 1,605,680 1,773, ,755 Q4 Jan - Mar 1,802,878 1,856,296 53,418 North Ayrshire Total 6,405,088 6,327,040-78, Duration Profile and Absence Trend The table below details the duration and frequency of absence during 2017/18: Directorate Sick FTE Occurrences Avg days taken Days taken Democratic Services Economy & Communities ,933 Education & Youth Employment 1, , ,280 Finance & Corporate Support ,810 Health & Social Care 1, , ,478 Place , ,739 North Ayrshire Total 4, , ,540

4 2.7 The chart below profiles the duration of absence between April 2017 and March 2018, showing the number of occurrences in terms of days taken. Absence Occurrences by Duration 2017/ days days days days days 9 days 8 days 7 days 6 days 5 days 4 days 3 days 2 days 1 day Occurrences 2.8 Workforce Absence Profile The following shows the sickness absence for 2017/18 by employee type. Employee Type Sick FTE Occurrences Avg days taken Days taken APT&C General 2, , ,372 Manual Worker 1, , ,480 Teacher ,688 North Ayrshire Total 4, , ,540

5 2.9 The table below details sickness absence by gender for 2017/18 Gender Headcount Overall FTE Sick FTE Occurrences Average days taken Days taken in period Ratio of Occurrences to Headcount Ratio of Days taken to FTE Female 5,063 4, , , , Male 1,734 1, , , , Total 6,797 5,723 4, , , Female employees display a higher ratio of occurrences and higher ratio of days taken compared to male employees, meaning they have more frequent sickness absences per headcount and more days taken per FTE The following shows sickness absence grouped by age for 2017/18 Ratio of Occurrences to Council Headcount Ratio of Days taken to Council FTE Age Group Sick FTE Occurrences Average days taken Days taken in period Under , , , , , , , , , , and over Total 4, , , The ratio of days taken compared to the FTE for the older age groups is very high which suggests that older employees tend to take more sickness days, however the Under 20 age group has a high ratio of occurrences which means younger employees have more frequent sickness absences.

6 2.11 Reasons for Absence The table below plots sickness absence for 2017/18 by top 10 reasons. Top 10 Reasons for Sickness Absence 2017/18 Category Sick FTE Occurrences Average days taken Days Taken in Period % of Total Musculo/Skeletal , % Stress/Anxiety , % Surgical Procedure , % Gastro Intestinal , % Viral , % Work Related Stress , % Bereavement , % Depression , % ENT/Eyes , % Chest/Lung , % Total 4, , , % The top 10 reasons are consistent with the previous year with 9 out of the 10 remaining (Depression was previously not a top 10 reason) and the top 4 remaining in the same order Gender Ratio The table below provides a breakdown by gender of the ratio of days taken to employee gender FTE within the 2017/18 period for the principal causes of sickness absence. Category Female Male Musculo/Skeletal Stress/Anxiety Surgical Procedure Gastro Intestinal Viral Work Related Stress Bereavement Depression ENT/Eyes Chest/Lung This displays that Musculo/Skeletal was the highest reason for sickness days per FTE for both Males and Females.

7 2.13 Trend The following plots the trend of FTE days taken by quarter for those causes that account for the most sickness absence days during 2017/18. A green marker highlights a decrease from the previous quarter whereas a red marker indicates that there has been an increase. 2016/ /18 Category Q1 Apr-Jun Q2 Jul-Sep Q3 Oct-Dec Q4 Jan-Mar Q1 Apr-Jun Q2 Jul-Sep Q3 Oct-Dec Q4 Jan-Mar Musculo/Skeletal 3,492 2,966 2,967 2,704 2,361 2,523 2,913 2,809 Stress/Anxiety 2,326 1,850 2,342 2,728 2,407 1,982 2,881 2,341 Surgical Procedure 1,392 1,024 1,303 1,540 1,157 1,015 1,242 1,464 Gastro Intestinal ,082 1, ,198 1,027 Viral , ,463 Work Related Stress Bereavement Depression ENT/Eyes Chest/Lung Proposals 3.1 Services should continue to utilise occupational health services, where required and seek advice from HR to ensure that an approach of early intervention is taken where employees are on long term sickness absence. 3.2 The Council continues to be proactive in its approach to sickness absence with Occupational health available before sickness absences occur as a preventative measure. The Council also promotes a range of Health and Wellbeing initiatives such as the Livewell and Workwell groups.

8 4. Implications Financial: Human Resources: Legal: Equality: Children and Young People: Environmental & Sustainability: Key Priorities: Community Benefits: Sickness absence presents a cost to the Council, both in terms of direct costs of providing for those absence and in lost work days resulting in reduced or delayed service delivery. Sickness absence has a detrimental effect on service delivery and impacts on work volume across the workforce. 5. Consultation 5.1 Throughout the year, services are provided with regular Maximising Attendance information. Laura Friel Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Support) For further information please contact Jackie Hamilton, Senior Manager Employee Services on Background Papers N/A

9 Maximising Attendance Performance 2017/18 Summary Higher ratio of occurrences amongst younger employees Higher ratio of days taken amongst older employees 52% Education & Youth Employment have achieved their target for 2017/18 Of employees had no sickness during, this is an increase of 2% from 2016/17 Female employees have a higher ratio of occurrences and days taken Male employees have longer spells of absence on average The cost of sickness absence has decreased by 78,048 since 2016/17 to 6,327,040 APT&C Employees average longer spells of sickness at 10.8 days, consistent with 2016/17 + 2,476 Musculo/Skeletal is the leading cause of sickness absence Decrease in total days taken Comparison to 2016/17 10 Decrease in total occurrences 0.4 Decrease in avg. days Taken per occurrence