Agenda item

The Head of Human Resources presented the annual HR Assurance Report – Health and Wellbeing.

 

The aim of the report was to provide the Corporate Affairs and Audit Committee with an annual review of the corporate approach to the management of Health and Wellbeing within the Council, as well as details of the actions for the year ahead.

 

The previous report was postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic and resources were re-allocated to support staff during that difficult period. However, a presentation was provided to Corporate Affairs and Audit Committee in September 2020 to update on actions throughout the pandemic.

 

The Council currently offered the following health and wellbeing services to employees:

 

·        Employee Assistance Programme – a telephone access service that

            provided counselling support, legal and financial information, health advice             and access to more online resources, as well as the ability to speak in             confidence to a third party.

·        Face to Face Counselling – accessed via a manager and a completely confidential service currently provided by Alliance Psychological Services. This service was introduced in the second half of the year in response to the pandemic.

·        MRI scanning – provided if recommended by GP or Specialist Medical Practitioner and there was undue delay via the NHS. This service was currently provided by Alliance Medical.

·        Occupational Health Services - currently delivered by Medacs. The majority of appointments have been provided over the telephone due to the pandemic but face-to-face appointments were available when required.

·        Annual Flu Vaccination programme which targeted  front-line workers in Adult

            Social Care and Children’s Services.

 

The planned Health and Wellbeing activities in 2020/21 were significantly disrupted and were adapted to deal with restrictions imposed by the pandemic.  These activities included:

 

·        Flu vaccines - 222 council employees were vaccinated and 274 staff from maintained schools.

·        75 trained Mental Health First Aiders continued to support fellow employees and managers offering a listening and signposting service in the workplace.

·        One day Mental Health First Aid training had to be suspended and the North East Better Health At Work ‘Maintaining Excellence’ assessment deferred.

·        Health Champions/Advocates continued to provide support as best they could under the pandemic restrictions. The Council currently had a network of 25 Health Advocates.

·        Employee Induction converted to online and the HR team continued to attend (Market Place events) alongside MHFA and Health Advocates/ Champions to share support available with new employees.

·        Greater use was made of internal Employee Facebook page to promote services to staff.

 

 

 

 

In recognition of the impending mental health crisis referred to by health professionals, funding had been secured for a full time HR Business Partner for 12 months. The post would focus specifically on the health and wellbeing of staff, deal with the predicted fallout of mental health issues due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, and develop a longer-term strategy for ongoing support.

 

The post holder would assess and research potential impacts, working with staff and managers, design/deliver/commission appropriate services working with existing partners, and develop new relationships.  Digital opportunities for different types of longer-term support would be explored and a culture of wellbeing in the organisation would be developed, including reviewing the Council’s current accreditations.  Details of the person specification for the post were shared with the Committee.  HR was in the process of shortlisting applicants.

 

A further report with more detailed actions be presented to the Corporate Affairs and Audit Committee once the new post was appointed to and an assessment of need had been carried out.

 

It was confirmed that the Heads of HR of the Tees Valley Authorities met as a group and worked collaboratively to share health and well-being learning and other opportunities.

 

Responding to a question regarding the re-occupation of the Civic Centre, the Head of HR explained that it was likely that there would be a phased approach to bringing staff back and there would be a hybrid working situation.  Managers and Employees would contribute their ideas through surveys.   There would be a re-induction module and part of that would be a walk-through of the building to show people the sanitising stations, floor markings, and social distancing measures.

 

AGREED that the information provided was received and noted.