Agenda item

The report was introduced by the Leader of the Council:

502 colleagues took part in the Employee Engagement Survey 2024, constituting 85% of the SKDC workforce. This was an increase on the 74% participation rate reported in 2023, and 42% in 2022.

The survey had been open for 3 weeks to allow colleagues to take part. The Leader noted that SKDC not only intended to act on the feedback of the survey, but that some changes had already been implemented such as allowing the Waste Team to vary their uniform in the summer months.

Whilst the responses had been positive overall, the survey had identified that satisfaction levels regarding pay had decreased.

The Leader praised the work of the Head of Paid Services and the wider SKDC workforce for the progress made and positive outcome of the survey.

The report was continued by the Human Resources Manager:

The survey identified an increase in the Engagement Index over the last 4 years, recorded as 72% for 2024. This was a significant result as it meant that more colleagues within the SKDC workforce found SKDC to be a happy place to work and were more likely to recommend working for SKDC.

The Wellbeing Index had also increased to 66%, an increase of 2% upon the 64% recorded in 2023. The Wellbeing Index gave colleagues the opportunity to voice their feelings about issues such as work-life balance, employee mental wellbeing, and workloads. All 3 issues received positive responses, increasing by 6%, 7%, and 4% respectively.

39% of colleagues also reported engaging with wellbeing events over the last 12 months. Those that didn’t engage cited being too busy or not being aware as the main reasons for not attending.

Not only had the feedback indicated the feelings of the SKDC workforce as a whole, but the full details of the survey held by the HR Department allowed results to be broken down into teams and demographics such as age, gender or service duration. This data can be used to formulate future action plans for improving staff engagement and wellbeing.

The following areas were all reported positively within the responses:

-       Teamwork,

-       Confidence in leadership,

-       Treatment by line managers,

-       Development & progression,

-       Innovation,

-       Hybrid working.

Regarding the work environment, it was noted that the percentage of staff members feeling safe at work had slightly decreased by one percent but this was still a highly positive response at 86% of respondents. 

The Human Resources Manager highlighted that the People Panel and Senior Leadership Team were being engaged in the discussions regarding the results.

During discussion, Members raised the following:

The highly positive responses were praised, particularly regarding innovation.

Members discussed the responses regarding bullying and harassment in the workplace over the last 12 months. 86% of respondents did not report receiving any instances of bullying or harassment. 7% of respondents were neutral in their response and 6% responded negatively. Members of the committee raised concerns that 6% of those surveyed did respond that they had been bullied or harassed and 8% felt neutral rather than positive about this aspect of their workplace.    

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED to note the findings of the survey.