To consider observations on the impact of Covid-19 and prospects for future reset and recovery on the following issues:
· “Together We Can”
· Community Resilience
· Impact on staff / working from home
The following Cabinet Portfolio Holder is also invited to attend the Board meeting for consideration of this item:
• Councillor Vikki Slade, Leader of the Council
The purpose of this scrutiny is to listen to a wide range of stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of the wider effects of Covid-19 and the impact that this has had on the community and BCP Council Employees.
Minutes:
The Director Organisational Development outlined to the Board that the COuncil had taken public health approach as to where staff should be working. It was noted that staff should be working from home whenever possible and should continue to do so in the future. Many of workforce were able to work successfully from home. However, this did not mean that the offices were closed, they remained open with appropriate covid measures in case. More vulnerable employees were also being supported.
Significant technology support was required including providing over 4500 laptops to enable home working, Microsoft Teams telephony for customer service staff was in place. Exposure to mobile phones would be reduced when Teams telephony was introduced in the next few months. However, it was noted that remote working didn’t suit everyone’s home circumstances but for most staff it had been a welcome feature and will impact how they continue to work in the future.
A staff survey conducted in June received 1900 staff responses. Ninety percent of responses showed that staff either enjoyed, really enjoyed or found working from home ok the main reasons given were the convenience and time to focus without office environments. IT issues were a concern in some cases, but it was unclear if this was related to equipment, broadband, other bandwidth use within the household.
The Council were supporting staff during this period with a number of wellbeing measures, including Counselling for members of staff who require it. The pace of change from a largely traditional office-based environment had been significant. Roll out of ICT had been rapid and vital. Overall the changes had been well received which allowed for greater opportunities in future for a more flexible approach to working.
A Councillor commented that they fully understood the issues members of staff have had working from home as he needed to access the Council buildings due to not having a suitable place to work from home. It was noted that since lockdown there had been difficulty in obtaining timely responses to generic Council email addresses and emails appeared to get trapped in an endless loop. It was noted that with lots of people working from home as individuals there have been challenges, certainly in the transition period. Previously embedded and generally infallible ways of working needed to be changed to ensure they continued to work with the new conditions.
In response to a question it was explained that the previous technology used by the customer contact centre only worked within an office based environment. Microsoft Teams with telephony had been rolled out so that customer contact staff could continue but the system did not work in the same way. The current system could not be used remotely and the Council was working on procuring a new system that could be used with remote working.
A COuncillor asked about those who hadn’t been able to work from home and how they have coped with work and the impact on their mental health. The Corpriate Director advised that most were able to work from home and most were coping well with it. It was noted that the COuncil wanted to live up to expectations from pre-lockdown and pre-covid. Technically there wasn’t a reason why this should have slipped however there were issues which each department and team would need to address. In the last two months there had been a far greater focus on achieving something approaching normality and there was a need to ensure that staff responded respond to contact centre enquiries when raised.
A Councillor asked about the expected efficiencies to be made in relation to jobs required and staff retention post local government reorganisation and post covid to deliver the Council services and whether LGR and would be revisited under these circumstances. Through LGR all savings forecast as deliverable had been made. In relation to the anticipated reduction in headcount that the Council were expected to make. There was a need to reconcile the need to make efficiency savings with the public services needed and the potaential increase in demand stemming from covid. There was a need to reconcile the Medium Term Financial Planfor the next four years over the next three months. The Council will have to come to terms with the situation as the budget cycle is developed for next year.
A Councillor commented that they were pleased to see that the staff survey showed broadly positive experience of officers. However there had been an issue of how members have been consulted throughout this period, particularly with the lack of ability to make phone calls and speak to officers. Most residents had been very understanding but it made the process very difficult when Councillors had been left waiting for 3 or 4 days for email and was also an issue for officers.
A Councillor noted that it was positive that staff had responded to changes and working from home but also noted that there had been some slips in some areas of customer service. The Councillor asked whether the Council had any measurable statistics for staff productivity? It was noted that with a diverse range of services there were some areas where it was more difficult to monitor productivity than others, some would be able to compare data from pre Covid and the current situation. Most areas had been maintaining their customer service levels but issues which occurred had been highlighted. The performance report going to the next Cabinet meeting would provide an indication of where the levels of performance were and there may be areas where performance was not at the level that was anticipated from previous years.
Thanks to the Council Officers for the insight into how the Council as an organisation has been dealing with its response to Covid recovery.