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Strategic Workforce Plan 2018 – 2023

CONTENTS Pg. 1. Introduction 1 2. Our Strategic Priorities 2 3. Our Future Workforce 3 - 6 4. Analysis of Future Needs 7 - 9 5 Our Plan to Achieve the Vision 10 - 13 6. Our Current Workforce Analysis 14 - 26 Appendix A – Children, Communities & Enterprise 27 – 29 Appendix B - Localities & Infrastructure 30 – 31 Appendix C - Occupational Segregation & Pay Information 32 – 33 Appendix D - Strategic Workforce Plan Action 34 - 38

1. Introduction

“Stirling a place to thrive by being bold and ambitious, delivering

quality services with customer focus, tailored to the different needs

of our communities. Our people are passionate about what they do

in making a difference”

- Kristine Johnson, Chief HR and OD Officer

At Stirling Council we are proud of our people, delivering a wide variety of services and

support to the citizens of our urban and geographically dispersed rural communities.

We face financial challenge like every other Local Authority. Our success depends on

our talented people and in transforming our organisation we are able to face the current

and future challenges in a planned and organised manner. Pace and ambition remain

critical if we are to achieve our goals of a bold, innovative and creative workforce that

works locally to support thriving communities and drives inclusive growth.

Local authorities across the country have seen their workforce reduce in recent years,

and Stirling Council is no exception. Our staff continue to adapt and work with our

partners to deliver quality and improving services, and we have driven forward

significant transformation over the past decade.

This Strategic Workforce Plan - a refreshed version of the 2017-18 plan - is strategically

aligned to the Council’s Five Year Business Plan and the priorities set by the

Administration. The Plan captures the implications of the Council’s ongoing process of

transformation, ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place,

at the right time. Though working together, Stirling will be achieving, prosperous,

resilience and healthy.

We thank all of our people for their contribution and commitment to the work they do,

and for everything we have achieved as one large team. Together we look forward to

the exciting opportunities ahead.

Kristine Johnson Stirling Council Chief Officer Human Resources & Organisational Development

2. Our Strategic Priorities

A new approach to workforce planning was implemented this year, following an Internal

Audit review and emerging good practice from Audit Scotland and Accounts

Commission reports. The following strategic workforce priorities are proposed for the

period 2018 to 2023:

Resilience - Strengthen the linkage between business, financial and strategic workforce planning.

o Increasing our ability to analyse workforce data and report.

o All service areas develop a Workforce Plan, monitor and review.

Achieving - Develop our customer-focused, innovative, high performance

culture.

o Leaders of the future programme & masterclasses.

o ‘The Lens’ entrepreneur programme.

o Provide development opportunities for employees to increase their skills,

develop their careers.

o Engagement programme creating a working environment where everyone can participate and have a rewarding and enjoyable working life.

Healthy - Promotion of a health, safety and wellbeing culture.

o Attendance management levels equate to upper quartile performance

standards.

o Training opportunities to keep employees safe at work.

o Provision of health surveillance, physiotherapy, employee counselling

and flu vaccination programmes to keep employees well.

Prosperous - Ensure that the Council’s status as an ‘employer of choice’

is enhanced focusing on increasing equality and diversity of the workforce.

o Increase apprentice, graduate and talent management opportunities, to help everyone to develop skills and move towards their life and career goals.

o Gender pay gap remains below 1%

o Gender balance of employees in senior roles. o Living Wage Accreditation Employer.

Delivering on these priorities will contribute significantly to fulfilling the Five Year

Business Plan aspiration to have a flexible, skilled and motivated workforce. Our

people will operate effectively if they feel valued, have a clear role to play and can see

the results of their efforts.

3. Our Future Workforce ‘The Council Workforce of Tomorrow’ report (December 2016, New Local Government

Network and the Local Government Association) highlights the most recent

independent research outlining the strengths and weaknesses in the existing workforce

culture, emphasising the need for different management and leadership. This includes a

change to a leadership and workforce culture of empowerment, flexibility and

innovation, and being more outward-facing. To be successful in the next decade, our

workforce will need to look ahead and keep pace with a rapidly changing landscape of

business transformation and skill requirements. We must be constantly alert to the

changing environment and changing expectations of our customers and adapt our

strategic workforce planning and development strategies accordingly.

3.1 What the organisation of the future will look like

An organisation that:

Values and supports colleagues who are clear about what is expected of them,

can see the results of their efforts, and learn from each other.

Has the skills, capacity and behaviours to deliver a range of high quality

services that meet the growing expectations of customers.

Has high expectations that its managers will manage in an effective and flexible

way, responding quickly to change.

Has a ‘high performance’ culture supported by robust performance management

systems and efficient processes.

Is customer focused and responsive to customer needs.

Embraces digital opportunities to provide modern and efficient services,

complements job roles, supports flexible working and more effective

communication.

Effectively and productively engages with a wide range of stakeholders.

Works locally and makes a difference as a Corporate Parent for our young

people we are responsible.

Is widely regarded as an ‘employer of choice’ supporting, motivating and

engaging its workforce through periods of significant change.

Increases in diversity, ensuring employee profile is reflective of the communities.

Engages widely with employees and trades unions.

3.2 What the manager/employee of the future will look like In considering ‘The 21st Century Public Servant’ research (Needham & Mangan), our

people will need to develop the following characteristics:

Engage with citizens in a way that expresses their shared humanity and pooled

expertise.

Are recruited and rewarded for generic skills as well as technical expertise.

Builds a career which is fluid across sectors and services.

Combines an ethos of locality with an understanding of commerciality.

Rethinks public services to enable them to survive in times of austerity.

Fluid and supportive rather than fragmented and controlling.

Rejects heroic leadership in favour of distributed and collaborative models.

Routed in a locality which frames a sense of loyalty and identity.

Reflects on practice and learns from others.

We will need managers and employees who:

Demonstrate more than technical expertise, skilled to solve problems creatively.

Meet unexpected situations with quick thinking and resourcefulness.

Are open and responsive to our customers and communities, shaping our

services around their needs.

Evolve their skills to meet demands of a technology-driven workplace.

Use new technology tools to engage and persuade their audiences.

Develop strategies for engaging and motivating dispersed employees.

Are resilient with a solution driven mind-set.

Are adaptable/flexible and work with colleagues across the Council.

Work closely with our partners to deliver our key outcomes.

Have well-developed team working/collaboration skills, with the ability to assess

the emotions of those around them - vital for building relationships of trust.

Continually reassess the skills they need and quickly identify the right resources

to develop and update these skills.

Are risk aware, not risk averse.

Our vision on the next page brings together what we want to achieve as a Council and

how we will work to achieve these priorities.

q1`

Our Vision: A place to thrive by being bold, ambitious, delivering quality services with customer focus, tailored to the different needs of our communities

The way we work

Be Community Led Design and deliver services that respond to the needs and priorities of our communities, empowering them to play a greater role in service delivery.

Be Open and Responsive Engage and communicate effectively and meaningfully with communities, employees & partners.

Be Risk Aware: Not Risk Averse Take innovative and new approaches to service delivery, being aware of risks rather than being risk averse.

Be a Learning Council Work with and learn from each other and our partners, sharing knowledge and best practice to meet current and future challenges.

Be One Council: One Team Address service provision in a collaborative manner, with no artificial or perceived boundaries.

Our Shared Behaviours

Manage Own Performance

Proud to do a great job for

Stirling

Communicate

Effectively & Work with Others

We work across boundaries to get

the job done

Lead and Engage We lead at every

level of the Council

Forward Thinking We focus on

solutions, not problems

Customer Focused

We’re passionate

about doing our very best for our

customers

ACHIEVING PROSPEROUS RESILIENCE HEALTHY

3.3 How employees will work/do business Employees of the future will increasingly be required to use mobile technology to

support flexible, new ways of working, including:

Smart phones, teleconferencing and video conferencing.

Accessing and sharing office applications, files, emails, the intranet and internet

when working from home or remotely.

Online meeting facilities and video calls.

Access development activity and employee benefits information from their own device.

The Strategic Workforce Plan will align to the Council’s Information Technology

Strategy. Our commitment is to ensure our development programme and the learning

opportunities made available support employees to develop their skills for the future.

Over the past 7 months there have been 14,000 logins to the learning system. We also

recognise the importance of face to face opportunities with 4,100 places on learning

events attended and 3 ‘huddle’ events last year attended by 115 team leaders and

managers.

4. Analysis of Future Needs There will be significant change over the next five years that will impact the way the

Council operates. These changes will be driven by financial, policy, legislative and

demographic factors.

4.1 New skills to meet organisational goals Changing customer expectations and requirements, together with technology, will

impact on the nature of jobs. Employees will need to be flexible and adaptable and

ensure their skills and knowledge develop for the changing environment ahead, to

ensure the outcomes the Council seek to achieve are delivered. As a Learning

Organisation we will develop employees to their full potential.

The skills identified for meeting these goals include developing skills and confidence in:

Managing performance, embedding the Shared Behaviours and giving and receiving feedback.

Project management including negotiating and influencing.

Developing business cases, Commercial acumen and Financial Management.

Leading, managing change and facilitation skills.

IT skills to better understand the business to produce solutions.

Customer Service skills, Creative thinking/problem solving.

Intrapreneurship skills.

During the autumn of 2017 ‘The Lens’ programme was introduced, encouraging

employees to develop their own ideas into business cases and to present this to a

panel of peers who will select a winner who will receive investment to implement their

idea. We are excited and looking forward to the Final of this first programme which will

be held in March 2018.

A leadership programme was launched in December 2017 with 26 participants, our

potential Leaders of the future who will undergo a programme of development over the

next 6 months. The programme includes 360 degree feedback and the assignment of

a mentor, all of which will provide the enthusiastic participants with the skills for the

future.

4.2 Focus on cultural fit as well as technical skills, having the right behaviours/attitudes

While ensuring that our workforce has the right level of ‘technical’ skills to enable us to

achieve our organisational outcomes and priorities, it is even more crucial that we

employ people with the right motivational and cultural fit (i.e. in tune with our values).

This will be an essential contributor to organisational success and applies at the

recruitment stage and to our existing workforce.

Our conversations with our staff will include discussions around our shared behaviours

and attitudes we expect from all when performing their jobs. This requires managers to

review employees’ performance against those behaviours, which have been developed

by staff, for staff, and are detailed in the diagram on page 7.

The behaviours have been in place for two years and will be refreshed over the next

year, with a view to further embedding and increasing the impact of these behaviours.

We seek to create an environment where our employees are our ambassadors.

4.3 Future workforce supply and demand The Council has been creative in mitigating the effects of resource shortfalls in the past

and a similar degree of creativity will be required in the future (e.g. greater cross sector

collaboration with partners). Some vacancies are notably harder to fill than others,

including:

Grade 1 positions in rural areas.

Skilled trades & engineers.

Accountants & procurement specialists.

Head teachers & some teaching posts.

Social workers & carers.

The reason behind these recruitment difficulties may include a skills gap at national or

local level and/or insufficient quality of supply. Recruitment and retention strategies

such as job re-design are being developed to address these difficulties.

A new scheme has been introduced ‘Learn to Teach’ providing employees with the

opportunity to undertake training, mainly in their own time, towards obtaining a

Teaching Qualification. Twelve colleagues commenced the programme this year.

The following charts shows both headcount and employee numbers over the past ten

years. With further constraints on the Council budget it is projected that employee

numbers will continue to fall for the foreseeable future. What we have seen in the past

year, is an increase in part-time positions which sees the headcount rise but the FTE

reduce. Staffing watch figures as shown below are a statutory performance indicator

and include individuals who have been working supply. Section 6.1 provides actual

headcount and FTE of employees who have contracted hours.

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Stirling Council Staff Watch Yearly Averages 2007‐ 2017

Ave Headcount

5. Our Plan to Achieve the Vision To achieve the Council’s vision and priorities, it is vital that our workforce is more

diverse, flexible, skilled, engaged and motivated than ever before. We need to build on

the strategies that we have already put in place to align our workforce requirements

directly to the Council’s Five-Year Business Plan and the Administration’s Priorities

5.1 How we will develop the skills and capacity of our workforce

By continuing to invest in the development of people to enhance their skills.

Promoting the Shared Behaviours through conversations with employees.

Actively planning for succession, to identify our managers and leaders of the

future and ensure that they are ready and capable for the change in demands.

Providing support for employees in planning and managing their careers.

Ensuring development plans reflect organisational and individual needs.

Offering employees a range of in-house programmes and learning opportunities based on the learning and development priorities identified by the services.

Creating opportunities for individuals to work in new areas to broaden their skills and experience.

Continuing to offer powerful leadership development opportunities for managers.

Designing and delivering Modern Apprenticeships, and continuing the mentoring scheme.

Identifying opportunities for Graduates through ‘Adopt an Intern’ and the Council scheme, while working with our local University and College.

By developing ‘Growing our Own’ initiatives as a means of addressing recruitment and retention problems.

Continuing to work jointly with partners through strategic partnerships.

5.2 How we will continue to develop the organisation

By promoting a culture and leadership style that reflects organisational values.

Ensuring that a high-performance culture is embedded within the organisation and that it delivers ongoing improvements in quality and efficiency.

Empowering employees to take direct responsibility for responding to the needs of our customers quickly and effectively without restrictions caused by unnecessary bureaucracy.

Ensuring that the culture changes required for increased use of new technology are embedded in the organisation.

Ensuring that the organisation’s structures are designed to cope with changes.

Introducing new systems and technology to enable transformation and smarter performance.

Providing managers with planning tools that support them more practically in their strategic workforce planning.

5.3 How we will resource and attract ‘top’ talent to the organisation

By developing smarter recruitment and retention strategies to address current

and future hotspots.

Increasing use of digital recruitment strategies to build a relationship with potential staff and convey the benefits of working for the organisation.

Strengthening the organisation’s reputation by promoting our values and achievements via a range of media sources. This will help retain our position as an ‘employer of choice’.

Ensuring we employ people who display our Shared Behaviours with the right motivational and cultural fit, as well as having the right ‘technical skills.’

Exploring the creative use of graduate, apprenticeship and trainee schemes.

Continuing to implement the new recruitment framework, referred to as ‘Talent Resourcing,’ which is designed to attract new talent into the organisation, particularly at a graduate and school leaver level. This includes the following elements:

Adopt an Intern – graduate level paid internship providing the opportunity to gain work experience in their relevant field of interest.

Corporate Parenting Internships – entry level paid internship for those who have been looked after children (i.e. children in the care of Stirling Council).

Modern apprenticeships – school leavers and providing paid work

experience and development (to unemployed 18-24 year olds).

Focussing on non-financial benefits when looking to attract staff.

Re-evaluating the skill set needed when replacing staff who leave, thereby ensuring that we secure the skills we need.

Ensuring employees have the opportunity to develop their skills and experience.

Stirling Council was recognised in 2014 by the Ministry of Defence and presented

with a Silver Award for demonstrating our support to the Reserve Forces, this was

re-awarded in 2017 in recognition of our on-going work in this area. Our HR team

reached the final of the 2016 S1 Jobs HR Team of the Year awards, and reached

the longleet of the 2016 Guardian Public Service Awards in respect of Health and

Wellbeing approaches. In 2017 our Wellbeing Strategy was a finalist in the Engage

Awards.

5.4 How we will pay and reward our workforce To maintain our reputation as a good employer and an employer of choice, we will:

Ensure pay and reward systems are equal pay compliant by undertaking and reporting an annual equal pay audit.

Develop measures to recognise exceptional performance, for example, the Leading Lights Awards will relaunch in 2018.

Auto-enrol all eligible employees into the pension scheme, supporting the workforce to make sufficient pension provision for when they retire.

Support employees who may be interested to phase into retirement through the flexible retirement scheme.

Continue to promote our Employee Benefits scheme, which provides salary sacrifice schemes including Bike to Work Scheme, NCP Car Parking, and a variety of other offers and discounts.

5.5 How we will engage with the workforce

By involving employees in decisions which affect them, input ideas, and undertaking a staff survey during 2018.

Providing a comprehensive development programme which encourages employees to develop their potential.

Recruiting and developing employees who match our Shared Behaviours.

Increasing the number of communication methods (i.e. social media/newsletter).

5.6 How we will further consolidate a pro-active health, safety and wellbeing culture

We will ensure that visible leadership and commitment promotes and enforces a

positive health and safety culture within the organisation. A focus on behavioural

safety will assist in reducing unsafe behaviours in the workplace while improving

employee engagement. To further embed a positive health and safety culture,

particular attention will be given to methods of control within the organisation/control of

service delivery; means of securing co-operation between individuals, safety reps and

groups; methods of communication throughout the organisation and competence of

individuals.

By promoting a continued combined proactive and reactive approach to ensure

maximum impact in supporting and further enhancing health and safety performance

and resource benefits. The promotion and achievement of safe and healthy conditions

will be assisted through the improved engagement of employees, trades unions and

Elected Members.

6. Our Current Workforce Analysis In planning for the workforce of the future it is important to take stock of the

composition of the current workforce, how it is managed and to be aware of significant

underlying trends. The following factors are regarded as the most significant.

6.1 Workforce Profile Our workforce mirrors the complexity and diversity of the services we provide. We

have a range of employment types including full-time, part-time, job- share, fixed-term

and term-time. In addition, there are individuals who work for the Council on an

irregular basis including reliefs, casuals and supply teachers.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that over 100 individuals have more

than one contract with the Council (some have multi-contracts, although each one

totals a relatively small number of hours). Therefore, quantifying the workforce with

any degree of accuracy and consistency can be as complicated as the workforce itself.

Nevertheless, using a ‘snap shot’ position derived from the HR/Payroll system, the

Council employs 4,071 individuals on contracted hours (an increase of 160 from the

previous year), however the full-time equivalent of 3,310 employees is a reduction of

63 FTE from last year. Including supply/casual labour as at January 2018, there are

4,747 people recorded on the payroll system.

Other profile data includes the fact that:

85.8% of employees have a permanent contract which is an increase from 71%

last year.

Most highly populated non-teaching pay grade is Grade 4 (£16,959-£17,448 per annum) with 18% of employees paid on this grade.

The average length of service is eleven years.

The Council has several regular volunteers in particular service areas, for example, in

areas of coaching, libraries, youth work, parent/carer helpers in schools and the

Children’s Hearing system. The Council is committed to expanding and developing

volunteering opportunities across services, encouraging employees to experience the

benefits and rewards of volunteering. An allowance of one day paid leave per year is

available to staff. This will increase volunteering within Stirling, which is currently 31%

(national average 27%) (Scottish Household Survey 2015), contributing £47m to the

local economy (Volunteer Scotland).

Age Profile

14% of our workforce are age 30 and under.

The average age of our workforce has increased by 1 year to 44 years.

8.45% of our workforce aged 60 and over.

With changes to pension retirement age it is projected that the number of older workers

will increase. This provides a challenge in identifying opportunities to attract younger

employees into our workforce to ensure effective succession planning, and the required

numbers across all age bands with the appropriate skills, abilities, behaviours and

knowledge. To meet this challenge, the Council has been successful in creating

opportunities for trainees and apprentices and will continue to explore opportunities in

this area. This is in line with figures reported in the CIPD Resource and Talent

Planning report 2017, which surveys employers across the UK.

By continuing this approach, we are unlikely to experience severe difficulties with huge

numbers of staff retiring at the same time and nobody to replace them. While there will

be significant numbers of staff approaching retirement at the same time the graph

below indicates that there should be an adequate supply of employees coming through

to fill the gap. Thus, key areas of consideration are managing older employees and

knowledge management for succession planning purposes.

Turnover The leaver rate is 15.77% reduced from 16% last year. It is anticipated that turnover

will remain at a level between 10%-16% due to the changes that will be required to

deliver services going forward. The median rate for the UK in 2017 was 16.5% CIPD

Resource and Talent Planning report 2017.

Recruitment In terms of recruitment during 2017, we received 13,978 applications, which was an

increase of 2,312 applications compared to the year before. The applications in 2017

were for 795 positions advertised on the national recruitment portal

www.myjobscotland.gov.uk . Work has taken place to implement the new portal in

2017, while our recruitment process was redesigned to shorten recruitment time. This

has been assisted by implementing online references and offers of employment over

the past year.

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6.2 How we reward our staff We recognise four sets of national negotiating arrangements for pay purposes. For Local Government employees and craft employees an objective points-related job evaluation scheme has been in place since 2009. This ensures that the Council has a clear process for evaluating the diverse range of jobs. The Council’s pay scale consists of 18 grades. Directors and the Chief Executive are aligned to Chief Officers’ terms and conditions and pay scale. For teachers and associated professionals within Education the pay scale is determined nationally by the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). A job sizing toolkit, provided by the SNCT is used to determine the evaluation and rate of pay for ‘promoted posts.’ The Living Wage The Council implemented the Living Wage in September 2012, backdating the increase to April 2012. The Living Wage is increased annually in November and the Council implemented the increase in November 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 which was earlier than the national pay award agreement. In April 2017 the Council paid £8.51 per hour which was six pence higher than the Living Wage Foundation hourly rate. In November 2017 the Council increased the minimum hourly rate by 29 pence to £8.80 per hour which continues to be higher than the £8.75 per hour Living Wage. Employment Package Our employment package is reviewed and updated to ensure it is financially attractive, and includes:

Generous holiday provision.

Options for flexible working including compressed hours.

Employee assistance programme (access to physiotherapy and counselling).

Salary sacrifice schemes including bike to work scheme, NCP Parking Scheme.

Free 30 minute access to the Nextbike scheme for cycling around the city.

Introducing one paid day annually towards volunteering activity.

Access to shopping discounts through the Wider Wallet scheme. Of our teachers, 99% are members of the Scottish Public Pension Agency Scheme and 83% of employees are members of the Local Government Pension Scheme. From April 2015 the new Local Government Pension Scheme was implemented and offers employees a new option of contributing 50% in return for half benefits. The Council expanded the benefits available to employees by introducing an Employee Benefits Platform in 2015, which includes Shopping Discounts. The Platform is funded through employer savings on National Insurance.

6.3 Organisational culture and how we expect our workforce to perform

We work with our employees to outline what we want our culture to look like. This

focus has been on empowering our employees to do a great job for urban and rural

communities and at the same time, achieving personal and professional satisfaction.

6.4 How we develop our workforce We recognise the need to invest in people to enhance their skills and performance.

We will develop and implement learning pathways which provide opportunities for

personal and professional development throughout our employees’ careers with the

Council. These pathways will provide access to Council-wide development events,

activities, information and tools that are designed to help support individuals and teams

as we continue to change and adapt our service delivery to the needs of communities,

customers and partners.

The content has been influenced by the Council’s Five-Year Business Plan, statutory

requirements as well as some common themes arising from Personal Development

Plans (PDP). It also promotes a ‘blended learning’ approach of workshops, courses,

eLearning, self-help guides and toolkits. Employees can find, book and take part in

development activities using any device at a time and place that suits them. With a

greater focus on ‘self-serve’ the responsibility for learning lies with each team member,

working with their line manager. The OD team are working with services where some

of the workforce may not have PC access, to help ensure equality of access. The

system will continue to develop over the year to ensure it meets our peoples’ needs.

Developing skills in-house Trainee & Apprentice Schemes A number of opportunities have been developed to ensure the future supply of staff we

need, including Apprentice and Training Schemes within Administration, Trades, Land

Services, Waste & Recycling, Roads, Catering, Customer Service, Early Years, Social

Care, HR, Finance and Legal Services. Some schemes are targeted at the

unemployed 18-24 age group.

These schemes involve recruiting from local schools or individuals identified through

the Council’s Youth Services and the programmes provide experience, certification or a

qualification. Some programmes involve day release to college. To ensure

apprentices are supported during their time with the Council a mentoring scheme has

also been introduced.

A guaranteed interview scheme is in place for our young people where the Council is

their Corporate Parent. Furthermore during 2016, the ‘Family Firm’ was set up, which

involves two of our looked-after young people co-ordinating paid work experience

opportunities for our looked after young people.

During 2016, Stirling Council piloted the Career Ready Scheme at St Modan’s High

School. This provides five of our 5th year pupils with a two-year mentoring programme,

which includes four weeks paid work experience after the first year. This scheme rolled

out to Stirling, Wallace and Bannockburn secondary schools August 2017, and will

include 3 further schools in August 2018.

Leadership Development We provide a range of activities to develop aspiring and existing managers’ leadership

and strategic skills, with a focus on providing a common language and direction using

our shared behaviours as a corner stone, with a greater emphasis on being

strategically aware and a stronger link between the Council’s vision of the future and

service goals.

During 2017 a management and leadership programme was launched tailored to the

Council’s cultural alignment goals and shared behaviours. Colleagues will also be

provided with information about/offered access to other external leadership

development opportunities including leadership exchanges, master classes and

coaching.

6.5 How we engage with our Trade Unions The Council is a member of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)

and is bound by national agreements of terms and conditions. There are four National

Negotiating Committees which determine annual pay awards and various nationally

prescribed conditions of service - the Scottish Joint Council for Local Government

Employees, the Scottish Joint Council for Craftworkers, the Scottish Negotiating

Committee for Teachers and the Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officials of

Local Authorities.

The Council works collaboratively with the recognised Trade Unions – UNISON, GMB,

UNITE, UCATT, EIS, SSTA. A Trade Union Engagement Agreement provides a three-

tier approach of service meetings to discuss operational matters, and a directorate

meeting for discussing corporate matters or escalating matters from a service level,

attended by trades unions representatives and management. In addition, there is also

an opportunity for management and trades union to discuss matters with Elected

Members at the Tripartite. Health and safety matters are discussed and reviewed at

Council level with the Health & Safety Panel Chaired by an Elected Member.

The Trade Union Engagement Agreement, underpinned by collective bargaining, was

developed in accordance with the outcomes of the recent independent review of

progressive workplace policies and practice in the public and private sectors in

Scotland. This focused on measures to optimise the relationships that link trade unions,

employers and Government, and promotes a more collaborative approach to ensuring

that progressive workplace policies and practice are in place. It is recognised that a

culture of purposeful, honest and constructive collaboration between management and

unions can produce materially better outcomes, higher levels of personal fulfilment and

fairer and more inclusive practice for all parties.

It is recognised that not all employees choose to be a Trade Union member and

mechanisms have been established and will continue to be created to allow all

employees to have a voice, offering their views, ideas and comments on matters which

affect them. Our approach will be to ensure all employees are equally valued and

listened to by the organisation, underpinned by the Collective Bargaining agreement.

6.6 How the organisation is designed There have been several internal restructures over the years which has led to changes

in the management structure. The most recent change in the past 12 months has been

designed with the following principles:

It is externally focussed on outcomes and the delivery of the Council’s priorities.

It enables and encourages the best approaches to planning, designing and

organising the delivery of services with communities and partners.

It aligns resources to Council key priorities and requirements.

It is easily understood by all stakeholders.

It has effective and efficient governance arrangements.

It has reasonable spans of authority, responsibilities and control.

It enables and encourages effective collaboration, communication and programme management.

It empowers colleagues to celebrate success and manage performance.

Since May 2016, Stirling Council is arranged into two service areas (previously there were six service areas):

Children, Communities & Enterprise

Localities & Infrastructure

6.7 How we have empowered managers We recognise that the quality of our leaders and managers and the relationship

between line managers and their teams is key to organisational effectiveness. We

have focused on recruiting and retaining the type of manager we need and achieving

the right balance between empowering them to manage effectively and providing them

with the right level of support.

We have also shifted the focus of our management recruitment from technical skills to

‘culture fit’ and use rigorous methods of recruitment such as assessment centres to

support where appropriate. We will review and develop our approach to induction to

ensure new managers are aware or their responsibilities and of the support that is

available to them, and implement a leadership capability framework which will clarify

the expectations of our managers and leaders across the Council.

We develop the corporate culture by encouraging cross-service working. We bring

managers, head teachers and team leaders together to discuss the vision, priorities

and goals of the Council and identify on a cross service basis what this means for

services and how they will change to operate going forward.

6.8 How we have engaged with our employees The link between employee engagement and higher performance has been well

researched and documented. Activity in this area has included:

Employee Focus Group to explore reward and benefit options (this work led to

procurement of an Employee Benefits platform).

Facility groups in the office buildings to provide a forum to discuss issues.

Director Roadshow, giving employees the opportunity to meet with the senior leadership team to discuss the vision, how this links to the Council priorities and suggestions for service improvement.

‘The Lens’ programme.

Fika engagement events and ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions.

The employer/employee relationship is based on mutual trust and confidence and it is

important that all sides uphold their side of that contract. Where this can fall down,

action needs to be taken to find solutions for all parties, with a focus always on

improving service delivery.

6.9 How we have supported attendance at work We recognise the workplace has a significant impact on employee health and well-

being, and that our employees’ health has a significant impact on the Council. Poor

management of health matters can lead to work-related ill health and to high levels of

sickness absence. This gives real cause for concern as absence incurs additional

costs, impacts service delivery, and has consequences for individual employees. We

are clear sickness absence is a key business issue, and a key indicator of how well an

organisation is managed.

We will take a proactive approach to supporting our employees to maintain good health

to enable them to attend their work. In doing so we aim to reduce the costs associated

with absence, increase productivity and performance, and support and enhance

service delivery in order that business needs can be met.

To do so we will be proactive rather than reactive to the health issues faced by our

employees, focused on the prevention of injuries and illnesses and effective at

managing employee ill health. We have developed a range of support initiatives all of

which will contribute to the improvement of the health, safety and wellbeing of our

employees.

Reviewed and updated in June 2014 with our trade union colleagues, and based on the

premise of early intervention, the Supporting Attendance Policy is designed to ensure

employees receive support for any health issue at the earliest possible stage by

requiring line managers to monitor the attendance of employees and ensure supports

are put in place to improve attendance, to prevent absences occurring in the first place.

This is achieved through a comprehensive range of supports including Occupational

Health advice and guidance, access to Physiotherapy and Counselling, Financial

Advice and Guidance, and advice on health and wellbeing via the Healthy Working

Lives Group and Health and Safety. A revised absence notification process was

introduced in April 2015, where employee can receive support and advice from our

Occupational Health provider.

Sickness absence figures for the year 2016/17 was 8.89 days per employee,

favourable compared to the Scottish average 10.92 days. This placed Stirling with the

2nd lowest rate compared to all local authorities. For teachers the absence rate for the

year 2016/17 was 4.91 days per employee, again favourable compared to the Scottish

average 6.06 days and this performance placed Stirling with the 3rd lowest absence

rate for Teachers.

6.10 How we have addressed equality and diversity in the Workplace

The Council is committed to ensuring that it meets the duties required of the 2010

Equalities Act 2010 and published a Mainstreaming report in 2013, 2015 and 2017. As

the Council continues to develop and plan for the future, the Equality Outcomes and

Action Plans will continue to be developed, thus ensuring that the needs of groups

within our communities and employees identified with the nine Protected

Characteristics are addressed.

Ethnic origin

Of the total workforce, the declared number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)

employees has risen from 0.8% in 2013 to 1.4% in 2016 (it is recognised that this may

not be a true reflection as 18.25% of employees chose not to answer this question). In

the Stirling Council area, BME residents represent 3.2% of the total population (2011

Census). The challenge we face is to identify and action proportionate and legitimate

ways to broaden the racial diversity of our workforce. Engaging with local equality

groups will help identify any barriers to applying for employment and steps we can take

to increase the representation of BME employees in our workforce.

Gender

Like other public sector organisations, we have more women than men in our

workforce - 72.7% female, a 1.2% increase from previous year. Although opportunities

to work part-time or on a flexible basis are open to both genders, more women (91.8%)

than men hold jobs which are part-time in nature and these roles are primarily in the

lower paid grades.

We recognise the importance of taking steps to address occupational segregation,

however individuals will continue to make employment choices that suit personal

needs. We aim to break down perceptions and remove barriers to bring a more

representative balance to our gender distribution, by reviewing the language we use in

recruitment and by promoting role models and success stories.

In 2009 the Council introduced Job Evaluation which measures the evaluation of jobs

over 13 different factors and ensures a fair process for evaluating jobs. An Appeal

Process is available to employees which are heard by manager/trade union panel. In

2016 the revised updated Job Evaluation system was published and training arranged.

The Council undertakes period Pay Audits to eliminate any differences in the basic

rate, and the full workforce gender pay gap has reduced from 1.79% in 2013 to 0.68%

in 2016/17. This is due to the rising living wage. Females occupy 55.75% of

managerial posts. Information related to Occupational Segregation and Pay

Information is provided at Appendix C.

Apprentice and training posts account for 5.9% of the FTE workforce, a new target has

been set with a long term aim to reach 7.0% over the next five years. 65% of

apprentice and training posts are occupied by females.

Disability

Of the total workforce, the declared number of disabled employees has risen from 1.9%

in 2013 to 3.29% in 2017, however we recognise this may not be a true reflection as a

sixth of employees chose not to answer this question.

The average hourly rate for disabled employees was £12.66 per hour in 2013 and has

risen to £13.04 in 2016/17. The pay gap for disabled employees now stands at 12%

against the average for the full workforce. The Council continues to employ several

supported employees who are provided with additional support in the workplace.

6.11 How we have managed health, safety and wellbeing

Health and Safety is a priority for the Council and everyone is responsible. The Council

had a Health and Safety Panel, chaired by an Elected Member which met quarterly to

review health and safety matters, with attendance from Council Management and trade

unions.

A suite of policies provide support to managers and employees in relation to health and

safety matters, and managers are responsible for health and safety performance within

their work area. Corporate health and safety provide advice, undertake investigations

and ensure the relevant actions are being implemented. An extensive Health

Surveillance programme is in place, employees can access an annual flu vaccination,

and the Council also participates in the Healthy Working Lives initiative to promote

health and wellbeing - this work has achieved the HWL Bronze Award and progress

toward achieving the Silver Award continues.

Mental wellbeing is an area of focus and a policy is in place as are supports, including

Employee Counselling and Corporate Health & Safety who use stress risk

assessments to identify issues and for action plans to be developed.

Mental Health First Aid training has been made available to HR, Trade Unions, and

managers. Various online resources are available which build on our previous work in

the development of case study guidance commissioned by the Scottish Parliament

“Working Well with Mental Health” (ISBN 978-0-9548092-6-3). Stirling Council

received an award from Action in Mind in recognition of support to employees.

Appendix A

CHILDREN, COMMUNITY & ENTERPRISE

Stirling is already a great place to live, work, visit and do business. Children,

Communities and Enterprise (CCE) is delivering services and programmes to

further unleash Stirling’s potential through tackling poverty and inequality,

promoting health, well-being and opportunities for all, supporting every

community across Stirling to thrive, protecting and supporting those who are

vulnerable, generating high value jobs and creating the conditions for economic

growth, skills development and employability among people of all ages.

To achieve this, CCE delivers a broad range of services that are organised into the

following areas;

Economic Development & Regeneration

Communities & People

Schools, Learning & Education

Children & Families

Strategic Procurement & Customer Development

Human Resources & Organisational Development

Corporate Communications

Together, these services, along with other areas of the Council, local people and

partners, are leading the delivery of two major programmes that will transform

Stirling’s future. The City Region Deal will result in Stirling achieving its goals of

becoming an economic and cultural powerhouse, where everyone has

opportunities to reach their potential, gain meaningful work and live healthy and

happy lives. The localities programme will work with all of our unique and diverse

communities so they thrive and our vision of community led service delivery is

achieved.

Each service area has developed a workforce plan with actions which will be

reviewed and updated annually.

Age Profile

Whole service

Age Profile of the Teaching Workforce - the increase in under age 40 teachers

within the profession within our Schools is noticeable.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

16‐20 21‐25 26‐30 31‐35 36‐40 41‐45 46‐50 51‐55 56‐60 61‐65 66‐70 71‐75

Age

Total

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

21‐25 26‐30 31‐35 36‐40 41‐45 46‐50 51‐55 56‐60 61‐65

Age

Total

Gender Profile

The gender profile of the Council overall is 71.5% Female and 28.5% Male, however

the difference is greater within Children’s Community & Enterprise with 82% Female

and 18% Male.

Gender profile of the Teaching Workforce is 79% female and 21% male.

F82%

M18%

Gender

F

M

F79%

M21%

Gender

F

M

Appendix B

LOCALITIES & INFRASTRUCTURE Localities and Infrastructure consists of a broad range of service areas including:

Environment and Place

Infrastructure

Technology & Information

Finance

Governance

In the coming five years place making will play a fundamental role in the development

of urban and rural areas of Stirling. During this time we can expect Stirling’s

environment to continue to attract people to the area as a great place to live, work and

visit. To support this, we will also be seeking to develop our services, making them

more efficient, digitised, effective and sustainable.

Our corporate functions will provide a service across the Council and to partner

organisations, as appropriate. These functions include Finance, Governance, IT,

Performance Management, Health & Safety, Risk & Resilience and Transport Fleet.

The quality of these is crucial for the smooth running of the Council and will assist it in

developing additional programmes and projects in the coming years, such as those

within the City Development Framework and our Capital Programme.

Each service area has developed a workforce plan with actions which will be

reviewed and updated annually.

The workforce tend to have longer service which is reflected in the age profile. The

service currently has 48 apprentices.

The following chart shows the gender split, being predominately male.

0

50

100

150

200

250

Age

Total

40%

60%

Gender

F

M

Appendix C

OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION

Occupational segregation compares females and males within the different job

categories. Notable differences within Administration and Care which is predominately

female and this follows traditional lines that we see across the country. The position for

management posts is however more balanced.

Occupational segregation within the teaching workforce is broadly proportionate to the gender profile.

428

52

356298

150

350

888

68

213130

78 60

01002003004005006007008009001000

OccupationalSegregation

671

11976

165

42 25

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Teacher Promoted Management

TeachingOccupationalSegregation

Female Male

PAY INFORMATION The principles recommended by Close the Gap Scotland have been used to ensure pay information is calculated consistently and can be compared with other organisations. This information will be updated after 31 March 2018, the snapshot date under the regulations for reporting purposes.

1. Full workforce, hourly rates of pay and pay gap 2017 Gender % of

workforce Hourly Rate

Hourly Rate Gap

Hourly Rate % Gap

Male 28.5% £14.90 Female 71.5% £14.80 £0.10 0.68

2. Part-time employees, hourly rates and pay gap 2017

Gender % of workforce

Hourly Rate

Hourly Rate Gap

Hourly Rate % Gap

Male 8.2% £12.36 Female 91.8% £12.50 £0.14 -0.13

3. Full-time female employees, hourly rates of pay and pay gap against full

time male employees Gender Hourly

Rate Hourly Rate Gap

Hourly Rate % Gap

Male FT £15.24 Female FT £17.44 £2.20 -14.3

4. Part-time female employees and full-time male employees, comparison of

hourly rates of pay and resulting pay gap Gender % of

workforce Hourly Rate

Hourly Rate Gap

Hourly Rate % Gap

Male FT 25.1% £15.24 Female PT 38.2% £12.50 £2.74 18.0

5. Stirling Council compared to UK National Statistics Source (2016)

Type Overall Gap% Full time Gap% Female Part-time v Male Full-time Gap%

Public 12.1 7.3 26.8 Private 23.6 19.6 40.6 Third Sector 15.6 11.9 38.6 Stirling 0.68 -14.3 18.0

The difference in mean pay between males and females is 0.68% (Table 1). The difference in median pay between male and female employees is nil. For part-time employees, the pay gap is 0.13% in favour of women (Table 2). The pay gap between full-time males and full-time female employees is 14.3% in favour of women (Table 3). The pay gap between full-time male employees and part-time female employees is 18% (Table 4) No bonus schemes are in operation within Stirling Council.

Appendix D Corporate Workforce Action Plan

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Summary of the Strategic Workforce Plan Priority: The Strategic Workforce Plan Priority relates to the following Council Business Plan Objective(s):

Resilience - Strengthen the linkage between business, financial and strategic planning.

o Increasing our ability to analyse workforce data and report.

o All service areas develop Workforce Plan, monitor and review.

Achieving - Develop our customer-focused, innovative, high performance culture.

o Leadership programme & Masterclasses. o ‘The Lens’ Programme, encouraging intrapreneurship. o Provide development opportunities for employees to

increase their skills. o Engagement programme creating a working

environment where everyone can have a rewarding and enjoyable working life.

Healthy - Promotion of a health, safety & wellbeing culture o Attendance management levels equate to upper quartile

performance standards. o Training opportunities to keep employees safe at work. o Provision of a comprehensive wellbeing programme.

Prosperous - Ensure Stirling Council’s status as an ‘employer of choice’ is enhanced focusing on increasing equality and diversity of the workforce.

o Increase apprentice, graduate and talent management opportunities.

o Gender pay gap remains below 1% o Gender balance in senior roles. o Living Wage Accredited employer

Priority A – Quality Education and Social Care - We will look after all of our citizens, from early years through to adulthood, by providing quality education and social care services, to allow everybody to lead their lives to their full potential. Priority B – Poverty - We will target all forms of poverty across our communities and mitigate the impact of austerity and welfare cuts on those hit the hardest. Priority C – Affordable Housing and Social Housing - We will create more affordable housing and social housing in all of Stirling’s communities. We will lead by example as an organisation in setting exceptional standards in building practice, environmental practice, employer practice, tenant relations and homelessness prevention. Priority D – Inclusive Economic Growth and City Region Deal - We will deliver inclusive economic growth and promote prosperity. We will deliver a City Region Deal and pursue policies and solutions that encourage high quality, high paying jobs into all of Stirling’s communities. Priority E – Environmental and Infrastructure Improvements - We will create and implement environment and infrastructure improvements. We will deliver new ownership and delivery methods around energy generation, public transport and internet access, ensuring profits and services work to community, not commercial priorities. Priority F – Tourism - We will commit and co-ordinate our resources to ensuring Stirling becomes a must visit destination; with heritage, culture, environment and economic strategies working hand in hand to encourage tourists to stay for a minimum of three days and two nights.

  

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The Strategic Priority is Intended to Address the following Workforce Issue(s):

The Workforce Plan Actions required to Deliver this Strategic Priority are (details in the attached Action Plan):

Over the next 5 years, decisions taken so far in relation to priorities and budget, need to be implemented. Where this links to workforce changes, this needs to be planned and ensures the Council will be able to operate within the financial resources available. Approximately two thirds of the Council budget is taken up by workforce costs. Anticipated FTE reductions for Priority Based Budget decisions so far (PBB1-4) amount to 46 in 2018/19, 35 in 2019/20, and 25 in 2020/21. Workforce expansion has occurred in some areas due to project funding, for example Children & Young People (pupil equity fund, Early Years expansion), Economic Development & Regeneration (Leader Programme, Support to vulnerable service users). Changes in delivery models will impact on many teams, for example in Adult Social Care with the opening of the Stirling Care Village autumn 2018 bringing NHS and Social Care teams together in the one location to provide intermediate care and Neighbourhood Models of Care will develop.

Each service manager area has prepared a workforce plan with actions, responsibility assigned and timescales for completion. This will be overseen by the Directors and the Workforce Leadership Group. This overarching corporate workforce document supports the individual team plans, together with creating the conditions for the organisational culture to develop in the months and years ahead.

   

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Specific Actions Required Workforce Planning Actions:

List the actions to be undertaken. Responsibility:

Who is responsible for delivering the

Action?

Timing: When is the Action to be

done by?

Performance Indicators/Outcomes:

How will we know what success will look like?

Risks: Summarise any risk(s) to achieving the Action

and any mitigating controls

Progress: How are we tracking?

TD PI M

Resilience - Strengthen the linkage between business, financial and strategic workforce planning.

1. Increase our ability to analyse workforce data and report

TL Workforce December 2018

Establishment Diversity

Risks - Business as usual impacting on ability to undertake development work. Reliance on system provider to support change. Requires managers and employees to engage with the new self-service approach. Mitigation - Project support in place, regular engagement with system provider, regular engagement with managers and employees to become familiar with the new system.

X CMT workforce reporting. Links to Item 7, 8, 9 & 10 below

2. All service areas develop a Workforce Plan

Service Managers, co-ordinated by TL HR Business Partnering

June 2018 All teams develop a plan as per the template, implement and review

Risks - Capacity within teams to undertake the work. Mitigation – Support provided by Senior HR Business Partners

X Workforce Leadership

Group, chaired by Chief HR & OD Officer will monitor progress

Specific Actions Required

Workforce Planning Actions: List the actions to be undertaken.

Responsibility: Who is responsible for delivering the

Action?

Timing: When is

the Action to be done

by?

Performance Indicators/Outcomes:

How will we know what success will look

like?

Risks: Summarise any risk(s) to achieving the Action and any mitigating controls

Progress: How are we tracking?

TD PI M

Achieving – Develop our customer-focused, innovative, high performance culture.

3. Leadership Programme Our leaders of the future

Organisational Development & Change Manager

January to September 2018 programme 1 Plan programme 2

26 participants develop as confidence leaders of the future - Brave and ready to challenge the status quo. - Motivated and ready to be part of the 21st Century Council. - Committed to make Stirling Council a great place to work and delivering the best services we can for our customers.

Risks – participants drop out or change does not occur. Mitigation – selection process was comprehensive and each participant has the support of a mentor.

X 6 month update

report to CMT

4. ‘The Lens’ Programme Encouraging Intrapreneurship

Senior OD Adviser September 2017 to March 2018

23 March 2018 is the final event where entrepreneurs will present their ideas to the panel of peers.

Risks – Participant disappointment that their idea is not taken forward. Mitigation – Post final support.

X Update report to

CMT

5. Engagement Programme creating a working environment where everyone can participate and can have a rewarding and enjoyable working life.

Chief Officer HR & OD

December 2018

Organisational Development, HR Business Partnering and Engagement with Trades Unions

Risk – Availability of individuals to attend calendar of sessions. Mitigation – Co-ordinate annual calendar

X Update report to

CMT

 

TD Tracked as a Target Date PI Tracked by a Reported Performance Indicator/Target

M Agreed Target for PI Measure  

Specific Actions Required

Workforce Planning Actions: List the actions to be undertaken.

Responsibility: Who is responsible for delivering the

Action?

Timing: When is

the Action to be done

by?

Performance Indicators/Outcomes:

How will we know what success will look

like?

Risks: Summarise any risk(s) to achieving the Action and any mitigating controls

Progress: How are we tracking?

TD PI M

Prosperous – Ensure that the Council’s status as an ‘employer of choice is enhanced focusing on increasing equality and diversity of the workforce.

6. Increase apprentice, graduate and talent management opportunities

Chief Officer HR &OD

December 2018

Stretch Target to work towards 7% of FTE occupying apprentice and graduate positions

Risk – Requirement to make budget savings impacts on ability to fund posts. Mitigation – consider developing corporate funding budgets for this purpose. Access external funds when available.

X Monitored by F&E

committee as part of

the scorecard.

7. Gender Pay Gap & Gender balance in senior roles

Chief Officer HR & OD

May 2018 Annual Equal Pay Audit

Risk – progress achieved so far erodes. Mitigation – annual monitoring, implementation of Job Evaluation should keep this on track.

X Monitored by F&E

Committee Gender Pay

gap - remain

below 1%. Senior roles - balanced gender split

8. Living Wage Accreditation Chief Officer HR & OD

December 2018

Maintain accreditation, review uprate and report to Council. Promote benefits of LW to other employers.

Risk – Increasing living wage erodes salary differentials. Mitigation – monitor impact on recruitment.

X Annual report to Council

Comments and Other Information: