1. SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Attendance management update 25th October 2010

2. Costs of absenteeism Costs of absenteeism to the City Council were in the region of £8m for period 1 st April 2009-31 st March 2010. More focus needs to be given to managing stress more effectively as it is the single most significant causal factor of absenteeism for the City Council, relating to 22.33% of total absences, costing an estimated £1.97m.

3. targets For period April 2009 to March 2010 the average days lost per employee for Salford was 11.2 days, which is high compared to other Greater Manchester Authorities. An overall target has been set for the City Council to reduce these levels to an average of 10 days by March 2011 Specific targets were set in March 2010 for Strategic Directors to reduce the levels of absenteeism within their directorates and to include the targets in their business plans Previous quarterly figures up to June 2010 showed a reduction to an average of 10.8 days Latest quarterly figures up to September 2010 show a reduction to an average of 10.2 days

4. Health and well being strategy Health and well-being delivery team set up to review how the City Council could manage health and well- being in the workplace more effectively Whole organisation approach to devise a proactive and preventative strategy for improving health and well being with a goal to reduce absenteeism to an average of 10 days per employee

5. Proactive work by HR on managing health and wellbeing Absenteeism hotspot data Address priority causes Stress management programme Musco-skeletal DHS Update on CHSC pilot progress

6. Absenteeism hotspots Strategic Directors have been provided with 5 year absence data on all staff This details levels of absence during the past 5 years Data identifies patterns, trends and levels of absence under business cost centres HR Consultants currently matching this data with intelligence on sickness absence management stages Next stage is to review this data with Directorate management teams e.g. further analysis of overtime, enhanced payments, agency costs, tackling unacceptably high levels of persistent absenteeism

7. Address priority causes 2 main priority causes of absenteeism within the city council are: Stress Musco-skeletal disorders

8. Stress management Prioritising stress as it is the single most significant factor of absenteeism, amounting to 22.33% of total absence data hotspot intelligence will identify business cost centres areas with high incidences of stress Proactive and preventative stress management interventions ( e.g. self care courses, mediation intervention, reviewing of stress audit process, HR & OD&T supporting management competencies, employee assistance programmes clearly identified on intranet site, better recording of incidences of work and non-work related stress)

9. Musco-skeletal Fitnote adaptation Equality Act implications to pre-employment medicals Review hotspot data to undertake early intervention methods Metro physio referrals Review rehabilitation and adjustment scheme

10. DHS DHS pilot intent – reduction in 10% absences We are conducting our own measurements based on quantative and qualitative information i.e. not only10% reduction but also incorporating customer feedback on the wider health and well being benefits for managers and staff (e.g. better reporting, better communications, wider benefits for families, faster access to medical advice as 24:7 service Monthly meetings with DHS and with representatives from pilot areas to provide and capture feedback

11. Update on pilot CHSC Figures from the previous quarter have show an improvement in managing attendance as the average number of days lost in CHSC reduced from 14.4 days to 13.1 days, showing a variance of -1.4%. Audit review Attendance management policy and application Supporting managers Consistency in approach DHS

12. RIGHT TRAJECTORY From the information provided it is clear that managing attendance is one of key priorities Levels are continuing to reduce Any questions?