FESTIVE PERIOD – MANAGEMENT COVER ARRANGEMENTS

The festive period is nearly upon us and as Managers you will be busy making sure that services still operating during the holidays are appropriately covered, to ensure smooth delivery for our customers and service users.

This is just a reminder to make sure that the appropriate management cover arrangements are also in place and have been notified to those colleagues working over the festive period to ensure that they feel appropriately supported and know who to turn to should a situation arise.

The wider seasonal arrangements for service delivery is currently being advertised on the Interchange.

SJC STAFF – ADDITIONAL DAYS LEAVE AS PART OF 2022 PAY AWARD

As part of the 2022 annual pay award, SJC staff have been given an additional days’ annual leave – pro rata for part-time staff.

From January 2023, SJC staff who are on 52 weeks contract will have the additional day/hours added to their leave cards.  Term time staff will have the hours added to their salary calculation.

For 2022, staff have been given the option, where possible, to take the day in this current leave year or to carry it over into 2023.  Full-time employees who joined Moray Council from May onwards will receive a pro-rata of 1 day as per the table below.

Term-time staff will receive a pro-rata of 1 day in accordance with their contracted hours as follows:

7.25 / 52 x 44.87 (less than 5 years’ service) or 45.88 (more than 5 years’ service) / 36.25 or 37 depending on contract x by no of working hours per week

E.g. PSA with less than 5 years’ service working 15 hours per week 7.25 / 52 x 44.87 / 37 x 15 = 2.53 = 2 hrs 32 minutes

EMPLOYEE CONFERENCE

The first Employee Conference since 2019 went well with employees attending the event at Elgin Town Hall and taking part in a range of activities.  Feedback is being collected from employees which will enable us to consider what would work well for next year.  If you or your team have any feedback regarding the conference please email organisational.development@moray.gov.uk

CAREER READY

With the dedication and support of our wonderful mentors we are very pleased to announce we have been able to provide five Moray students with a place on the Career Ready Programme.

The programme is full swing, with students having regular meetings with their mentors, creating and reviewing their CVs and publishing their first LinkedIn profile – a chance to celebrate their strengths and reflect on how far they have come since starting Career Ready.  

The students have also attended a number of Master Classes delivered by Career Ready which are designed to both support and challenge the students as they continue on the Career Ready journey. The most recent being Masterclass 5 ‘Success at Interviews and Assessment Centres’.

Moray Council continues to partner with Career Ready to offer these amazing opportunities to students in Moray and we ask that anyone interested in mentoring to contact organisational.development@moray.gov.uk so that we continue to fulfil our commitment of mentors for the 2023 programme.

MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING PULSE SURVEY 2022

Following on from last year’s mental health and wellbeing survey, Moray Council undertook an organisation-wide PULSE survey of employees’ mental health & wellbeing. The survey was launched in the summer 2022. The purpose of the survey was to check in with employees and to see how they are feeling now as we continue to recover from the pandemic. The results from the survey will help us ensure that we continue to focus our efforts in the right direction.

Thank you to everyone who responded, sharing your views allowed us to obtain a more accurate understanding of how people feel and are coping.

The results have been analysed and the results can be found here: 2022 Mental health and wellbeing survey – Headlines  

The results have already been reported to Committee and are being shared with managers at all levels to identify if any future actions need to be taken to build on our successes and deliver improvements. 

THE WINNERS OF THE STAR AWARDS 2022

STAR (Special Thanks and Recognition) Awards formally recognise the outstanding contributions of our colleagues.

Thank you for voting for this year’s colleague’s choice award.

The Star Awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the Council’s presentation of Long Service Certificates, allowing the Council to recognise both long term commitment to the Council and achievement of success in other areas at Elgin Academy on the 9th December.

The overall winner of the employee recognition scheme, the Chief Executive’s Award for Excellence, as well as the winner of the Chief Executive Special Commendation Award and the Colleague’s Choice Award were announced as part of the ceremony presentation, more information on the winner can be found here: Star Awards

WORKLOAD TOOLKIT PILOT

Across the council, it is recognised that workload management is a continuing challenge with recent employee surveys having highlighted this as a concern across the workforce. To support and address this concern, a workload management toolkit has been developed that can support managing workload across all service areas, with a recognition that the tools need to be able to support a range of different workforce groups.

The toolkit provides ways to develop a strategy on how to manage and improve workloads within the workplace, from discovery to identification, through to changes that could be required and potential ways to monitor improvements. The pilot is currently running in various services and we look forward to being able to share this corporate ‘tool’ next year. Further information will follow in March’s edition of the HR Bulletin.

NEW E-LEARNING CONTENT

What’s Live on CLIVE?

In the last HR Bulletin we said that we would shortly be launching a course on social media, and I’m happy to say that this course is now live on CLIVE, and can be found under the CPD tab.

We’ve also just released a series of modules looking at Safe People Handling in the workplace, this is aimed at all staff that are involved in caring for people who need support to move and get around.

Coming to a screen near you in early 2023:

• Climate Change Agenda
• M365 – Recording Meetings

If you have any issues with your CLIVE account, or have any questions in regard to eLearning, then please email organisational.development@moray.gov.uk

MANAGERS FORUM

The Managers Forum continues to be an opportunity for Managers to meet, discuss and share best practise. During this year’s sessions we have explored a huge variety of topics ranging from supporting mental health, responding to the climate crisis through to printer procurement.

During January, Managers will be invited to complete a short survey so that we can better understand the impact of the session and how we can make them even better for 2023.

The next Managers Forums is planned for Thursday 22nd January at 2pm.  We would love to hear what topics you would like to be discussed at these or future sessions and if there are any managers interested in hosting a session.  

Remember, although facilitated by the OD team, the topics and direction of the forum are led by the forum members.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for future sessions or you would like to host a session please contact glen.dunn@moray.gov.uk to discuss.If you have any queries or would like to book onto any of these courses please email organisational.development@moray.gov.uk

PRE RETIREMENT COURSES

2023 Courses will be announced shortly.  Please watch out for dates in Connect magazine and the next HR Bulletin.

SCOTTISH MILITARY COMMUNITY PAGE

The latest edition of the Scottish Military Community Update has been published on Interchange: Latest Updates

This month’s edition has information on Unforgotten Forces new charity partner Fighting With Pride, Poppyscotland Cost of Living Grants Programme, Scottish Governments new website to give information on help to relieve the cost of living crisis, and Age Scotland offering free online energy workshops, plus more!

TIME FOR TALKING

Christmas can be a painful and lonely time for some people, if you or your team need support over the Christmas period please contact Time for Talking (the Councils Employee Assistance Provider) who are open 365 days a year for any support that may be required.

You can access their support by phone (0800 970 3980), email, live chat on their website (www.timefortalking.co.uk – password TfTnow), or via their app.

More information can be found at Time for Talking

LONE WORKING POLICY AND GUIDANCE REVIEW

Following a review of lone working practices within the Council, a comprehensive audit was undertaken to determine the relative position of the Council as a whole as to the level of compliance and to the ongoing suitability of the lone working policy. While the original policy was generally structurally sound and legally compliant, it did require refreshing and updating in order to improve the effectiveness of its implementation, and to adequately reflect the diverse range of services and working environments encountered by council staff.

As part of the process, a Survey Monkey was generated and distributed to the various services within the Council to help determine the level of knowledge and understanding around the lone working issue and to gauge the level of policy implementation and risk control in the various environments. Specific areas considered within the survey included Awareness of corporate policy, risk assessments, training, procedures, incident reporting, etc. The survey was well received and saw a good level of engagement by service managers. The information gathered helped further identify the areas requiring particular attention for improvement. 

A Lone Working Guidance document has also been produced to assist service managers in implementing the policy and navigating the specific issues relating to lone working. While the guidance is generic, it highlights the key points for consideration and provides a basis for the production of a suitable safe system of work.

Work required within services

It is the responsibility of each Head of Service to review their operational practices and protocols while giving full consideration to the revised policy and guidance.

Implementation must be with the full involvement of all staff affected by lone working to ensure all lone workers are correctly identified, and suitable and sufficient risk assessments are produced.

Robust systems must be put in place for the control of risk to employees from lone working including the adequate training of staff and the provision of emergency arrangements where necessary.

Further help and guidance will be available to managers from the Corporate Health and Safety Team.

You can find further information here: H&S Procedures and here: H&S Guidance

JOINT INSPECTION PROGRAMME

Following the adoption of The Health and Safety Partnership Agreement for the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2025 at the Central Health and Safety Committee meeting in November 2021 it was agreed that a programme of joint inspections would be developed and implemented across Council services.

A working group consisting of trades union representatives and H&S have developed guidance which details what the joint inspection programme will entail and how the programme will be implemented at service level. Consultation has also taken place with the management representatives of the Departmental Health and Safety Committees.

Two lists of Council premises have been drawn up, one for schools and one for other premises (depots, yards, offices etc.). The lists have been organised in terms of risk with those deemed to be higher risk premises receiving priority.

Agreement has been reached around the forms to be used to capture data during an inspection and the report form to be used to highlight any issues which arise during the inspection. These templates will be sent out with the guidance.

The actual dates of inspection, which premises and who attends specifically will be worked out within the service concerned and agreed through the Departmental Health and Safety Committees

A number of non-school premises have already been inspected as part of the programme and the schools inspection programme is expected to commence shortly.
Heads of service are required to include the Joint Inspection programme as a standing item in Departmental Health and Safety Committee meetings going forward as this has been agreed to be the most appropriate forum to discuss and agree priorities, timescales and resources.

Any issues that cannot be resolved at service level are escalated to the Central H&S committee where required.

If you require any further information or wish to discuss any aspect of the programme please contact SafetyAdviser@moray.gov.uk
 

The guidance and forms can be found here: H&S Guidance and H&S Forms