To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Hussain and Taylor.

Members are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary, personal or personal and prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests relating to items on this agenda and/or indicate if S106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

There were no declarations of interest.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items of business.

To determine any items on the agenda, if any, where the public are to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no items for exclusion of Public and Press.

Members are requested to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19 June 2023 and 24 July 2023.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meetings held on 19 June 2023 and 24 July 2023 be approved as a correct record.

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development.

Consideration was given to a report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development that provided details of the Council’s Flexible Retirement Policy and approval was sought by the Committee to approve the Council’s Flexible Retirement Policy.

The Strategic Lead (HR/Pay Operations) informed the Committee that a report and draft policy was originally brought to the Committee in June when permission was granted to begin consultation with trade unions on the draft policy. At the Joint Consultation and Negotiation Group on 30 August 2023 trade unions formally approved the Council’s proposed Flexible Retirement Policy.

The Chair thanked the Officer for the report and invited comments and questions from the Committee.

Members commented that it was beneficial for the authority to enable officers of retirement age to continue working whilst passing on their expertise and knowledge to others.

It was questioned whether there would be any adverse effects in the sharing of knowledge if services utilise hybrid working methods. It was advised that appropriate individual plans would be put in place to facilitate the transfer of skills which may include short term alternative working patterns but that this would vary between roles and departments.

Members also queried how staff would meet the criteria to be eligible for the scheme. It was advised that the staff member may have had informal discussions with their manager before formally applying and that they would be aware that their request may not be approved. Each application would be considered individually and each department assessed to determine if the service would still be operable with such changes to working arrangements.

Resolved:

1.    That the Council’s Flexible Retirement Policy be approved by the Employment and Equalities Committee.

To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development.

Consideration was given to a report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development that provided details of the Council’s People Strategy 2023 - 2026 and the Committee was requested to support the People Strategy 2023 – 2026.

The Assistant Director (Workforce and Organisational Development)) informed the Committee that the purpose of developing the strategy was to:

• agree our strategic priorities for workforce for the short and medium term
• enable the authority to plan and deploy resources effectively
• enable monitoring of progress and direction of travel
• identify opportunities and potential threats to being able to deliver Corporate objectives through the workforce
• enable the authority to articulate the council ‘brand’ clearly to current and future workforce
• give clear strategic direction to managers and HR teams with regard the workforce

The Committee was advised that the strategy focused on six key priority areas:

• Diversity and Inclusion
• Health and Wellbeing
• Recruitment
• Engagement
• Learning and Development
• Leadership

The Chair thanked the Officer for the report and invited comments and questions from the Committee.

A Member commented that within the report when referencing the ‘Rochdale’ area the terminology used should be Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Borough to reflect that it encompassed the borough as a whole and not only a specific township.

It was questioned by Members why the authority does not also have a Racial Equality Policy or Racial Equality Strategy to compliment the People Strategy. It was advised that developing and implementing an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy was within the action points of the People Strategy.

Resolved:

1.    That the Council’s People Strategy 2023 - 2026 be supported by the Employment and Equalities Committee.

To receive a verbal update and presentation of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development.

The Committee received a verbal updated and presentation of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development that sought to provide the Committee with an update on the Council’s Recruitment and Retention strategies. 

The Recruitment and Retention Strategy Officer informed the Committee of objectives that had been achieved so far throughout 2023, including; creating new recruitment branding and role profiles, issuing advertisement guidance centred around encouraging people to want to work for the authority, increased use of social media platforms for broader awareness of opportunities, delivered recruitment and retention sessions to senior managers, payment of professional fees.

It was advised that after the delivery of a recruitment and retention session to one service which had a 50% vacancy rate within their service they had since taken on board the ideas from the session and had been able to fill 100% of their job advertisements. 

The Committee was advised that longer term plans to be implemented from 2024 onwards were:

• Recruitment and Retention Strategy to compliment the people strategy
• Improve workforce Diversity and promote jobs to diverse communities
• Making jobs within the authority more accessible through the recruitment process
• To guide managers and provide flexibility to enable jobs to be filled
• Focus on workforce development to increase retention.

Resolved:

1.    That the contents of the verbal update and presentation on Recruitment and Retention be noted by the Employment and Equalities Committee.

To receive a verbal update and presentation of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development.

The Committee received a verbal updated and presentation of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate / Assistant Director, Workforce and Organisational Development that sought to provide the Committee with an update on the Council’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategies. 

The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Manager informed the Committee that the development of the strategies would build on the “No Matter Who” policy and focus on:

·       Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation

·       Advancing equality of opportunity

·       Fostering good relations between people

The Committee was informed that objective of the strategies would be to encourage sustainable change within services to promote transformation, implement inclusive policies and identify a cultural shift in behaviours as a result of the successful implementation of the strategies. 

It was advised that leadership participation was ongoing in the development of the EDI Policy and EDI Strategy to create and EDI Plan and deliver the aims of the policies.

The goals of the EDI strategy were:

• To drive delivery of RBC Strategy and provide leadership for RBC’s EDI Agenda
• To provide professional expertise and guidance to ensure the Council’s compliance with Equalities legislation and sector-specific standards
• To lead Corporate EDI work to achieve the “Excellent Level” of the Equality Framework for Local Government
• To promote Rochdale as an inclusive borough and employer and foster links with key groups within the workforce and wider community and make connections to relevant Council functions.

The Chair thanked the Officer for the report and invited comments and questions from the Committee.

Members questioned when and how notable change and improvements would be seen after implementation of the strategies. It was advised that the best measurement was via staff surveys in addition to equality impact assessments and analysing if there had been a reduction in complaints, increase in productivity and improvement of retention. 

The strategy was praised by members who commented that it was encouraging to see strategic knowledge incorporated. It was also commented that an increase in staff groups and events would help promote wellbeing and awareness of inclusion and diversity and provided more opportunities for staff to raise any issues or suggestions they may have and that if notable change came from that then it would make a difference to overall staff wellbeing and ultimately retention.

Resolved:

1.    That the contents of the verbal update and presentation on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion be noted by the Employment and Equalities Committee.