Agenda Item No. 12

 

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

 

Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) - 24 June 2014

 

Report of the Managing Director

 

Annual Turnover Report - April 2013 to March 2014

 

Purpose of the Report

1.         To provide a detailed look at employee turnover rates within the Council using the themes within the Workforce Plan.

Recommendation

1.         It is recommended that Scrutiny Committee note the position in relation to employee turnover.

Reason for the Recommendation

1.         To bring matters to the attention of Members of the Scrutiny Committee in line with corporate objectives.

Background

2.         This report has been provided in response to a request from Members for an analysis of employee turnover in the Council, for consideration alongside the Workforce Plan.

3.         For the purposes of the report, employee turnover has been assessed as the number of employees leaving the Council as a percentage of the total number of staff (headcount) employed by the Council.

4.         This report provides a summary of employee turnover within the Council using the themes within the Workforce Plan. In particular, reasons and occupational profiles of those employees who have left the Authority have been reviewed.

5.         This report compares the financial year 2013/14 with 2012/13.

Relevant Issues and Options

6.         In 2013/14 the overall turnover rate within the Council was 8.64%. This compares favourably with the turnover rate of 10.28% in 2012/13.

7.         Corporate turnover has reduced from 13.98% of the corporate headcount in 2012/13 to 9.30% in 2013/14. Turnover in Schools has increased however, from 6.66% of the schools headcount to 8.00% in 2013/14.

	2012/13		2013/14
	Number of leavers	% of headcount	Number of leavers	% of headcount
Corporate total	379	13.82%	247	9.30%
Schools total	179	6.66%	221	8.00%
Grand total	558	10.28%	468	8.64%

 

 

 

 

 

8.         A comparison of the employee turnover rate is set out in the table below:

Turnover by leaving reason

9.         The main difference between 2012/13 and 2013/14 was the transfer of Leisure Centre staff to Parkwood Leisure Ltd in August 2012. The transfer of employees out of the Council through a TUPE arrangement has not featured in 2013/2014, which explains the overall difference in turnover rates between the two years.

10.      Excluding TUPE however, the overall turnover of employees in the Council has remained relatively constant over the two year period, with only a small increase of 7% from 435 leavers in 2012/13 to 468 leavers in 2013/14.

11.      Resignations from the Council have increased from 4.77% to 5.26% since 2012/13.  This is an area where exit interviews will continue to play a part in determining the reasons why people choose to leave employment with the Council. Further work on exit interviews will be developed and presented at future meetings.

12.      The number of redundancies has reduced from 0.65% to 0.26% of the overall Council headcount. Members will be aware of the Council's positive approach to managing change, which helps to mitigate, avoid and reduce the incidents of compulsory redundancy.

13.      Dismissals have increased from 0.79% to 1.29% (from 43 to 70 employees) with the dismissal reasons being conduct/performance, ill health and end of temporary contract. End of temporary contracts have accounted for 44 of the 70 dismissals.

14.      A more detailed breakdown of reasons for leaving is set out in the table below:

	2012/2013		2013/2014
Leaving reason	Number of leavers	% of headcount	Number of leavers	% of headcount
Dismissal	43	0.79%	70	1.29%
Retirement	68	1.25%	66	1.22%
Resignation	259	4.77%	285	5.26%
Redundancy	35	0.65%	14	0.26%
TUPE out	123	2.27%	0	0.00%
Other	30	0.55%	33	0.61%
Total	558	10.28%	468	8.64%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15.      Appendix 1 identifies the reasons that make up the leaving categories.

Turnover by occupational groups

16.      The number of Senior Managers leaving the Council has remained consistent in 2013/14, with the number of leavers from the Professional occupational group reducing slightly from 35 people in 2012/13 to 27 in 2013/14.

17.      The difference between the number of Technicians and Support Staff leaving in 2012/13 and 2013/14 may be explained by the number of employees transferring out under TUPE arrangements as mentioned above.

18.      In Schools, the number of Teachers leaving employment has increased from 5.19% to 8.49% (of all teachers) and the number of Support Staff leaving has increased from 8.82% to 9.69% (of all Support Staff).

19.      A breakdown of the number of employees leaving and their occupational profile is shown below:

				2012/13		2013/14
Workforce profile (*or equivalent)				Number of leavers	% of head-count	Number of leavers	% of head-count
Corporate		Chief Officer	JNC terms	6	13.19%	6	14.29%
		Senior Manager	J/K* or over	19	13.01%	19	12.38%
		Professional	H/I*	35	8.58%	27	6.83%
		Technician	E/F/G*	115	14.05%	68	8.40%
		Support Staff	A/B/C/D*	204	15.40%	127	10.13%
Corporate total				379	6.98%	247	13.82%
Schools		Head Teacher	H/T Terms	14	9.33%	11	7.17%
		Teachers	Teacher Terms	53	5.19%	87	8.49%
		Technician	E/F/G*	36	5.50%	35	5.17%
		Support Staff	A/B/C/D*	76	8.82%	88	9.69%
Schools total				179	3.3%	221	6.66%
			Grand total	558	10.28%	468	8.64%

 

Turnover by Directorate

20.      The turnover in each Directorate (including Schools) has increased, except in Learning and Skills, Social Services and Development Services where the number of leavers has decreased from 2012/13 to 2013/14.

21.      The considerable decrease in the number of leavers in Development Services can be explained by the TUPE transfer of Leisure Centre staff in 2012 and so a comparison between reporting periods would not be a true representation.

22.      Development Services has the highest rate of turnover for the period in relation to the average headcount of the Directorate (41 leavers from an average headcount of 259 employees). This is followed by the turnover rate for Corporate and Customer Services (12 leavers from an average headcount of 96 employees).

23.      A table showing the turnover rate of each Directorate is shown below and a further breakdown of each Directorate into Services can be found in Appendix 2.

	2012/2013		2013/2014
Directorate	Number of leavers	% of total Directorate headcount	Number of leavers	% of total Directorate headcount
Corporate & Customer Services	8	7.5%	12	12.5%
Development Services	154	44.3%	41	15.8%
Resources	20	6.8%	23	7.7%
Visible Services & Housing	64	8.7%	66	9.1%
Learning & Skills	77	11.6%	57	8.6%
Social Services	56	9.3%	48	7.8%
Schools	179	6.7%	221	8.0%
Total	558	10.3%	468	8.6%

 

Turnover in 'hotspot' areas

24.      One of the main areas identified in Theme V of the Workforce Plan 2013-2017 is the recruitment and retention of employees in key occupational groups. Overall, the turnover in areas that have been identified as 'hotspots’ has been relatively slow in comparison with 2012/13.

25.      Whilst this has been an obvious consequence of the economic recession, it is also the case that salaries for many of these 'hotspot' positions was improved as a result of the job evaluation exercise.

26.      Members will be aware however of the need to be attentive to recruitment and retention issues in these key areas, which will continue to be monitored on an ongoing basis.

27.      The table below shows the specific areas identified for consideration and their turnover rates in 2013/14:

Occupation	Average headcount	Number of leavers	% of headcount
Social Workers Children's	51	3	5.9%
Social Workers Adults	28	1	3.6%
Social Workers Mental Health	26	1	3.8%
Environmental Health Officers	21	2	9.5%
ICT Professionals	50	2	4.0%
Planning Officers	19	2	10.5%
Legal Professionals	13	1	7.7%
Trading Standards Officers	9	1	11.1%
Occupational Therapists	9	0	0.0%
Engineering	26	7	26.9%
Total	252	20	7.9%

 

Turnover by age profile

28.      Members will note that over both reporting periods the highest proportion of leavers were aged 60-65 years, as would be expected when employees near retirement age.

29.      The second highest number of leavers were those aged 20-24 years (19.6% of all 20-24 years employed in the Council), followed by 16-19 year olds (16.3% of all 16-19 year olds) and 25-29 year olds (14.9% of all 25-29 year olds). This is a reduction in numbers of leavers from the previous reporting period.

30.      An important theme within the Workforce Plan is the need to ensure effective responses to recruitment issues and Members will be aware of the Council's challenge to increase the numbers of younger workers relative to the wider workforce. This includes our approach to graduate and apprenticeship recruitment, and an increased focus on succession planning and staff engagement strategies.

31.      A breakdown of employee turnover by age profile is set out below:

		2012/2013		2013/2014
	Age band (years)	Number of leavers	% of headcount of age category	Number of leavers	% of headcount of age category
	16-19	8	25.8%	4	16.3%
	20-24	50	20.4%	48	19.6%
	25-29	84	18.2%	67	14.9%
	30-34	65	12.0%	54	10.1%
	35-39	49	8.0%	40	6.6%
	40-44	40	4.8%	37	4.5%
	45-49	55	6.3%	52	5.9%
	50-54	53	6.7%	37	4.8%
	55-59	44	7.2%	50	7.9%
	60-65	94	27.6%	68	20.3%
	65+	16	16.4%	11	9.7%
	Total	558	10.3%	468	8.6%

 

Turnover in wider comparison

32.      To compare the turnover rates of the Council in context, the CIPD Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey (2013) reported that the overall turnover rate across all sectors in the UK is 11.9%, while the turnover rate for the public sector is 9.4%. Similarly, XpertHR Labour Turnover Rates survey (2013) reported that their survey suggested the overall turnover rate within the UK is 8.9%.

33.      According to the workforce benchmarking feedback ("Measuring Up - Workforce 2012-13" published by the Local Government Data Unit and Welsh Local Government Association), the average turnover rate in local authorities in Wales was 9.11% in 2012/13.

34.      The turnover rate for the Vale of Glamorgan Council for 2013/14 is below all of these comparisons with an overall turnover of 8.64%.

Resource Implications (Financial and Employment)

35.      The incidence of a high turnover has significant resource implications and places constraints on the ability to deliver a high quality service provision. The need to retain skilled and experienced staff is important as the Council responds to ongoing financial pressures, especially in areas where the Council continues to experience difficulties in recruiting, as highlighted in the Workforce Plan.

Sustainability and Climate Change Implications

36.      There are no sustainability and climate change implications directly arising from the content of this report.

Legal Implications (to Include Human Rights Implications)  

37.      All legal implications including the Human Rights Act and Data Protection Act will have been considered within the implementation of policy provisions.

Crime and Disorder Implications

38.      There are no crime and disorder implications directly arising from the content of this report.

Equal Opportunities Implications (to include Welsh Language issues)

39.      Any turnover has the potential to impact the workforce profile and diversity of the Council. A stringent recruitment and selection policy, along with the Public Sector Equality Duty Action Plan, is in place to ensure equal opportunities in the recruitment and replacement of any leavers, ensuring the Council remains compliant with its obligations under the Equality Act.

Corporate/Service Objectives

40.      The Council should be mindful of the impact of turnover rates on the Council's ability to deliver corporate objectives.

Policy Framework and Budget

41.      This report is a matter for the Executive decision by the Cabinet.

Consultation (including Ward Member Consultation)

42.      The overall turnover and directorate figures are reported quarterly through the Corporate Indicators Quarterly Performance

Relevant Scrutiny Committee

43.      Corporate Resources

Background Papers

Appendix 1 - Breakdown of leaving reasons.

Appendix 2 - Breakdown of Directorate leavers by Services (April 2013 to March 2014)

 

Contact Officer:

Reuben Bergman, Head of Human Resources

 

Officers Consulted

Shared with the Corporate Management Team

Adrian Unsworth, Operational Manager - Human Resources

 

Responsible Officer:

Siân Davies, Managing Director