Minutes:
A demonstration of the People Services Dashboard was provided noting that it contains basic information from the Payroll system in a graphical representation to provide intelligence about the organisation’s staff, broken down by directorate, and service areas. It is suitable for workforce planning and identifying patterns and trends in e.g. length of service, age profile, overtime and sickness absence
The Dashboard will be on The Hub and available for managers. It will contain live data representing an improvement from the historical quarterly reports currently in use.
Following a presentation of the People Services Dashboard, questions were asked as follows:
It was queried if it is possible to compare data year on year to identify changes and trends. In response, it was explained that this is not available yet due to the fluidity of the organisation structure it will not always be possible to compare like with like.
Whilst the dashboard information (types of staff, trends etc.) was welcomed, a Member commented that long term patterns would be more meaningful. In response it was confirmed that the HR and Payroll system can provide historical information for comparison purposes.
A Member noted the high level of absences due to neck and back injury, also due to psychological issues in schools. It was queried if it is possible to refine the reasons to identify trends that should be addressed by managers e.g. liaison with the Health and Safety Manager. It was confirmed that this information is available. The Committee was reminded that the dashboard provides real time information but that reports can also be provided from the dashboard for DMTs to enable analysis of trends, hotspots and for planning purposes. It was added that the HR team also provides managers with templates and guidance, and that there is also an Attendance and Wellbeing Strategic Group that analyses the data on a quarterly basis to provide leadership with information and guidance on absence levels, trends and reasons.
In response to the question about how the information is provided and who inputs it to the system, it was confirmed that it is obtained from the HR and Payroll system. The original data comes from a variety of sources e.g. sickness is input by managers.
A Member questioned how consistency is achieved and it was explained that managers make choices electronically from pre-set drop-down menus. It was confirmed that data quality is part of corporate performance indicators and the Officer’s role. It was added that Internal Audit will conduct a review of corporate performance indicators annually on a sample basis and those areas checked will include a check of data quality. It is not Internal Audit’s responsibility to check the accuracy of all data entered into this HR & Payroll system. It was acknowledged that there is also an annual payroll audit.
In response to a question it was explained that it is straightforward to provide information to identify patterns of absence to equip managers to effectively manage absence with appropriate advice.
A member queried the definition of long and short term sickness, and if the number of days sickness absence per directorate will be defined. It was explained that absences over 20 days are classed as long term. It was also confirmed that it was possible to identify sickness absence data/days by directorate and that the dashboard includes a thermometer as a visual representation. This is useful as some departments are bigger than others so the results may otherwise appear distorted.
A Member asked if there was too much data being requested and commented that input might not be a priority for managers so may affect accuracy. It was explained that the manager has to take ownership of the data. It was agreed that there is a concern that managers may not add the data correctly or in a timely way. This could lead to potential problems such as under/overpayments; the Dashboard is only as good as the quality of the information input.
The Officer was thanked for the demonstration of the Dashboard and for answering questions. It was remarked that interpretation and quality of data was key.