Workload ‘taking its toll on staff’
SOCIAL workers in a South Wales authority are juggling impossible workloads, a union has said, as increasing numbers are taking time off due to stress.
Stress has been revealed as the number one cause of absence at Vale of Glamorgan Council, where more and more staff are having to take time off work.
Rising staff absence rates across all departments at the authority meant an average of 10.14 days work were lost per full-time council employee, including schools, in 2017-18 – up from 8.8 days the year before.
Stress was the most common reason for absence across the authority, accounting for 29.2% of all staff sickness in 2017-18, up from 23.4% the year before.
And stress was the reason for 38% of absences in social services, 29% in schools, 30% in corporate resources, and 25% in housing services.
Andrew Woodman, Unison Cymru Wales regional organiser, said: “It’s no surprise to Vale of Glamorgan council employees that stress is the number one cause of sickness absence among social workers.
“These highly-skilled people, dedicated to helping vulnerable people in their communities, juggle often impossible workloads.
“Vale social workers tell Unison they do not feel supported by their employer in a very pressurised working environment or trusted to make the right decisions. They complain the council is quick to apportion blame rather than deal with systemic problems within social services and its funding.”
Vale social services lost an average 14.81 days per full-time employee due to sickness in 2017-18 – up from 11.32 days the previous year.
Mr Woodman added: “The unhealthy working culture means it’s very difficult to recruit and retain the right quality of staff. This leads to an over-reliance on agency staff and temporary workers which cannot be good for service users and the local community.”
But the council says there is no substance to Mr Woodman’s remarks and that its staff turnover and stressrelated absence is lower than the Welsh average.
More than two-thirds – 69% – of the absences last year were long-term, defined as more than four weeks.
Most long-term absences at the council - 37.8% - were down to stress last year, up from 30.4% in 2016-17.
The figures do not specify whether the stress is work-related or non workrelated, but the council will look to record this data in the future.
In 2017-18 Vale of Glamorgan Council had the 11th-lowest absence rate for all authorities across Wales.
The council says employees reporting stress and anxiety are automatically referred to an occupational health team for advice and offered counselling support. It says the rise in general sickness absence over the last year reflects an increase in flu-related absence.
A new employee assistance programme to support those on sickness absence has been introduced and the council has said it has also strengthened its staff engagement significantly over the last 12 months.
Lance Carver, Vale of Glamorgan council director of social services, said: “The issues raised by Mr Woodman have not been raised by the local Unison branch who represent our employees.
“While I note the inherent stress involved in working with people with complex difficulties and rising demand I do not believe there is any substance to the remarks he has made.
“The evidence from our staff engagement sessions and anonymous surveys indicate the opposite position with staff in social services reporting high levels of trust in being able to get on with their jobs.
“Our turnover and sickness rates are actually lower than average among Welsh local authorities as are incidents of stressrelated absence.”