More council staff go off work sick due to ‘wear and tear’

Bosses are warned absences could affect services

The number of council staff missing work because of psychological or physical “wear and tear” has risen compared to the same period last year... despite efforts to tackle the problem.

Absence statistics from April to June show leave due to psychological illness has increased to 26.5 per cent - compared against 24.7 per cent in the same quarter in 2017.

Meanwhile, musculoskeletal and joint disorders – typically associated with more manual work - have risen marginally from 23.6 to 23.8 per cent.

A report on the absence statistics for the quarter explained “there is a risk that sickness absence levels will adversely impact on the council both financially and in terms of service delivery.”

However, council chiefs have given assurances they were exploring all avenues as they look to improve the overall absence rate of the period, which stands at 2.8 days lost per full- time equivalent employee.

This is 1.01 days above the council’s target figure of 1.79 and 0.26 days more than the same period last year.

The council has tackled psychological absences by providing a range of support services that employees can be referred to for assistance. Time for Talking is the local authority’s counselling service provider and has also delivered mindfulness courses.

At yesterday’s audit, risk and scrutiny board, Steven Fanning, principal HR adviser, said: “We still continue to push forward and we got a lot of response in relation to the mindfulness courses.

“It’s not necessarily generated by the workplace but we can give them the tools to cope with it.”

Four Scottish Mental Health First Aider courses will also be held up until December, while each council service will identify a senior manager an “absence champion”. They will work closely with the human resources department to manage “bespoke strategies” which support attendance within their service.

Mr Fanning added: “We’re looking at how we can support the people that are off and put strategies in place to improve.”

The council is tackling musculoskeletal and joint disorders by providing a physiotherapy service, which can be accessed by all employees.

Local authority jobs which include manual handling are reviewed on an ongoing basis to maintain safe working practices.

Renfrewshire Council said: “We recognise the key role our staff play in ensuring the council is able to deliver highquality services and we provide a wide range of support to assist employees and support their attendance. The council has held the Healthy Working Lives Gold Award since 2008 in recognition of our long-term commitment to improving workplace health and well-being and we continually review our Healthy Working Lives programme to ensure we are meeting the needs of our workforce.

“We place a significant importance on ensuring good mental health and make counselling services and cognitive behavioural therapy available to all staff that may need it and, through our occupational health provider, we also make physiotherapy available for all employees to ensure they are fit and able to carry out their role.”