Recruitment issues could last for years admits council

RECRUITMENT problems are hitting

Fife Council with difficulty finding people to fill key roles.

Executive director of finance Eileen Rowand reported financial underspends in several services due to vacancies not being filled and workers leaving for better-paid jobs elsewhere.

At a meeting of the cabinet committee last Thursday, former council leader David Alexander said: “There’s a fair bit of savings coming from staff vacancies, that’s the same across the whole public sector, and part of it is folk retiring after COVID – they’ve done their bit.

“But I’m also hearing we’re losing people to higher-paid jobs elsewhere in industry, like IT and even drivers, so do you anticipate that happening for the next three or four years?

“If so, what can we do to get back to our full potential workforce?”

Ms Rowand replied: “I do expect it to continue, unfortunately, as we can’t recruit in key areas and we need people to deliver the services.

“I’m certainly seeing it across my area and in frontline services, health and social care, grounds maintenance and planning, it’s across a variety of posts so we’re trying to look at different ways of recruiting.

“We’re moving away from more traditional methods and using social media more and where there are hardto-recruit areas, managers are working closely with HR on new strategies.”

She added: “We are losing people because they’re moving to the health service and private sector as their pay is more attractive but also because people can work remotely now, they can work further afield and don’t have to stay employed within Fife.”

The council saves money by not filling vacancies and paying wages but she insisted that was not a deliberate ploy and they were trying hard to recruit.