2015-11-10 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                           10 NOVEMBER 2015


Our People
 In relation to WH&S, our performance is not up to scratch. The CEO requested an
   independent review of our WH&S performance in the first quarter of this financial year. We
   scored poorly, particularly in relation to our WH&S policies, systems and procedures which
   are still a work in progress. The independent review found that the overall WH&S culture was
   quite good (particularly in the outdoor workforce) but that our policies, systems and written
   procedures are not up to standard.
 While the number of incident free days remains at or just below the benchmark during this
   period, the average duration of time lost due to injury is very high compared to other like
   Councils. It is also higher than last year. This is probably reflective of an older workforce
   where injuries can sometimes take longer to recover.
 Our WH&S scheme rate is increasing but is still lower than other Councils in category D
   (similar Councils to Noosa Council). The best performing Council in that category has a
   scheme rate of 0.905% while the worst is 2.083%. Our scheme rate increased from 1.242%
   to 1.366% (as a percentage of total wages).
 WH&S is a high priority for the CEO. Our Executive Manager has taken a “hands on”
   approach to resolve these issues.
 Personal leave taken is continuing to be monitored closely and has shown significant
   improvement since this time last year. It is more than 50% lower than 12 months ago as can
   be seen from the year on year comparison that is now included in the graphs. While
   seasonal (with more personal leave being taken in winter) the year on year amount of
   personal leave taken is significantly reduced.
 We have changed the KPI measuring annual leave to focus on “Accrued Annual Leave
   Weeks (median)” but we also monitor the number of staff who have excess (over 8 weeks)
   annual leave weeks accumulated. We have made a concerted effort to reduce the number of
   staff with over 8 weeks annual leave but progress has been slow. There are still 31 staff with
   more than 8 weeks of annual leave reflecting some work areas where there has been high
   workloads over the last 2 years (e.g. Finance).

Our Systems and Processes
 We have a focus on improving our systems to allow more online transactions to enable our
   community to have 24/7 access to various services. In relation to online payments, the KPI
   shows an increasing trend on a month by month comparison to last year. Online payments
   tend to spike during rate periods, dog registration renewals etc.
 However, requests for services which are lodged online (as a percentage of total requests)
   are still quite low. Currently, only around 12% of customer requests are lodged online. It
   would be good to increase this to 40% over the next year or two. Recently, the Leadership
   Team spent some time focusing on how we can make online service requests more customer
   friendly, thus encouraging more usage. Some changes to online forms, layout etc have
   already been made to make the process more customer friendly.
 ICT system uptime remains strong.

Our Finances
 Our financial KPIs measure solvency, investment performance and outstanding rates. All of
   these KPIs continue to be on track.
 Council receives a financial performance report at the end of each month which provides a
   more detailed analysis of Council’s financial position.




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