There was a change of membership for this meeting: Councillor S Johnson replaced Councillor Walford.

In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair, Councillor Watkin, chaired the meeting. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Steele.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2018 to be submitted and signed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2018 were submitted and signed.

Report of the Head of Human Resources detailing the profile of Watford Borough Council workforce from 1April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

The committee received a report of the Head of Human Resources

The Head of Human Resources introduced the report and summarised the key points. Watford Borough Council was a small organisation and therefore any changes in staffing had a significant impact on the percentages in the monitoring report. Many members of staff had not completed their equalities records. More work was needed to communicate why the data was needed by the council and what it was used for in order to reassure staff.

It was particularly noticeable that many staff members had not disclosed whether or not they considered that they had a disability. The council’s health and wellbeing strategy was to be relaunched as part of the work in this area.

Following questions, it was suggested that employees may be reluctant to disclose a disability due to fear of stigma or how the employer might respond. This was not a problem which was unique to Watford Council employees.

The question relating to disability was ‘do you consider yourself to have a disability?’ Should an employee answer yes, they are asked what their employer could do to assist. The council followed Disability Aware guidelines.

The support given to employees with a disability, such as dyslexia, depended on the individual’s needs.

The committee made a number of suggestions to improve the numbers of staff completing the information, including sending out a separate questionnaire and working with the union to raise awareness.

RESOLVED –

that the committee approves the Workforce Monitoring report.