Smarter Workplaces initiative impact on employee sick leave: FOI release
- Published
- 18 November 2019
- Topic
- Public sector
- FOI reference
- FOI/201900005504
- Date received
- 22 October 2019
- Date responded
- 15 November 2019
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
Since the introduction of Smarter Workplaces, how much sick leave has been taken by employees working in Victoria Quay;
The number of sick days taken by Victoria Quay employees for the previous three years, before the introduction of Smarter Workplaces; and
What impact assessments have been done on Smarter Workplaces initiatives and if these can be shared.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested.
Our aim is to provide information whenever possible. However, this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have all of the information you have requested.
This is not held for the purposes of FOISA because the Scottish Government does not hold any sick leave information of other public bodies who are co-located within Victoria Quay.
With regard to Scottish Government information, the Smarter Workplaces Programme has been implemented in phases within Victoria Quay involving multiple business areas one floor at a time:
The third floor was completed by 13/03/2017;
The second floor was completed by 10/09/2018; and
The first floor is currently being implemented and will be completed by the end of February 2020.
Attached is a summary table showing sickness absence for the periods above and the three preceding years in Annex 1.
A current copy of an Equality Impact Assessment is already available to you at:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/smarter-workplaces-equality-impact-assessment-summary/
Annex 1
FOI/ 201900005504
| Sickness absence for Victoria Quay |
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SG Core - Victoria Quay only |
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in the 12-month period: |
Oct13- |
Oct14- Sep15 |
Oct15- Sep16 |
Oct16- Sep17 |
Oct17- Sep18 |
Oct18- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1. Scaled no. of sick days |
11507.9 |
11023.1 |
11113.3 |
13187.6 |
14378 |
16667.7 |
| 2. Total staff years |
1567.9 |
1546.7 |
1595.9 |
1689.4 |
1844.4 |
2086.2 |
| 3. Average Work Days Lost/FTE |
7.34 |
7.13 |
6.96 |
7.81 |
7.8 |
7.99 |
| 4. % of Working Days Lost |
3.30% |
3.20% |
3.10% |
3.50% |
3.50% |
3.60% |
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| Comparing the number of Scaled sick days lost over time does not take into account fluctuations in the number of staff in this group. The Average Working Days Lost/Full Time Equivalent (FTE) and percentage working days lost metrics adjust for changing group sizes and provides a consistent, comparable value. Sickness absence is always reported in 12 month blocks, this accounts for seasonality of absence. |
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| 1. Scaled no. of sick days: shows the number of working days absence in the 12 months period, i.e. calculations exclude weekends and public and privilege holidays from the period of sickness. A weighting is also applied to spells over 125 working days to account for annual leave not taken and subtract this, pro rata, from the number of days off sick (assumes a working year of 225 days). Includes all lengths of absence. |
| 2. Total staff years: shows the number of people working in the area throughout the year - sum of pro rata Full Time Equivalent calculation which takes into account the proportion of the year worked for staff who joined or left part year, e.g 0.5 years could represent a full year of 18.5 hrs per week or 6 months working as a full time employee |
| 3. Average working days lost: shows the sum of scaled sick days divided by total staff years. This gives comparable figures for any size or level of organisational unit. |
About FOI
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
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Edinburgh
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