78% of council staff happy with flexible approach to work

Richard Evans Local Democracy Reporter

An equality report has revealed 78% of one council’s staff members believe the council’s flexible approach to working improves their work-life balance.

An employment monitoring report presented to Conwy’s cabinet today (Tuesday) by Cllr Chris Cater gave a breakdown of the demographic of who the authority employs as part of a 2022/23 equality report.

Gender ratio

The report said 73% of Conwy’s workforce are female compared to just 27% male, and the figures include permanent, fixed term, and casual employees.

But the report stated many council staff were happy with the authority’s flexible approach to working.

“78% of respondents felt that flexible working opportunities allowed staff to reach their full potential and helped with balancing work and family life,” the report reads.

But a chart included in the report showed a considerable difference between the appointment rate of internal and external job applicants.

54% of internal applicants were successful in their job applications compared to 6% of external applicants getting the job.

Paper backed

169 council staff were on maternity leave during the period the information was collected, and there were 563 leavers.

According to the council report, 15% of Conwy’s permanent and fixed-term workforce are aged between 25-34; 24% between 35-44, and 27% between 45-54, or 66% in total aged between 25-54,  with 30% aged 55 and over.

There was a total of 6,456 council jobs filled. 4,521 of Conwy’s staff are in permanent and fixed-term roles, and 50.1% of the council’s staff are part-time.

88% of all part-time roles, both permanent and fixed term, continue to be held by women.

There were 71 job applications from people from ethnic minority backgrounds, 12.1% of whom were successful.

4.79% of all job applicants regarded themselves as disabled, with 17% appointed.

Cabinet member for democracy and governance Cllr Chris Cater recommended the report to cabinet, Cllr Aaron Wynne seconded the recommendation, and the paper was unanimously backed.