38,000 days special leave for Fife Council staff due to COVID

Members of the region’s environment, finance and communities scrutiny committee highlighted the issue as a particular priority for the local authority in light of what has happened over the last two years, not just for residents but also for the council’s near-18,000 strong cohort of staff who have had to deal with the pandemic’s impact - personally and professionally.

A new report has revealed that there were around 38,000 days over the space of a year - December 1, 2020, to November 30, 2021 - where employees were given special leave as they could not attend work due to COVID-related reasons, equating to an average of approximately two days per employee.

But while staff shortages have had an impact on services, the emphasis moving forward appears to be on ensuring the mental health and wellbeing of staff either still working from home or preparing to return to work in some shape or form.

Barbara Cooper, human resources service manager, said the number of employees seeking counselling had dropped off during the pandemic, leading to fears the true impact may be realised further down the line.

And she added: “My suspicion is that we’ll see the impact coming through for some time.”

Figures presented to committee noted that absence had reduced between 2019/20 and 2020/21 by an average of 1.3 working days, although Ms Cooper confirmed rolling 12-month information to October 2021 indicates absence levels are rising again and “quite steeply”.

A number of measures are in place to try to alleviate the situation in relation to mental health issues, ranging from in-work training courses on mental health, individual stress risk assessments and signposting to other agencies.

Ms Cooper said: “Employees, including supervisors, are fatigued and this is starting to be more visible.”

Councillor Neil Crooks, convener of Kirkcaldy, said: “The whole two years of working from home has been stressful for everybody and it does have a significant impact on mental health.

“It’s something we have to keep a close eye on because there are implications.”

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