Employee voice and participation
To maintain an inclusive and supportive environment which promotes a culture of participation and celebrates diversity and employee voice, we have a number of methods for employees to provide feedback and to participate in improving the organisation.
Employee survey
We undertake regular employee surveys with results and learning shared across the Council.
Exit questionnaires
Exit questionnaires are voluntary. They are completed when people leave the organisation or move to another role within the organisation. The completion rate is currently low and there are opportunities to encourage a higher completion rate next year.
The HR department reviews exit questionnaires and discuss with managers if they raise any concerns.
The employee also completes information about protected characteristics. The forms are monitored to identify if the individual has given a reason for leaving that relates to their protected characteristics.
Staff networks
There are five established colleague led staff networks in the council:
- evolve (disability and neurodiversity) staff network
- identify (ethnic minority staff group)
- LCC staff carers network
- LGBTQ+ staff network
- Armed Forces staff network
There are over 200 staff members within the networks. The groups:
- give us the opportunity to engage with different communities within the workforce and are an important source of information sharing and peer support for the members
- feed into corporate diversity and staff experience networks to increase awareness and disseminate corporate updates
- provide their members with a safe space to share their experiences, a sense of belonging and support. This empowers members to discuss issues confidently with others and share successes
- access to information on each group and activities including how to join and participate are shared as part of employee induction and information is available on our open access to staff Intranet
Employee health and wellbeing group project team
Following consultation with stakeholders across the Council a new Health and Wellbeing Framework was launched in 2025.
As well as continuing to provide a range of support for employees in the key pillars of physical, mental and financial health and wellbeing the group also refocused its key priorities for the year:-
- to develop support and guidance for both managers and employes on neurodiversity including pathways on obtaining software and equipment
- to investigate the use and further develop the Personal Support Passport (PSP)
- to collect and analyse Health & Wellbeing data to help inform how we further develop our support
With regard to the above we engaged with managers, staff network representatives and IT specialists to provide clear guidance and a “stepped” support pathway for neurodivergent employees. The aim was to create a clear process from initial diagnosis. We aim to provide communications and webinars to raise awareness of this support
We were able to engage with a research team from the University of Lincoln to investigate the use of the PSP, identify barriers and make recommendations for improvements. This work continues into 2026.
We have started work on analysing health and well being data such as sickness information, Occupational Health referrals and referrals to our Counselling and Wellbeing Hub. We intend to use these insights to identify any trends and gaps in support.
Also in 2025 the group continued our work with One You Lincolnshire to offer a number of healthy lifestyle initiatives throughout the year including the 12-week physical activity programme ‘Miles Better’ and Healthy Lifestyle Checks.
In the last year the Employee Counselling and Wellbeing Hub has been working on new initiatives including:
- specialist trauma counselling (EMDR therapy)
- bookable sessions for teams to learn more about our Health and Wellbeing offer
This is in addition to the counselling support for emotional wellbeing and regular menopause cafes, menopause drop-ins and grief and loss webinars.
Financial wellbeing has been supported by promoting financial planning and pre-retirement workshops as well as offering our employees a range of staff benefits to help them save money.
The culture and leadership board
The culture and leadership board has been our key strategic leadership group for workforce issues with all council directorates represented at senior leadership level. From 2025 new arrangements are planned to refocus the board as the people strategy and culture board to drive delivery of the focus of the council’s new people strategy.
Mindful employer charter
The mindful employer charter shows our commitment to supporting employees' mental wellbeing. As a mindful employer we are committed to creating a supportive and open culture, where colleagues can talk about mental health with confidence that they will be supported.
Ageing better
A programme of work was developed by Public Health and HR to consider the support in place for our employees aged 50 plus.
The work forms part of our partnership with the Centre for Ageing Better. This is a charitable foundation, whose vision is for a society in which everyone can live a good later life. More information on the national Ageing Better charity can be found on the ageing better website, or on the partnership with Lincolnshire pages.
For the 'fulfilling work' element of the programme and as part of our commitment as an ‘age friendly employer’, we have introduced:
- the personal support passport, a tool for employees to use to share information about their personal circumstances that may affect them at work
- data analysis on the characteristics of employees who sign up for health and wellbeing support and initiatives to understand how the services may be improved
- access to age positive imagery for recruitment advertisements
- ‘your life’ MOTs to provide information to support wellbeing for your health, finances and career
This will help to improve our employees wellbeing and financial security in later life.