HUMAN RESOURCES

Director, Debbie Byrne

HR Governance

• HR continued to be responsible for ongoing compliance with employment legislation, national standards, HSE Circulars/Directives and Best Practice guidelines.

• A main priority for Human Resources in 2022 was achieving Goal 3: Valuing & Investing in Our Staff” with people’s wellbeing at the heart of our culture in St. Michael’s House.

• Our success in 2022 is solely accredited the exceptional hard work and commitment of staff in the provision of support and care to the adults and children.

Employee Wellbeing

In 2022, there was a focus on employee wellbeing to support the safety, health, welfare, and wellbeing of our staff in their work:

• A cross discipline wellbeing committee was established in 2022 with its purpose to support activities and resources that encourage a culture of health and wellness in St. Michael’s House.

• SMH introduced an employee wellbeing bulletin for 2022. The bulletin provides staff with quarterly wellbeing initiatives and activities to support staff wellbeing and create a culture where staff feel connected with their colleagues.

• Quarterly wellbeing forums with all staff were held in 2022. These forums offered consultations sessions to give our staff a voice on innovative and creative wellbeing initiatives to support both them and their colleagues in their daily roles.

• SMH has a wellbeing online resource. This is a bank of supportive resources for staff experiencing increased levels of anxiety and distress. In the past 12 months we have had 50% (900 staff) of our workforce avail of this resource.

Absence Management

Non Covid related absenteeism presented as a significant challenge in a post pandemic environment in 2022. This required a collaborative management approach between Operations and Human Resources. An absence management strategy was developed, and an implementation plan rolled out in March 2022 to address increasing absenteeism trends. Effective management of attendance continues to be a key requirement in the provision of a cost effective and high-quality service.

Employee Relations

• The HR Department continued to guide and advise management and staff on employment, equality rights and industrial relation matters.

Recruitment and Selection Highlights

• Recruitment and Retention was an ongoing challenge for St. Michael’s House throughout 2022:

• A review and restructuring of our recruitment processes was implemented across operations in 2022.

Pensions

• The pension team engaged with 124 members. Staff whole time equivalent

• At the end of 2022 St. Michael’s House had 1,449 whole time equivalent posts.

• Recruitment Fairs were set up with service user involvement in Ballymun Headquarters for October and November 2022 with good results. There was also an option for candidates to interview on the day.

• The HR Department engaged with external recruitment fairs in the RDS and five nursing external recruitment fairs in 2022.

• Other recruitment initiatives included an exploration of UK and European jobs market, St. Michael’s House joint recruitment initiatives with CHO’s, involvement in CH09 International/Domestic Campaigns and advertisement of staff vacancies extensively on social media, national press, and radio.