The current way of working in Cityclean has evolved from a series of small, non-strategic changes over several years. This way of working is no longer efficient or equitable in terms of daily tasks or resilience to deal with future legislative changes[1]. The last significant change to the service was in 2012/13. At that time, there was no fundamental change to bin collections or organisation of rounds. Progressively, these rounds no longer reflect an efficient use of resources due to changes in recycling and the growth of the city. Therefore, a review of Cityclean started in 2019 to determine changes required to address issues of a poor service.
This report presents the feedback gathered on the current service received through engagement with the workforce, including, what’s working well, what not working so well and what can be changed.
A series of introductory talks and follow up workshops were held with staff across Cityclean including refuse & recycling operatives, street cleansing crews, the Environmental Enforcement Team, the workshop, the Contact Centre and the Projects Team. Trade union representatives from both unions attended the engagement sessions.
A total of 44 sessions were held between October 2019 and February 2020, with 172 people attending. Opportunities to feedback were offered throughout the engagement period, with some making contact directly and feeding back their views, rather than attending a pre-arranged session.
Feedback identified the positive and negative aspects of the current service as well as potential measures to change or improve the service. This has been themed as below, along with actions for improvement.
|
Theme |
Proposed improvement action |
|
Varied working hours |
o Develop a proposal for aligning work hours to ensure fairness and improved service delivery o Restructure rounds and model of working |
|
Tools and work wear |
o Review the current issue of weather wear and PPE; agree changes to produce standard list. o Establish a focus group to meet and discuss PPE o Review the standard of tools issued and replacements to identify changes required |
|
Fleet |
o Deliver the fleet strategy o Encourage collaboration and consult with staff prior to purchase of new/hired vehicles |
|
Workforce |
o Develop guidelines for new staff o Develop structured and consistent approach for managing all crews o Provide on-going opportunities for workforce engagement |
|
Street cleansing rounds |
o Review rounds to determine changes possible o Align rounds with refuse and recycling collection rounds |
|
Communication |
o Develop and agree new processes with other teams to improve efficiency, clarity of roles and accountability. o Investigate the opportunity to use new technology |
Moving forward
Through the engagement, operatives and officers across Cityclean recognised there are several existing historic practices and areas that require improvement; this provides an opportunity for collaborative change. Refuse, recycling and cleansing rounds require reconfiguration not only to address this, but also to accommodate the forthcoming legislative requirements and the council’s ambitions to increase recycling levels and become carbon neutral by 2030.
The feedback is being used to formulate the next stages of the Keeping the City Clean Review and data relating to the themes identified will the analysed. Any quick wins will be implemented. The information will be used to develop options to remodel the service and further staff engagement will take place to understand their views on each.