COUNCILLORS are being asked to create additional payroll posts in Argyll and Bute, as workers report they are struggling with work-related stress.
A document also says that the authority may not be able to recruit sufficiently to replace those who are reaching retirement age over the next three to five years.
Councillors are asked to recommend an additional 3.5 full-time equivalent posts, some of which are on a temporary one-year basis, to help manage the workload.
The payroll and pensions team, which currently has a workforce of 8.5 full-time equivalent posts, manages wages for nearly 6,000 people employed by the council, liveArgyll and other organisations as well as councillors.
The report will go before the council’s policy and resources committee at its meeting on Thursday, February 19.
Executive director Kirsty Flanagan said: “The iTrent payroll solution has been operational since July 2024 and whilst the payroll and pensions team have been successful in ensuring that staff have continued to be paid on time, they have had to undertake significant additional checking and manually intervene on the system to ensure that staff have been paid correctly.
“This has significantly increased the work involved in preparing the monthly pay rolls which has resulted in processing and staff enquiry support work being delayed and backing up, negatively impacting on employees who have had to wait longer for responses to their enquiries and for issues/changes with their pay to be applied.
“In terms of the additional effort required to complete the monthly payrolls, checking of sick pay has increased from 45 to 105 hours per month and an additional 21 hours per month is required to check and correct maternity and parental leave payments.
“A further three hours [are] required each month to check and correct employee pension contribution rates and additional checks have to be undertaken on every change in circumstance for teachers including changes in posts, working hours and pay rates.
“The current situation is not sustainable, and further work will be required to either make changes to the iTrent system to ensure that it is working correctly or to develop efficient solutions to compensate for any issues which cannot be resolved in the system.”
Ms Flanagan added: “The team report that they are struggling with work related stress as a result of the demands placed on them, which are increasing as the backlogs persist with them unable to resolve the underlying problems causing them.
“It is expected that there will be a turnover of staff within the team in the next three to five years as several very experienced staff reach retirement.
“The council may not be able to recruit new staff with the necessary knowledge and experience to replace the departing staff and there is subsequently a substantial risk that the current capacity problems facing the team will worsen as replacement staff are recruited and trained, the latter step typically taking around six months to complete to a point where new staff are confident and competent in their work.
“Staffing levels within the team will be reviewed regularly to take account of changes in the team’s workload as well as opportunities to streamline processes through the increased availability and deployment of artificial intelligence and other automation tools and technologies.”
The addition of the 3.5 full-time equivalent posts is then recommended.
