Aberdeen council chiefs have started a hearts and minds campaign to win round staff to the “council of the future” model as the authority looks to slash £125million from its budget in the next five years.
A massive transformation of the authority has begun, following approval at the August full council meeting with the authority taking £15million from reserves to fund the process.
Four new directors are currently being recruited, on salaries of around £115,000 each, to drive the massive changes.
But it has recently emerged that the facilities budget, including the likes of cleaners, caterers, school crossing patrollers and building repairs, faces a £24million cut under the proposals.
Unions have expressed scepticism over the cuts and are fearful of massive job losses from the authority’s 8,000 strong workforce.
New reports to the council’s transformation committee reveal there have been 39 “engagement sessions” with staff on the plan between September 11 and October 23, with a further 12 scheduled for this month.
A total of 2,379 workers have been involved in offering their opinions of the plans.
The report reads: “The vast majority of participants recognised the need for change; much of the early discussion focused on staff sharing stories of inefficiency, waste and frustrations with current working practices.
“A good proportion of staff were positive about what was being proposed and welcomed the opportunity to get involved at this early stage.
“Others were concerned about job losses, the impact of (voluntary redundancy) on workload and stress, the impact of digital on our more vulnerable customers and the cost of going digital.
“Only a very small minority sought to maintain the status quo.”
Leading councillors have been critical of the Scottish Government funding for the city which has consistently ranked as either among the lowest or the lowest in the country.
But critics have questioned whether the authority is spending its budget wisely.
In a consultation document sent out to staff, seen by the Press and Journal, the council’s chief executive Angela Scott writes: “Whilst it is clear from the staff engagement undertaken to date, that the majority of staff accept the case for change, I recognise the scale and pace of the organisational change journey that we are now on will be creating uncertainty and anxiety.”
