Council employees will be given an extra ‘wellbeing’ day in recognition of their outstanding efforts in responding to the coronavirus pandemic over the last two years.
The announcement was made following agreement at a special meeting of North Lanarkshire Council on Thursday, June 9, to enable employees to take a one-off ‘wellbeing’ day as leave before the end of December 2023.
This includes the many home carers, teachers, support workers, community learning and development workers, active schools and leisure staff who supported the hubs that were set up to provide childcare for keyworkers over lockdown.
As the only council to continue a full waste collection service over lockdown, the teams of refuse staff were working round the clock.
Critical frontline workers such as home carers, will also be given additional expenses support to help with the ongoing cost of living crisis. Employees who are required to use their own vehicles, including homecare workers and other staff who support critical work in communities, will be given extra financial travel allowances to help tackle increasing fuel costs.
Jordan Linden, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council told Lanarkshire Live : “I want to thank all our employees and say how proud we are of the incredible work, effort and dedication they have shown. Some have made a huge difference to the lives of families at a very challenging time and this extra ‘wellbeing’ day of annual leave is a small token to show our appreciation for the work they have done in supporting our communities.
“We are also pleased to have worked with the trade unions to help improve travel expenses for frontline staff at a time that fuel costs and all living costs are spiralling.
“We know people are struggling to meet their bills with huge rises in energy and fuel costs and that many people, including council staff will be facing financial hardship. We want to try and do whatever we can to mitigate these pressures with the powers available to us.
“Our staff are vital to our vision of improving services for the people and communities of North Lanarkshire, and my administration will always support them to do that.”
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