Cllr Mark A Kirk

I was delighted to read in The Times newspaper today that North Lincolnshire Council is among the best in the UK. The paper has published its Best Councils To Work For annual list and this Labour-run authority is said to be the 24th best in the UK out of more than 400. The list is based on the views of employees and the the policies and processes of employers - in effect, we have been judged by our very own staff.

More details can be viewed here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/specials/best_councils/ 

What makes this achievement even better is that we are the highest ranked council in the whole of the Yorkshire and Humber region and we are the second largest authority on the top 25 list. With gross expenditure of £290-million only Aberdeenshire Council, with £512-million, did better.

The council has been congratulated for encouraging staff to take part in voluntary activities, flexible working and job sharing. We have also been congratulated for having a low staff turnover of 7 per cent and the level of communication between staff and managers.

This is an incredible achievement. I am very proud to be the leader one of the best councils in the country and I'm very thankful to our staff for the work they do and the major part they have played in achieving this accolade. The Times report states the quality of a council's services is linked to its staff and so this is an important way to benchmark how well we work with employees. When Labour came to power in May 2007 we made a commitment to ensure our staff are well looked after and I think this survey proves that. We want people to be proud of working for the council.

Well done!