Aberdeen City Council will cut its top-paid director posts despite fears the move could lead to burnout and cause other under-pressure executives to quit.
The local authority will go from four directors to three when finance boss Steve Whyte retires in April.
News of Mr Whyte’s departure was revealed to staff last year, making him the fourth senior employee to leave since the change in political leadership in 2022.
Moving to the new staffing structure, along with merging two chief officer roles into one existing post, will save the council £276,000 a year.
But there are concerns that the saving could come at a cost to the remaining top dogs.
What are the three director roles?
Here is how the new structure will work.
The remaining roles include director of corporate services, who will cover the council’s finance and staff management among various others responsibilities.
A “place director” will be in charge of Aberdeen’s transport, environment and net zero strategies along with major projects such as the city centre masterplan.
Finally, a children, families and communities director will look at education, social work and family support, as well as managing the council’s housing stock.
Why is the change needed?
The organisational change was considered at a meeting this week.
Chief executive Angela Scott said the council would be “thoughtful” about the impact on the remaining chiefs.
She added: “We will be very thoughtful about the wellbeing of all chief officers and the pressures that they face.
“We will continue to try and balance rightly the expectation of delivery.”
The council’s top-paid official said they wanted to make sure each officer had “equal” control and admitted there is a “disproportionate balance” at the moment.
‘Where is the straw that breaks the camel’s back?’
But councillor Marie Boulton urged the council to reassess the situation due to concerns that piling more work on fewer people could lead to burnout.
She said: “It wasn’t that long ago we had five directors and now we are proposing a three director model.
“I know the hours that senior management teams put in… Where is the straw that breaks the camel’s back and we continue to lose good officers?
“It affects their health with stress and various other things, it’s about balance.”
The councillor even pleaded with Mr Whyte to stay for another month or two – but her efforts were unsuccessful.
She also wondered if the proposed £260k saving was just “false economy”.
“Are there other more entrepreneurial ways we can cover that other than just to salami slice the executive team and put pressure on the existing ones?” she asked.
“I just can’t put my hand on my heart and say that I accept this report without at least looking at an alternative model first.”
She was also worried that officers would be so laden with work that they wouldn’t have time to be creative and “scan the horizon”.
Councillor Jennifer Stewart suggested the council should reach out to the Scottish Government to ask for more resources to help.
Senior staffing change the ‘right way forward’
But council co-leader Ian Yuill said the local authority couldn’t afford to continue with the existing business model.
“As one of our four directors is leaving shortly, we will be reducing to three directors and that requires a change in the organisational structure at a senior level.
“Mr Whyte ain’t staying, he’s got a date and he’s going and we need to move to a three director model before he does.”
The co-leader told the chamber that the SNP/Lib Dem partnership believed the proposal was the “right way forward”.
Mr Yuill also said the concern over staff workloads was an issue all members in the chamber shared.
A report will come back to full council later this year on work to improve diversity in recruitment, including leadership and management roles, and what further options there may be.
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