Recommendation for a safety ordinance to shield laborers from dangers in work-related mishaps presented to the Commission.
Leipzig City Administration Seeks Improved Overload Management
Leipzig, Germany - The Leipzig city administration is grappling with the challenges of managing overload, particularly in the context of employee illness and urban water management, as revealed in a series of recent developments.
On average, around 900 employees are absent daily due to illness alone, a significant number that underscores the need for improved overload management strategies. However, the lack of a uniform overload management system has been a recurring issue in the city administration, leading to valuable information about connections between overload and sick leave being lost.
In an effort to address this, the Green faction of the city council has proposed a motion to introduce a standardized overload management system. The proposed system aims to record and process overload reports from municipal employees, with binding reaction deadlines, and integrate overload management with occupational health management (OHM) to develop preventive measures.
The Green faction's application includes three central demands: the development of a uniform, digital reporting procedure for overload reports; the creation of a concept for targeted support measures in areas with above-average sick leave rates; and the strengthening of the city administration as an attractive employer and securing the quality of administrative services for citizens.
The most frequent causes of illness, according to the personnel report, are persistent professional overload, leadership behavior, or private matters. Chantal Schneiß, spokesperson for workers' rights in the Alliance Greens faction, emphasizes the importance of identifying structural problems and taking targeted measures to relieve employees.
The administration agrees in principle to enable a central recording of overload reports in the future, but the lack of a specific time frame for this raises doubts about a timely implementation. The Green faction highlights the high priority of this measure due to the high sick leave rate in the administration, as presented in the personnel report.
In the realm of urban water management, Leipzig's overload management focuses significantly on flood protection through advanced risk modeling and mapping, facing challenges from extreme weather impacts. The city relies on advanced simulation and risk mapping technology to analyze and manage flood risks caused by extreme weather events such as intense rainfall and flash floods.
The city's flood risk management strategies include the development of digital, two-dimensional hydrodynamic models to simulate surface runoff and flooding patterns at a high resolution, the use of intense rainfall risk maps as a foundational tool for municipal flood risk management, and the implementation of structural adaptations such as flood-resistant doors and seals in vulnerable buildings to mitigate internal flood damage.
Despite the ongoing challenges, the Green faction finds it problematic that funds for measures to implement new leadership guidelines have been cut and are planned to be cut again. Chantal Schneiß, spokesperson for workers' rights in the Alliance Greens faction, emphasizes the importance of identifying structural problems and taking targeted measures to relieve employees.
The Green faction's motion to introduce a standardized overload management system is set to be voted on August 27th, directly linked to the recently proposed and majority-rejected recall of the temporary advisory committee "Strategic Personnel Matters" and the demand to actively involve staff in the task criticism process.
Employees know the daily procedures best and should contribute valuable suggestions for process optimization, according to Chantal Schneiß. The Green faction considers the introduction of a systematic overload management system to be indispensable, given the ongoing budget consolidation and the city council's goal of reducing the number of positions by 500.
- To promote workplace-wellness and health-and-wellness among employees, the Green faction proposes a motion to introduce a standardized overload management system that incorporates fitness-and-exercise and mental-health considerations, aiming to reduce professional overload as one of the most frequent causes of illness.
- The Green faction's plans for the overload management system also include preventing sick leave by identifying and addressing structural problems in leadership behavior, offering targeted support measures in areas with above-average sick leave rates, and strengthening the city administration as an attractive employer.
- The motion to implement a standardized overload management system will be voted on August 27th, with the goal of improving not only urban water management through flood protection but also employee health and well-being, ultimately benefiting the mental-health and overall quality of life for municipal employees and the citizens they serve.
