Recruitment in the Public Sector – PPMA

30 November Roundtable – Local Government Recruitment and Retention – A Vision for 2030

PPMA — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 13:58:46 +0000

Hello PPMA members and friends

At the end of November our good friends and supporters Commercial Services Group, together with help from us, held a round table event for a discussion around the possible recruitment and retention challenges of the future. CSG have written an initial article about the outcomes from the session with a more detailed synopsis to follow soon. Below is the the first article and we hope that you’ll find it valuable.

We were delighted to hold another roundtable with our partners PPMA following on from London and Manchester earlier this year. Our hosts Sheffield City Council welcomed CSG, APSE and our Chief Executives and Human Resources colleagues from councils across the country to their stunning council buildings in the city centre. Our objective was to take forward some of our discussions exploring what local government can do to raise a more positive profile, attract new candidates particularly the young into the sector and plan for the changes that are undoubtedly coming. We wanted to explore how we could ensure the sector is fit for the future and take advantage of developments such as further automation and AI.

Whilst acknowledging that councils are working hard to fill roles, for many it can feel like an ever-increasing merry-go-round being forced to adopt unsustainable practices simply to fulfil short-term needs. All councils have limited resources therefore the question is how to make the most impact not just for now but to allow for planning for the future. The group saw it incumbent on Human Resources Directors and their teams to look for ways to help break the cycle contributing to this but they need the council to support them. Some of the themes explored included the limitations of the existing recruitment process – post a job and they will come! One colleague challenged that surely this is now a broken model.

The discussion also explored broadening the horizon of both job seekers to consider local government and hiring managers to be open to different types of candidates. Hiring managers find comfort in detailed job descriptions with essential criteria but this often limits the number of likely interested candidates. The group discussed other options such as bringing people into the organisation not necessarily into a fixed role and letting them discover what opportunities were available within the council. This could be a much better way forward and some of our councils are looking to explore this option for certain roles. Innovations in apprenticeships and attracting more graduates were other areas explored in the two-hour discussion.

“There is no doubt that councils face challenges in the recruitment and retention space but it certainly isn’t for a lack of creative ideas and different ways of thinking. We discussed several approaches that can help take councils forward in this competitive environment. It is clear however that CEs and HRDs need the trust and support of their wider teams to try innovative solutions to attract more diverse candidates,” commented Steve Wilson, Commercial Director CSG and facilitator on the day.

Thank you to all our attendees. The roundtable will be written up in full and shared via the PPMA, APSE and CSG. We hope that by supporting these events we help create more opportunities for councils to collaborate, share their experiences and support one another. The role of collaboration specifically and the opportunities to work at regional level were highlighted as something that certainly our attendees were keen to do more of.

We will share the outputs as soon as they are published.

How Councils Can Win the War for Talent

PPMA — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 09:37:32 +0000

Hello PPMA members and friends

Last week, the MJ published an article written by PPMA President Gordon McFarlane, about the continuing difficulties in recruiting and retaining good people. It’s such an important issue that we are sharing it again as a blog post. We hope that it gives you some help and great ideas that you can use in your own organisations.

One of the biggest challenges facing local authorities today is the ability to attract and retain the people we need to deliver high quality services.

A hot labour market means we have to fight harder than ever to recruit. Inflation-busting pay rises and higher salaries in the private sector make competition tough in a number of areas, and cost of living pressures are creating acute challenges in others.

So what can councils do to win the war for talent and keep those services on stream?

From what I see talking to colleagues within the PPMA there are areas that require immediate attention.

The big picture

The nature of the labour market has changed due to expectations around flexibility and shortages in key areas.

HR will need to understand in detail the nature of the crunch in each area and create a long term plan for each service or job family.

Without effective workforce plans, Councils will struggle to put in place fit for purpose recruitment and training plans or be able to fully assess how realistic any change programmes which must be delivered due to budget cuts will be.

HR’s job is to use this data and insight to guide leaders and help them make effective workforce decisions. Even when we are in the thick of solving day-to-day challenges, we must always make a case for strategic insight and actions which deliver long term solutions.

Focus on retention

In the short term, the most important lever for local authorities is that of employee retention as this has the greatest positive impact on an organisation.

Two major drivers for people leaving are lack of opportunity and cultural differences with other sectors and local government needs a plan to overcome this.

Essex County Council has done good work in both of these areas. When it found that staff recruited from the private sector were most likely to exit within the first two years due to cultural differences, it trained managers to spot early warning signs and to intervene.

When it came to increasing retention, the team found that while some roles such like finance and legal jobs offer vertical progression within an organisation, others such as project management and HR can benefit from experience gained outside the organisation.

Recognizing this, Essex developed partnerships and shared service agreements with other public services that enable staff to move laterally and return with greater experience and knowledge.

Creating new pathways at entry level through apprenticeships gives access to a pipeline of people who you can develop in areas where you need to develop new skills. It is important to have comprehensive entry to work programmes across all levels and functions of the organisation. To avoid having to import new skills from the private sector such as climate protection and sustainable building, Essex developed an award-winning apprenticeship scheme to home-grow this talent.

Target non-pay support in order to retain people

New research from the CIPD confirms that money isn’t enough in the race for talent.

Pay increases and market supplements aren’t sustainable options and employees increasingly want to work for organisations that offer flexible working, career development opportunities and that value their wellbeing.

Find out what non-pay support your employees would like. Analyse the results by role and pay-band and devise a plan that supports all workers.

Worcestershire County Council did this with its employees as part of its new Workforce Strategy, where women are represented heavily in the workforce. It received a clear mandate from staff through its annual survey which 71.5% of the workforce completed. The response was clear, concentrate retention efforts on staff wellbeing, including a focus on menopause support. Its extensive wellbeing programme uses local resources and sponsorship to achieve high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction at a low cost. In terms of staff engagement and return on investment, the stats prove it all. 97% of those who attended the last wellbeing week said they would attend a future event and 93% of people said the session they attended was beneficial. 13% of bookings across the whole Wellbeing Week were for Menopause session and 97% of menopause session attendees found the session beneficial.

Identify and promote what makes you a great place to work

Talk to employees and recruitment agencies to verify what makes you a great employer in your local area. It could be flexible working arrangements, entry pathways, career development, company culture, impact on the community you serve, as well as employee benefits and financial rewards.

Capitalise on the fact the private sector is demanding a return to the office at a time when candidates expect greater flexibility. Identify opportunities for flexible and remote working and promote these.

Distil your offer into an employee value proposition to help promote your offer in a consistent way. Making a difference to the communities you service remains your unique selling point. Sell this hard as emotional messages have greater power to win people over than purely rational ones.

Two years ago Essex County Council reviewed which aspects of its employee value proposition appeal the most and reshaped its resourcing strategy accordingly. This included a revamp of the careers site to showcase real-life stories of employee experience, growth and career development, diversity of work, and impact of work on the community it serves.

Culture and purpose need to be communicated sensitively. For our lowest paid workers neither will put food on the table or pay the bills. Investigate ways to boost the overall financial position of all employees through employee benefits, employee savings schemes and a financial wellbeing programme. Make sure the support you offer reaches all workers. Worcestershire County Council has engaged many wellbeing partners including a Barclays to visit sites across all Worcestershire to provide financial wellbeing support from a specially adapted van reaching all its workers including front line.

To help bring your employer brand alive, partner with marketing and communication colleagues who know how to engage people in the target audiences you wish to attract. For Essex this has meant a conscious move to develop a presence on Instagram and Tik Tok to engage people and to reach as wide an audience as possible.

As you implement your action plan remember to keep listening to your people. They will often have the best ideas about the range of actions you can take as organisations to inspire others to come to and work with you.

Gordon McFarlane, PPMA President and Assistant Director, Leicestershire County Council

Comparing Apples and Pears

PPMA — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 09:23:52 +0000

Hello PPMA members and friends

Yvonne Skingle is a Director at Penna Executive Search and PPMA National Policy Lead and she shares with us her experience about the current resourcing landscape.

“It’s good to see a changing pattern in the way councils and their partners are organising the design of their services to deliver the best for local communities and customers in general. I acknowledge that outcomes will be the real prize for whether the bespoke design change has worked. Nationally no longer can you see a transferable ‘best’ organisation design model – it’s about a bespoke model that suits the ambitions of the board or group of politicians for their residents. So that really makes the work we do at Penna really exciting – we like the new and the innovative approaches to resourcing.

Here are a few thoughts to mull over. We’ve past the days of ‘people and place’ as silos, and actually I think the model of what’s right for the ‘local place’ has to be the key priority as long as it is designed in a way that means it all knits well with a wider regional focus. My personal view is that people and place has taken us to a position where they aren’t always interchangeable in supporting the communities as they should be – supporting people and considering the socio economic drivers for a place all support a good place to live, work, go to school etc.

For senior managers there is a real challenge around the language of transformation (which could mean many things), target operating models and sometimes a sense of internalism, rather than thinking about what others local, regional and nationally are doing – what elements of someone else’s plan do they want to incorporate or think about to develop our approach. There is a real need for us all to stand away from the day job and ask some questions about who else might be dealing with the same challenges – there is a good chance your resourcing consultancy will be able to steer you into some other doing good work.

Digital is the norm – but getting the right talent cross-sectorally means that the digital lead may need to be in the right organisational talent design and have a package which represents their worth in the wider market place – I’m not sure we have got this right yet. We see mayoral areas, combined authorities, garden communities, joint ventures, community interest companies, children’s trusts, STP’s all on the landscape making it a really complex environment particularly if you are a candidate looking for your next opportunity.

For leaders and providers working in the sector there is a very increased sense of stakeholder engagement and management to make change and develop joint ventures or partnerships. This feels a strong focus on soft skills sets – personal accountability, being influential, tactical and resilience are a must in today’s public sector world.

It’s exciting to be working with some councils and agencies that are cutting edge and working on the solutions together – it’s not the ‘old’ consultancy v client arrangement – it us working in a partnership way with trust and integrity to get the right outcome.

Just writing this feels like therapy about just how challenging and stimulating the public sector world has become – there are challenges for sure but never think it isn’t really exciting.”

Yvonne Skingle is a Director at Penna Executive Search and PPMA National Policy Lead

What the Public Sector Needs from the Next Government

PPMA — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 13:36:00 +0000

Hello PPMA members and friends

As we all reflect on the outcome of yesterday’s General Election, our new President Caroline Nugent wrote a powerful article outlining the key areas in the public sector she feels the new Government should focus on. The article appeared on election day in Personnel Today and the MJ and we wanted to share her messages with you here too.

“This week’s general election brings into sharp focus a number of key issues I would like our new Government to address as they take control of our policies and our budget.
Election resources

Election 2017: where do the parties stand on key employment issues?

Corbyn vs May: leadership styles in the spotlight

The party manifestos and employment law

Starting with the obvious one: the cuts, which public-sector employers have all become accustomed to working with and finding creative solutions for.

However, in some areas of our sector they are so severe that they have a detrimental impact on our service delivery as a whole.

This isn’t just about cutting a bit of back office capacity here and there, there are organisations that are missing entire areas of service delivery as a result, such as youth workers and vital social care personnel.

We need support from the new Government to tackle the longstanding misconception that there is still plenty of fat in local government that can be gradually sliced away.

Sadly, it’s the most vulnerable people in our society who will suffer in the long term if we can’t use our skills and knowledge to solve the problems that affect the quality of life of everyone in our communities.

Funding and investment

I would also advocate a review of how the funding is allocated, as currently some areas are benefiting where others are losing out. Despite this issue having been raised by local government directors of finance, there has been no movement or flexibility on this.

We need a review of how councils freeze funding formulas, to ensure that the right decisions are being made and that there isn’t simply a blanket rule applied to all councils.

There are so many fundamental operational differences within the public sector that are not currently recognised and taken into account.

In view of the ongoing cuts, many of our people in local government are ready and willing to tackle the problems creatively and make things work but lack the financial investment to do so.

If money were available for councils to “invest to save” in change programmes at their discretion, the return on investment and potential benefits at a local level could be significant.

Image problem

Our next Government also has a PR job to do in promoting the dedication and passion of our people – who are often seen as complacent but are anything but – and showcase the public sector as an attractive place to work.

Newcomers from the private sector are often amazed at how much is being done to make the public sector work both efficiently and effectively, especially given the amount of legislative processes that have to be followed.

Which brings me on to the apprenticeship levy – if ever there was a good idea in principle that needed reviewing, this is it.

I’m not suggesting a u-turn, but ensuring it’s not a poisoned chalice for the public sector should be a priority. We have been running successful apprentice programmes for over 30 years.

As it stands, the obligations on employers are too onerous, especially around procurement rules, and could prevent us from turning the levy into a positive way to attract the fresh new talent the sector so desperately needs.

The public sector has many jobs we can’t recruit for right now because they require a skillset that isn’t encouraged in schools.

We have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and with Labour’s promise of scrapping university tuition fees if they win the election, it is even more crucial that the apprenticeship levy is fit for purpose and offers young people a viable and credible alternative to higher education.

Social care and health integration

Social care is an ongoing challenge and a potential crisis waiting to happen. The current Government’s plan for integrated health and social care services in local areas has improved joint working, but has not yet achieved its potential.

Short-term solutions from whichever party is in power will only get us so far. Again, we have to look at long-term funding and recruitment issues in both areas in order to get to grips with the pressures our sector faces year in, year out.

These include staff retention and the challenges of recruiting young people into a sector that doesn’t pay well.

Brexit is likely to exacerbate this further, given our heavy reliance on foreign workers in health and social care. So whatever freedom of movement deal is made for our exit from the EU, our new Government would do well to keep this firmly in mind.

This applies equally to the exit caps due to be implemented, a set of reforms introduced as part of the funding cuts to public services which are more punitive to local government than other public services.

When you consider that many of our loyal public-sector workers have been on relatively low salaries throughout their careers compared to their private-sector counterparts, with increasing erosion of their pay and working conditions in recent years, this feels like a kick in the teeth.

Along with the apprenticeship levy, I consider this the single biggest opportunity for review by the next Government in order to support the future health of the public sector and a sustainable workforce.”

PPMA President

Video Podcast – Recruitment Challenges and the 21st Century Public Servant

PPMA — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 09:12:57 +0000

Hello PPMA members and friends

As you will all know, we work very closely with Sarah Messenger and her workforce team at the LGA and recently Karen Grave one of our Vice President’s joined Sarah and Luann Donald in their latest video newsletter ‘Workforce News’. They discussed the challenges around recruitment in the public sector and what the 21st Century Public Servant will look like. The film also includes case studies from South Hams District Council around value -based recruitment and initiatives in the East of England to recruit and retain planners. It’s a must watch for all HR professionals!