Hello PPMA members and friends

Our blog post this week comes from our new sponsors Zellis who are sharing insights into one of the most critical issues facing local government today…workforce culture under pressure. In it they explore how workforce culture is shaped during periods of sustained change, why it matters more than ever, and what practical steps councils can take to protect trust, consistency and confidence as they move through reorganisation.

Councils continue to operate under sustained financial pressure, workforce shortages and continuous reform, recruitment, retention and wellbeing remain among the most pressing challenges facing the sector, as consistently highlighted by the Local Government Association’s workforce data and research.

At the same time, many councils are preparing for, or already experiencing, large scale local government reorganisation that will reshape structures, roles and ways of working across England.
In this context, workforce culture is no longer a background consideration. It is a critical factor in whether change is absorbed, resisted or sustained.

Pressure reveals the reality of workforce culture

Under sustained pressure, workforce culture stops being defined by intent and starts being defined by experience.

Across public services, people remain strongly motivated by purpose. However, confidence in the employer can fall quickly when uncertainty increases, communication is inconsistent, or basic people processes feel unreliable. The current wave of local government reorganisation brings all these pressures together at once, often over extended periods.

During mergers and transitions, employees can face unclear futures, duplication of roles, changes to organisational structures and prolonged ambiguity. In this environment, workforce culture is shaped less by formal messages and more by how consistently people are treated and how clearly decisions affecting them are explained. In practice, it is shaped directly by workforce decisions, leadership behaviour and the quality of everyday employee experience.

Workforce culture lives in everyday people experience

While it is easy to talk about culture in abstract terms, workforce culture is far more tangible.

It shows up in whether people are paid accurately, whether workforce data can be trusted, whether policies are applied consistently across legacy organisations, and whether systems support or complicate day-to-day work during transition.

Analysis of large scale public sector change from the Institute for Government highlights the risks that reorganisation places on workforce capacity, leadership bandwidth and organisational grip, particularly when structural reform sits alongside longstanding financial pressures.

For employees, these issues are not experienced as abstract delivery risks. They affect financial security, dignity and confidence. During reorganisation, these experiences often intensify as systems are aligned and processes are harmonised.

For councils navigating transition, improving workforce culture rarely starts with values statements. It starts with reducing friction in the employee experience and focusing on the people issues that matter most during change.

Leadership shapes workforce culture when change is uncomfortable

Pressure does not just test systems. It tests leaders.

Local government reorganisation places leadership behaviour under particular scrutiny. Employees notice how decisions are made, how openly uncertainty is handled, and whether people across legacy organisations experience change fairly and consistently.

Workforce culture is strengthened when leaders explain trade-offs clearly, acknowledge what is still evolving and base decisions on transparent information. It is weakened when communication is sporadic, decisions feel reactive, or different groups experience markedly different treatment.

This is why workforce culture can shift quickly during reorganisation. Leadership behaviour sends powerful signals, long before new structures formally come into being.

Systems quietly sustain or undermine workforce culture

Workforce culture is relational, but it is sustained by systems.

Reorganisation places significant strain on workforce data, payroll processes and organisational structures. Fragmented information, manual workarounds and weak baselining introduce risk at exactly the moment councils need clarity and confidence.

Where leaders have reliable workforce insight, decisions feel more equitable and credible. Employees experience greater consistency, even when outcomes are difficult. Trust builds not because change is painless, but because it is handled competently and transparently.

How councils protect workforce culture during reorganisation

Councils that maintain strong workforce culture through reorganisation tend to focus on a small number of high impact priorities.

They prioritise trust critical workforce processes such as pay accuracy, workforce data and governance. They make leadership visibility practical through regular, honest communication. They use insight rather than instinct to guide workforce decisions. And they remain realistic about what can change quickly versus what will take more time.

Most importantly, they recognise that workforce culture is shaped every day of transition, not just at formal milestones.

Workforce culture as a strategic capability

In today’s local government landscape, workforce culture is not a soft issue. It directly affects retention, engagement, service continuity and the credibility of reform.

As councils move towards new unitary structures and operating models, workforce culture becomes a strategic capability. It sits at the intersection of leadership behaviour, people systems and employee experience.

During reorganisation, workforce culture will surface whether leaders choose to engage with it or not. The difference lies in whether it becomes a source of stability or an added risk.

Closing thought

Workforce culture under pressure is something many in the PPMA community recognise. The way we lead, the systems we rely on, and how fairly people experience work all shape trust, especially during periods of significant change. As councils move through reorganisation and ongoing workforce transformation, getting the foundations right becomes even more important.

Zellis works closely with local government organisations facing these challenges, with a focus on supporting confident leadership, fair workforce outcomes and resilient people management. You can read more about our work with councils by clicking here.