PEOPLE
MANAGEMENT STRATEGY – 2003/2006
Part 1 -
Introduction
1.1
The Isle of
Wight Council’s vision as an organisation is ‘to improve Island Life’ and in
doing so realise the expectations of the local community for a forward looking
and modern Council which consistently delivers good and reliable services. Each
of our employees is directly or indirectly involved in serving the people of
the Isle of Wight and the value of our employees in delivering the vision and
aims of the Isle of Wight Council has therefore never been more important.
1.2
This People
Management Strategy will play a vital role in signaling and planning changes
required by the Council to ensure that employees can achieve their best in
order to deliver excellent services. The purpose of the Strategy is to set the
context, form an organisation-wide framework and provide the direction for the
delivery of people management objectives over the next three years. It
identifies the kind of employer the Isle of Wight Council wants to be and how
it aims to achieve this.
1.3
Local
government, itself, is a rapidly changing and modernising sector with a very
strong emphasis on customer focus and performance. This is especially so, not
only for the Council, but also the individuals who work for it. Political
structures are changing and there are an increasing number of local
partnerships. Added to this are a continuing difficult financial outlook,
rapidly changing service needs and a move towards e-governance.
1.4
The clear
challenge for the Council is to accelerate the pace of change to create a
workforce that is committed, flexible, equipped with the competencies and
skills to adjust to different tasks and roles, that understands the bigger
Council picture and is guided by managers who are not constrained by heavily
prescriptive policies and procedures more suited to traditional Councils. In
order to constantly improve and achieve successful change management, the
Council needs to value, develop and maximise the contribution of all its
employees.
1.5
The good news
is that the Isle of Wight Council has already laid the foundations for that
challenge and the People Management Strategy will provide the framework to make
the change and deliver the Council’s ‘can-do’ culture that external inspections
invariably comment on.
Part 2 - The Context
2.1
The
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), democratic renewal process and e-agenda
places the Council under significant pressure to make major reforms in the way
it operates, manages performance and improves the quality of its services.
Consistent and effective service improvement will ultimately rely on the
Council’s capacity to recruit, retain, develop and motivate it’s employees.
2.2
The Council
was in the first tranche of local authorities to be reviewed under the CPA
process receiving a fair rating. The aspiration must be to achieve excellent
status and a plan has been put in place to improve the Council’s corporate
performance by:
·
maintaining
the momentum of change
·
modernising
political structures
·
improving
organisational development
·
improving
performance management and,
·
achieving
Best Value.
In particular, action is to be taken to improve the
corporate planning framework, the management of projects and risks, the
procurement process and promoting a customer-centred culture across the Council
with better access to services.
2.3
The Council’s
new Corporate Plan sets out the strategic aims to achieve its mission to
improve Island life. Importantly, it also sets out four specific commitments
for delivering the plan and its strategic aims:
·
building
strong leadership,
·
excellence
in service delivery,
·
improving
community focus, and
·
organisational
improvement and staff development.
For each of the Council’s strategic aims the Annual
Action Statement sets out the specific priorities and targets upon which
activities will be targeted.
2.4
The People
Management Strategy is one aspect of the CPA Improvement Plan but also
underpins other tasks set out in the plan. The strategy will also play an
important part in supporting each of the four commitments in the Corporate Plan
and the Annual Action Statement either directly or indirectly and addressing
priorities in the medium term ie the next one to three years. The three year
time horizon enables a strategic approach to business planning but also means
that priorities and timescales can be adjusted as Council and community needs
determine and unforeseen events unfold. The people management strategy, like
any other strategy, attempts to deal with what lies over the horizon and will,
of course, be affected by a number of external influences, some of the which
can be foreseen. These are:
2.5
Finances
2.5.1
Like other
local authorities, over 65% of the Council’s expenditure covers employee costs.
The Council employs people in over 5,800 jobs and from a total budget of Ł145
million the gross expenditure on employees in 2002/2003 was Ł95 million.
2.5.2
The Council’s
Medium Term Financial Strategy is perhaps the most important factor influencing
future direction and priorities. Planning projections have indicated that there
will be resource constraints which will lead to significant service
reconfiguration.
2.6
Legislation
2.6.1
The impact of
employment legislation, both domestic and, increasingly, that which stems from
Europe, and the role of Human Resources in ensuring that the Council complies
with its legal obligations in this area needs to be recognised. Existing and
future employment legislation and case law, particularly that which is
‘equality’ driven, will continue to influence the overall structure, delivery
and management of the Council’s services.
2.7
Labour
market
2.7.1
The Island
has seen the unemployment rate decrease significantly in recent years, although
it may now be on the increase. Nonetheless the Island has the second highest
rate of unemployment in the South East region and unemployment is higher than
the national average. Youth unemployment ie amongst 18 – 24 year olds, accounts
for more than 25% of all unemployed.
2.7.2
In general
the Council’s pay rates compare favourably with the local market rates and this
is reflected in the Council’s fairly low employee turnover rate. But the
Council competes in a different market place for professional staff and
competition is particularly strong in both the public and private sectors,
especially those areas which are ‘local government specific’ eg social workers,
environmental health officers.
2.8
Government
policies, programmes and initiatives
2.8.1
Central
government’s legislative and funding programmes have a significant impact on
the Council’s services to the local community. The areas of particular
importance are:
2.8.1.1
Modernising
local government: An agenda which will require innovation in the ways services
are delivered, an entrepreneurial role in the community, new approaches to work
which will require new roles and new competencies for Elected Members and the
Council’s workforce.
2.8.1.2
Partnership
Working: New skills will be required to work effectively with partners to
deliver ‘joined up’ services eg with the Health Authority.
2.8.1.3
E-government:
Delivery of services through electronic means will demand the development of
many new skills. Through the ICT strategy, the corporate requirement will
maximise the potential for information and communications technology and other
technical change. This will impact on many aspects of people management and, to
demonstrate that the Council is meeting the e-government challenge, services
provided to the community will need to be:
·
Joined up –
an organisational development challenge
·
Accessible at
all times – with implications for working arrangements, pay and conditions
·
Delivered or
supported electronically – major workforce training and development
requirements
·
Jointly
delivered – ensuring high employment practice and standards where a range of
employers may be involved
·
Seamlessly
delivered – requiring better information systems and the use of call centers
with its impact on employment models and training
·
Open and
accountable – a cultural change issue
·
Used by
e-citizens – included in the services to be accessed will be those offered by
the Council as an employer, including on-line recruitment
2.8.2
The Council
has already taken the first steps to deliver the e-government agenda with the Great
Access to Great Services programme. The objective is that the Council will
become a truly customer-centred organisation where 80% of enquiries are dealt
with at the first point of contact, all customer facing points of contact are
managed and act in a consistent way and information is captured only once and
made available across the organisation and to appropriate partners.
2.8.3
In addition,
there are internal issues including computerised personnel information systems,
on-line personnel advice for managers and the need to share information between
Directorates on employment matters.
2.8.4
It is clear
that achieving e-government success will be essential and the Human Resources
function will have a pivotal role to play.
2.9
Equality/Diversity
and Social Inclusion
2.9.1
Female
employees outnumber male employees by three to one but female employees in more
senior jobs do not reflect this ratio; around half of all employees are part
time and most of these are female. Less than 1% of employees have declared that
they meet the definition of the Disability Discrimination Act or come from
black or ethnic minorities.
2.9.2
As well as
its statutory obligations, particularly under the Race Relations (Amendment)
Act, the Council has a clear commitment to equal opportunities in employment
and fair access to services. There will be an increasing profile of equalities
issues, particularly race, gender, sexuality, age and disability. There will
also be social changes and expectations surrounding issues of work-life balance
and family friendly policies.
2.9.3
It is
acknowledged that managing diversity will involve new ways of working to embrace
changing employee and customer expectations and needs which will mean clear
objective setting and monitoring arrangements.
2.9.4
What this
means for the Council as an employer is continuing organisational and
structural change, a need for a more adaptable organisation able to respond to
project-based working, more flexible working arrangements with a more flexible
reward package and terms and conditions, a range of employment relationships –
employees, contractors, consultants etc, a challenge to maintain effective
communication with a diverse workforce, increased emphasis on customer
expectations and performance, a wider range of core skills, longer working
lives, less early retirement and a changing age profile of the Council.
Part 3 -
Organisational culture
3.1
Whilst
anticipating and responding to the various factors and influences that affect
the Council as an organisation, in order to shape the workforce of the future
through effective people management, the Council clearly needs to define the
organisational culture it wants to achieve ie ‘the way we do things around
here’ and to be an example to other employers. To become a model employer, the
Council needs to offer better working conditions, improved employment practices,
the ability for staff to balance life in and outside work, lifelong learning
and employability, fair pay, staff involvement and good communications. Above
all, a model employer is characterised by its management style. This needs to
be facilitative and not hierarchical and controlling, seeking to help each
individual to make the most of themselves through coaching, mentoring,
development and devolving authority to small, integrated teams. Staff should be
involved in decisions affecting them and the services they provide. Delivering
the changes needed to transform our services will require leadership which
involves, consults and develops partnerships and a culture that encourages
challenge and debate to secure radical improvements in service delivery.
3.2
If the People
Management Strategy is successfully achieved then by 2006 the Council will be
charcterised by the following style of people management activity:
3.3.1
Performance
will be actively managed at all levels using a common framework. Standards will
be set for all individuals and progress against these will be discussed on a
regular basis. Good and poor performance will be identified and opportunities
to improve performance offered. Standards of performance which inhibit the
Council’s progress towards its priorities will be swiftly and fairly dealt
with.
3.4
Development
and learning
3.4.1
The Council
will adopt national standards of learning from Investors in People,
professional and national standard bodies. Organisational indicators in the
form of competencies and service standards will enhance these.
3.4.2
All employees
will have the opportunity to identify development needs with their manager,
linked directly through the service planning process to a Council objective or
target. Development need will be creatively met and a variety of methods will
be employed to do so.
3.4.3
The impact of
development upon the workforce will be assessed regularly to ensure that
training and development activity is truly adding value.
3.5
Communication
3.5.1
The Council
will be characterised by exemplary and effective communication processes. All
employees will know how they contribute to the Council’s priorities and what is
expected of them. Many different forms of communication will be used for
example, employee surveys and regular team briefings, and it is a basic
principle that this will be two-way with managers at all levels knowing how the
staff they manage feel about working for the Council.
3.5.2
Information
and data for workforce planning purposes will be widely available.
3.6
Flexibility
3.6.1
There will be
flexibility in how managers manage and how and when individuals and teams carry
out their roles. People management and decision making responsibility will be
delegated to as near the point of service as possible.
3.7
Workforce
planning
3.7.1
The Council
will develop action plans which reflect anticipated skill shortage areas.
Strategies will be developed to ensure that these areas are tackled in a timely
manner and where possible attempts will be made to grow our own. The benefits
of attracting new employees to the Council to enrich our thinking will be
recognised but this will be balanced with supporting internal appointments where
this will help the service move forward.
3.7.2
Jobs will be
flexible and reviewed to ensure that traditional expectations do not restrict
the Council’s search for talent.
3.7.3
All
activities will reflect diversity and equality standards with the Council
becoming an employer whose workforce composition reflects that of the Island
community.
3.8
Employee
Relations
3.8.1
Working in
partnership with trade unions and other groups representing the workforce will
be based on trust and governed by what is needed to achieve the Council’s
priorities.
3.9
A safe
environment
3.9.1
Employees
will be provided with a safe working environment going beyond workspace issues
to encompass health matters and training. Conditions of service will also be
flexible reflecting modern demands on individual’s lives outside employment.
3.10
Leadership
and Values
3.10.1
As the
largest employer on the Island the Council will become an acknowledged leader
in the field of good employment practice ensuring that its reputation as an
employer will help to recruit and retain the best people.
3.10.2
The Council
has made explicit its vision for the community it serves and the core, common
values which underpin the Council’s relationship with its customers:
·
giving
excellent service
·
listening to
people
·
working in
partnership
·
being open
and fair, and
·
caring for
our unique environment.
Equally important, however, are the values which
underpin the Council’s actions not only as an employer but also what it values
from its employees in return. These values will inform and help shape the
employment policies and practices that are developed.
The ‘employer’ values will be:
·
An obligation
to provide and support quality, cost effective services for its communities
·
A belief in
equality of access, opportunity and consistency of treatment
·
A shared
responsibility for continual learning and development
·
The right to
be treated fairly and with dignity and respect
·
A concern for
the health and well being of people at work, and
·
Openness and
honesty in communications
In return the Council will value from its employees:
·
High
performance, creativity and initiative
·
Flexibility
and a willingness to learn, develop and work differently
·
Preparedness
to take responsibility
·
Honesty and
integrity, and
·
Loyalty and
commitment
3.10.3
These goals
for the cultural change in people management are ambitious. Achieving them will
result in many changes to accepted working practices and in some areas it will
mean that policies created will, by necessity, only have a short life before
they are replaced by the next advance in that area.
Part 4 - The
Five Key Themes
4.1
The People
Management Strategy will form the framework for delivering change and improved
services through people over the next three years. Five key themes form the
building blocks of the people management strategy and the focus of the Human
Resources Action Plan and activity. The five themes are:
·
Being an
Employer of Choice
Recruitment has become a
sophisticated business, particularly in periods of low unemployment where
people have different expectations. It is critical that we maintain our
competitive edge and ensure that we successfully attract and retain the most
talented people possible to deliver the Community Strategy, sustaining current
successful recruitment and low turnover levels whilst minimising our specific
recruitment and retention problems.
It is also important that we use our influence, at
both Elected Member and officer level, to bring about change in the image of
the Council so that our employees feel valued and those seeking employment are
attracted by the variety of job opportunities and the benefits that are
available.
As a modern organisation we require flexible pay
systems that allow us to compete in the drive for talent in a competitive job
market. Pay is, however, only one element, with employees increasingly looking
for more rounded packages that balance pay, training and development and more
flexible working and other benefits, particularly those which enable employees
to balance their life and work interests and commitments.
We will
therefore aim to be an organisation that people want to work for by:
·
Creating an
employer brand which promotes the Council’s values
·
Having
positive values that respect our employees
·
Offering
employees employment, development and reward packages which reflect the
diversity of the workforce and encourages flexibility to meet the changing
needs of local government.
·
Creating a
challenging and exciting working environment
·
Encouraging
learning and creating opportunities for career development
·
Recognising
the importance of work/life balance
·
Creating a
healthy environment in which employees can work and develop
·
Empowering
and developing people
As one of the main commitments leadership has a major
role to play in setting the culture and context for continuous service
improvement and in motivating and supporting staff to deliver services.
Creating an environment in which leadership and effective management are
promoted, where staff are clear of the expectations we have of them and have
the support and development opportunities to exceed those expectations is
therefore essential to the future success of the Council. The need for
employees at all levels to be properly equipped with the skills and
competencies to undertake the tasks currently required of them and to have the
potential to undertake new tasks in future is paramount.
We recognise the importance of sustaining IIP and
ensuring our employees develop the skills and competencies to perform.
We also recognise that we have a low percentage of
young persons employed by the Council and the importance of creating training
and career opportunities for them.
The need for re-training options in areas where there
is a move to e-services will need to be addressed.
We will therefore develop the organisation through its
people by:
·
Giving proper
induction to new employees
·
Providing
managers with the expertise and opportunity to manage people effectively
·
Ensuring that
all employees have a personal development plan and access to training and
development activities each year
·
Promoting and
assisting career development through coaching, mentoring, shadowing and
secondment schemes
·
Ensuring that
employees take responsibility for their own continuous development and lifelong
learning to ensure their long-term employability
·
Making
connections
Creating a climate of trust,
openness and involvement is an essential aspect of good employee relations at
both an individual and collective level. Effective communications and access to
information will aid the decision making process and the management of change.
Technology will also enable us to
deliver e-hr, allowing more efficient personnel service delivery and the
replacement of personnel administrative work with electronic workflow systems.
These systems enable more direct involvement by staff and managers and a
self-service approach so that employees can keep their personal data up to date
and managers can interrogate the database for workforce planning reports and
performance management information. It also means greater web enabled learning
and improved communications through the intranet.
We will therefore aim to make
people management practices in the organisation more effective and efficient
by:
·
Embracing new
information and communication technologies
·
Making access
to personnel services much easier for all our customers
·
Providing
effective and timely management information on people related issues
·
Ensuring good
communication with all our employees, their representatives and our
stakeholders
·
Listening to
what employees say
·
Influencing
organisational change
The information
age revolution has already changed the way commercial and public services
operate. The pace of change will increase as the technologies become more
widely accessible and pervasive. Citizens will expect to reach the services
they want at times and in places that are convenient to them, with improved
responsiveness and quality being built around the needs of the customer.
Improved services are a key aspect of delivering the
Community Strategy. This will entail working and managing differently and flexibly
across boundaries – both internal and external. This more fluid approach will
allow us to respond to different organisational challenges and deliver
multi-disciplinary services.
We must develop ways of innovating
within and between these more fluid structures to achieve joined-up solutions
and deliver a learning organisation, making us confident in being thoughtful,
imaginative and unafraid to experiment and achieving high standards of customer
care and excellent service delivery.
If we are to be responsive to
change, people management practice must also be freed from bureaucracy wherever
possible, whilst requiring tight expectations and expectations and
accountabilities from our managers.
We will therefore strive to
achieve continuous service improvement and successful organisational change by:
·
Involving and
empowering employees to contribute to innovation and change within their
services
·
Developing a
high performance culture
·
Defining the
standards for people management that support the Council’s aims for service
improvement
·
Engaging
employees in organisational change at the earliest opportunity to ensure
effective culture change
·
Developing
more effective partnerships with our recognised trade unions and employee
representatives
·
Developing
flexible employment packages that reflect the new paradigm of work
·
Ensuring the
Council has the capacity to respond to the challenges it faces
·
Supporting
new initiatives in the development of improved access to services and ensuring
we recruit employees who demonstrate competence in customer care
·
Valuing
diversity
Our ability to respond effectively to the needs of the
community requires us to manage our workforce in a way that gets the best from
their diversity, valuing their experiences as individuals as well as their
innovation and ideas to improve service delivery. In so doing the Council will
enhance its reputation as an employer.
We recognise the importance of having a workforce that
reflects the local community so that it is balanced with levels of experience
and knowledge, emphasises individual potential and encourages all to achieve.
We will continue to have regard to legislation and
case law in the area of equal opportunity and ensure compliance.
We will value and embrace the creativity and
uniqueness of all employees and recognise that everybody has a contribution to
make by:
·
Monitoring
people management practice and workforce profiles and taking action to achieve
and retain a representative workforce
·
Ensuring fair
and consistent treatment of all our employees
·
Ensuring all
our employment policies and practices deliver equality of opportunity
·
Using
everybody’s contribution to improve service delivery
Part 5 - The Human Resources
Action Plan 2003/2006
5.1
The Council’s People
Management Strategy forms the organisation-wide framework and sets the
direction for the delivery of people management objectives over the next three
years. Through the action plan, the Human Resources function will demonstrate
that it understands the direction in which the organisation has to move,
possesses a strategic focus and a clear idea of its purpose. The Human
Resources function does not exist in isolation for its own benefit – its
business is to contribute to the achievement of the Council’s objectives by
putting in place strategies, policies and practices that enable the
organisation to optimise the contribution made by the people it employs.
5.2
Five key themes form
the building blocks of the People Management Strategy and will be the focus of
Human Resource initiatives:
·
Being an employer
of choice,
·
Empowering and
developing people,
·
Making connections,
·
Influencing
organisational change, and
·
Valuing diversity.
However, to
play its part in the People Management Strategy, Human Resources needs to:
·
Take a
leading role in the management of change and the organisational development of
the Council
·
Adopt a
stronger and higher profile, ensuring that every team member understands the
role of the Human Resources function and its contribution to organisational
objectives
·
Be proactive,
anticipating the issues affecting the Council as an employer and offering
appropriate strategies
·
Increase its
strategic role
·
Understand
and be responsive to the needs of our customer
·
Change the
skills mix – less personnel administration and more proactive personnel
management
·
Provide more
relevant, accurate and timely management information
·
Improve the
monitoring and effectiveness of what we do
These imperatives will underpin all
that the Human Resources function does.
5.3
The Human
Resources Action Plan (Appendix 1) sets out the main objectives for the period
of the plan under each of the five People Management Strategy building blocks.
They are strategic objectives over a three year period and are those that will
take the Council and the Human Resources function forward. The approaches will
be appropriately supported by clear policies and guidelines, consistently
applied with simple but effective procedures which are relevant for new ways of
working. Human Resources will also work in partnership with its stakeholders,
including managers, trade unions and employee representatives when developing
and reviewing our employment policies and procedures.
5.4
The
objectives are over and above the day-to-day business of providing a responsive
and effective service to managers and management teams which is the core activity
for many human resource staff. Whilst this work is not detailed in the Action
Plan, its importance and value are recognised and appreciated. The Action Plan
also contains initiatives which impact on various corporate Best Value
Performance Indicators reported annually to the government. Activity in these
areas is undertaken across the Council and will influence the speed at which
these performance targets are achieved.
5.5
The Action
Plan reflects a living and changing agenda, which rightly reflects the
Council’s corporate priorities and specific service improvement activities will
be identified in the Human Resources Service Plan. Timescales and priorities
will develop and change and those that do will be the subject of discussion and
negotiation with Elected Members and senior managers.
Part 6 - Review
6.1
The People
Management Strategy and the Action Plan will, in consultation with
stakeholders, be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure that it continues to remain
fully relevant to external changes and the Council’s Aims and Values.
Part 7 –
Summary
7.1
The effect of
good people policy and practice on an organisation’s performance is now a well
established fact and within the framework of the People Management Strategy the
direction for good people management has been set for the next three years. To
be the excellent authority to which we aspire, we need our people management to
be of the highest standard. Valuing, developing and nurturing our people within
the framework of the people management strategy provides a challenge for us all
and, in particular, our leaders. From leadership to the management of sickness
absence, from grievance procedures to worklife balance, from recruitment
through induction to continuous professional development, from reward
strategies and workforce planning to health and safety at work, this strategy
encompasses every area of people management. The objectives which flow from it
will be deliberately challenging but will deliver the changes necessary to turn
the Isle of Wight Council into the customer-focused, first class organisation
we seek to be.
MAB/HHR
May 2003
