Agenda item

Following the witness session held on 29 November 2016, the Council's Workforce and Organisational Development Manager attended the meeting to continue the review into HR and Recruitment. The Committee heard that the focus of the meeting would be on sustaining competitiveness, creating talent pools, and ensuring selection of high-calibre candidates, followed by a number of recommendations, which would help the Council to remain a successful public sector employer.

Sustaining Competitiveness

The Workforce and Organisational Development Manager confirmed that working on an employer brand was vital to help achieve this, but the Council also had to compete with private sector employers, and to do this there should be a focus on the "Total Reward" package, which is not just salary, but also includes pensions and other benefits, such as generous holiday leave.

It was also important for the Council to improve their jobs website, to ensure it is 'magnetic' and keeps viewers' attention. The site does require a full review to ensure it has high impact and engages those who visit the site.

It is also important for managers to have succession plans in place. This is an important part of strategic workforce planning and should be captured to prevent good employees leaving, and also, where possible, allow the Council to interview internal candidates before going external, which has a higher financial and time cost.

The Committee also heard that the Council are now starting to see hits on their pages of the 'Glassdoor' online site from those who have left the organisation. A member of the HR team will now manage the account, and this will help analyse areas where the organisation could improve recruitment or staff retention, helping to reduce this selection failure rate, and save the Council time and money when recruiting. Members agreed this was important as HR is changing, and modernising the way the Council analyses recruitment was vital to keep up with competitors.

Talent Pool

The Council "talent pools" would need to be established, and an alumni network would help this, as well as an increased profile on social media.

The new apprentice scheme would also be considered as a talent pool, and the Committee agreed it would be helpful if the apprentices could be encouraged to be involved in social media.

Members asked about encouraging local people to apply for positions, and the Workforce and Organisational Development Manager informed them that the Council were advertising locally in libraries and schools, as well as targeting apprentices from local schools via careers' management teams.

Ensuring Selection of High-Calibre Candidates

It was agreed that the interview process needed to be modernised to ensure selection of top candidates and prevent hiring unsuitable candidates. To do this, it was important to make the interview process interesting, and Councillors agreed it was important to look at different ways to make more senior hires. One possible idea was to ask senior role candidates do a "day on the job" as part of the interview, something that Social Services' directors have previously been asked to do.

Cultural fit and shared values between candidates and the Council were also essential to good recruitment. If there is a difference in culture, it is harder to retain staff, so this must be taken into account when recruiting. The Committee questioned whether there was a difference in culture with candidates who hadn't worked in the public sector before, and heard that it was important to be open and honest at interviews to attract these candidates.

It was also helpful to have a commercial mindset which may be more recognisable with private sector candidates' thinking, but the Council has different values from other local authorities that may help recruitment when up against competitors in the public sector.

Members also suggested that staff retention and the view of current staff members should be analysed. The Committee heard that currently staff surveys were used to understand the views of staff, but more could be done in this area. It was agreed that an item on staff retention and the benefit package that staff receive be added to the work programme for the future.

The recommendations in the report were agreed, and would be incorporated into the final report, which will be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

-        RESOLVED: That the report be noted and the final report be considered at the next meeting of the Corporate Services and Partnerships Policy Overview Committee.