City and County of Swansea Human Resources & Workforce Strategy 2013-2017 Ambition is Critical 1
Delivering quality services for a safer, greener, smarter, fairer, healthier, richer Swansea Executive Summary The Council s HR and Workforce Strategy outlines our approach to how the organisation will steer its people resource to get the best out of our workforce in order to ensure the highest quality service delivery for our citizens. Within the strategy is the expectation that the Workforce and Efficiency Programme Board will support and drive the strategy across the organisation and ensure that the Workforce and Efficiency Programme is tailored to reflect business needs. The Council has undertaken recent Management reviews through consultation with Price Waterhouse Coopers and senior management groups. As a result of this work, the Strategy will provide Services with an approach to our workforce that will enable future sustainability and ensure we maximise capacity and improve capability. The Strategy will be supported by the Human Resources and Organisation Development Service Plan which will detail the activities and future work of the Service. This document should be read alongside the Human Resources and Organisation Development Business Plan and the Corporate/Service area Workforce Plans, with the aim of supporting the Council s Priorities and Strategies. Consultation across the Organisation The Human Resources and Organisation Development service held a service review workshop with key stakeholders from across the organisation to review how the service was currently delivered and to gain insights from our customers on where the service needed to improve and change to meet future needs. Attendees included Heads of Service from Social Services, Education, Legal, Performance and Strategic Projects, and key officers involved in Human Resources, Organisation Development, workforce planning and change management activities across the organisation. However, attendance of front line service senior officers was limited, although participation from those who were there was immensely valuable and has enabled the production of this document. Ambition is Critical 2
The output from this consultation has assisted in the development of this strategy, although not all of the Price Waterhouse Coopers recommendations have been auctioned to date. As a result, a full Corporate Workforce Plan, a revised HR Service plan and also this Human Resources and Workforce Strategy will form the platform from which the future Human Resources and Organisation Development service will develop over the next 3 years. This plan should be viewed as the starting point from which the service wishes to set out its aims and objectives, with a view to increased engagement with all services over time. Where perhaps the current service has its strengths is in its operational focus with middle managers on the front line this will continue into the future, however, it is recognised that a strategic approach is needed in order to ensure sustainability and improved performance. What are our Strategic Aims? The Council has an overarching vision for Swansea as a Community and as an organisation that is one of the largest employers in the region. As a result, the Council views that it has a responsibility to Stand up for Swansea, and has outlined the following areas that will be the strategic focus for services: National considerations over the next five years are: Budgets may reduce by up to 18% as austerity measures are reflected in future Revenue Support settlements Demand for key services will rise exponentially as the demographics change, e.g. Adult Social Care Despite falling resources, the expectation of performance improvement will continue in all areas, in particular Education and protection of the vulnerable The drive for personalisation and customer focus will continue Welsh Government will continue to drive for collaboration/regionalisation as one tool to improve efficiency and meet increased demand Current ways of working are unsustainable In this context, our local priorities are: Dealing with poverty Creating prosperity Focussing on health inequalities Target areas Ambition is Critical 3
In order to support our goal to create a City that is: Fairer Richer Safer Healthier Smarter Greener It is the maintenance and improvement of standards in core services that is essential to all of these priorities. Therefore, engaging with our workforce and our citizens is crucial to our success. Why does the Council need a HR and Workforce Strategy? In the current climate of efficiencies and collaboration, as outlined above, the Council is consistently experiencing change at a regional, strategic and operational level. In order to deal with the changes and carry out its obligation to the delivery of the Integrated Improvement Plan, the Medium Term Financial Plan, our specific service based strategies and programmes so that we can ensure that Swansea develops and manages its current workforce, and ensures the future of the workforce by utilising recruitment and redeployment best practice effectively across the organisation. This strategy will outline how the Council proposes to manage current and future workforce initiatives on a local and regional basis, focusing on what the Human Resources and Organisation Development Service aims to do to support this work, and ensure the future workforce is ready to meet the challenges coming our way. The Human Resources and Organisation Development service will seek to employ change management best practice as part of its delivery of this strategy so that transformation of the workforce is achieved through formal and informal engagement, consultation and collaboration. New ways of working and new service delivery models have been tried and tested elsewhere in Wales and in the UK it is time to review the outcomes of this and design a future service that will work for Swansea, and take the organisation into the future. Working with our colleagues and partners, it is the aim of the service to embrace best practice Human Resources models in order to achieve a future service that is both responsive and dynamic, and one that supports the organisation in meeting its plans, strategies and priorities. This will require engagement and involvement with our internal customers so that we can ensure that their needs are met and fully supported. With this in mind, and the organisational re-structuring at the Corporate Management level in April 2013, the Service is preparing to undertake a full review of the organisation s need to utilise expertise in Organisation Development in order to support the Council s change initiatives, improvement and efficiency programmes, and also to support workforce development and workforce planning. Ambition is Critical 4
This will be a key project in 2013/14 for the Workforce and Efficiency Programme Board, and will form part of a wider strategy to develop and improve our workforce and performance management capability. The Workforce and Efficiency Programme will also be focusing on developing new performance Appraisal frameworks and updating the training and recruitment data systems in order to meet our Equalities reporting obligations. It has been recognised that the service configuration is now struggling to meet its customers needs, and therefore 2013 will see full reviews of key sections in order to ensure future sustainability, and also to ensure that we have a service that provides expert advice and guidance, and is able to be flexible to changing organisational requirements. Our Service Values: In recognising that people are one of our key assets, the Service: Seeks excellence in workforce management activities for the benefit of services to citizens Seeks excellence in developing a culture of health and safety best practice across the organisation Adds value to our services and helps the Council manage and develop its people more effectively Recognises the vital contribution of effective people management to the achievement of strategic priorities and performance objectives Current Human Resources and Workforce Priorities On the basis that Human Resources is a central service, any priorities will be considered as part of our role of supporting services to meet their objectives, and to support the delivery of our Corporate Priorities. Specifically, in relation to the corporate aim of making the best use of our resources we have put in place the Workforce and Efficiency Programme which is designed to assist the Council in this regard. The Service makes the following commitments as part of it future Strategy: Ambition is Critical 5
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES Develop and embed the Strategic Human Resources and Organisation Development function within the Council Continue to provide appropriate professional specialist input into Strategic Projects and Programmes Support the Corporate Management Team in developing integrated workforce management practices that align business and service plans to Corporate Priorities, and assist services with implementing Service redesign to achieve organisational sustainability Develop the Organisation Development Service to support corporate workforce improvement initiatives and improve workforce, management and leadership capability Support the Regional Working Agenda SERVICE OBJECTIVES Corporate and Service Improvement Assisting the Council with its transformation agenda, which includes its headcount reduction activities and support service area restructuring activities, redeployment and workforce planning, and a review of spans of control Continue to review all Human Resources Policies and Procedures to ensure they are fit for purpose and sustainable and make them accessible through the new intranet based Staff Handbook Performance Develop the Organisational Development function to provide support and expertise to assist with the delivery of organisational change, programmes, projects and initiatives. Continue to support managers with thorough professional advice and guidance and supporting them in developing modernised management practices and processes to help deliver workforce improvement Implement an organisational competency framework and competency based performance and development review processes, supported by new competency based development programmes Continue to explore innovative methods to provide Corporate Learning and Development within existing financial constraints, including collaboration and partnership arrangements across the region Ensure that we comply with the reporting duties of the Equalities Act 2010 and Wales Regulations 2011. Pay and Grading / Reward Complete the Pay and Grading review and implement Job Evaluation, including harmonisation of terms and conditions Further develop the Employee Services function to deliver transactional HR and Payroll services to the Authority, enabling the future development of strategic HR capacity and capability Ambition is Critical 6
Ensuring that we comply with our statutory obligations in respect of payroll and pensions functions, for example, auto enrolment, real time information and implementation of the new Local Government Pension Scheme in 2014. Consultation Continue to work with Trades Unions to improve employee relations across the Council in alignment with national frameworks Health and Well Being Supporting Corporate Management Team to deliver the Corporate Health, Safety and Wellbeing Action Plan Complete the review of all the health, safety and wellbeing policies Supporting the Authority to make a successful application for Gold Corporate Health Standard Award Providing medical and professional advice to managers to facilitate them to reduce sickness absence Deliver a corporate health surveillance programme Recommend the introduction of initiatives to improve employee health and wellbeing Deliver corporate mandatory health, safety and wellbeing training for employees. Provide advice and support for managers to secure compliance with health, safety and wellbeing legislation. Our Service Structure The current structure is focussed primarily on supporting front line services to manage their staff through the performance cycle and enable managers to develop services to meet current needs. Recent reviews of sections such as Health & Safety, Occupational Health and Employee Services has resulted in a more focused service that is dedicated to improvement and customer satisfaction. It is also recognised that the current Operations section is overburdened due to reduced staff in key areas and increased demand for support and guidance. The development of the service must be a key priority going forward so that we can ensure that we have the right skills in the right place at the right time to ensure a sustainable service with the continued high levels of support and guidance that our managers expect. The Price Waterhouse Coopers workshop held with Heads of Service and key managers across the service has provided us with the initial Ambition is Critical 7
framework, but it is essential that this is taken forward in future consultations with our customers in order to ensure we develop and improve. The current service is structured as shown below. This structure will be reviewed in the financial year 2013/14 in order to support the Council s improvement initiatives and the development of a sustainable workforce. Current Human Resources and Organisation Development Service Structure Head of HR Employee Services HR Operations Health and Safety and Occupational Health Pensions Corporate Workforce Development) Employee Services and Payroll, Transactional services, Employee Data HR Advice and guidance, Employee relations, Recruitment and redeployment, Disclosure and Barring Service (CRB) Compliance, Advice and Guidance, Training, Health and Well being Compliance, Advice and Guidance Corporate Training, Learning and Development advice and guidance, E Learning IT training Ambition is Critical 8
How the Human Resources and Workforce Strategy links to the Mission, Vision & Corporate Aims and Objectives The Human Resources and Organisation Development service aims to be an effective, efficient and professional Human Resources and Organisation Development service which serves the operational and strategic needs of the whole organisation. In order to achieve this we must provide a quality professional service to our employees and managers to ensure that we manage the workforce and that the Council has the right people, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time. We will endeavour to achieve this by: Ensuring that the Council complies with its statutory obligations and delivers its corporate priorities Developing both staff and managers, to ensure the optimum use of the organisation s people resources Ensuring consistency of approach throughout the organisation regarding the interpretation and implementation of policies and good practice Ensuring that HR and Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policies are fit for purpose Providing professional, expert and pragmatic advice to managers, thus ensuring corporate consistency and departmental responsiveness Promoting a positive culture of health, safety, wellbeing and equality of opportunity across the organisation. This is a cross-cutting strategy coordinated by Human Resources and Organisation Development, but everyone who works for the Council has an important part to play in making this Strategy successful: Each employee has specific responsibilities to understand how the Strategy applies to them and to engage fully with the organisation to deliver high quality services Each Line Manager/Senior Manager has a responsibility to lead and manage their team/s to raise and maintain levels of employee engagement and performance The Human Resources and Organisation Development Service has a responsibility to provide the policies, workforce management frameworks and specialist advice to employees and managers so that all may contribute to achieving the objectives outlined in the Strategy The Human Resources and Organisation Development service supports the continued development of an organisational culture that is inclusive and a workforce that is engaged with and demonstrates our organisational values. Key Drivers The Human Resources and Workforce Strategy is driven primarily by the vision and priorities of the Council. In addition to these, the Wales Audit Office Review undertaken in 2011 identified that the Human Resources and Organisation Development function needs to embrace real change, and provide a tangibly different Human Resources and Organisation Development function for the organisation to meet future challenges. Ambition is Critical 9
Swansea has been recognised for its knowledge and expertise in Workforce Planning and has supported the development of other Councils in this specialist area over the past few years. However, Swansea is still in the early stages of implementing workforce and succession planning activities. 2012/13 will see a ramp up of support for managers in this area through effective workforce and succession planning processes and guidance, and also the team will seek to increase their efforts in the operational service functions in order to support managers in producing real service improvement and efficiency. In order to ensure that we have the right people in the right place at the right time, employees need to be motivated in relation to their roles and where they fit into the wider organisation in order to deliver improved services. We also need to ensure that we have a confident and capable cadre of managers and supervisors who enable and support their teams through effective safe and healthy workforce management practices. Collaboration and Shared Service Agenda Working collaboratively with our neighbouring authorities across the region and nationally where appropriate, the Human Resources and Organisation Development service aims to prioritise and share expertise in the following areas: Human Resources processes, procedures and working practices Pay and reward, including pensions Occupational Health Services Health and Safety and Wellbeing Organisation development, including workforce planning and development and, where possible, consider alternative service delivery models to provide best practice and value for money for our citizens. As part of the Welsh Government s collaboration agenda, as outlined in the Simpson report (2011) and the resultant Compact between Welsh Local Authorities, Swansea is committed to playing its part in ensuring that it will embrace opportunities to collaborate with other local authorities when it makes sense to do so. We are already working with regional partners through the West Wales Workforce Development Network on developing new Learning and development programmes. We are collaborating on developing cohesive approaches to workforce and succession planning through the South Wales Regional Workforce Planning Group. The following sets out our plan for the future service, and will be integrated into our Service Business Plan and our Service Workforce Plan. Future Vision for Human Resources and Organisation Development The Welsh public sector Collaboration Agenda has focused our minds on what we can achieve if we work together more effectively, and the Council is committed to working with our partners to achieve improvement across the organisation and deliver high quality services for our citizens. In order to achieve progress, the Service will focus on the following key areas: Ambition is Critical 10
Fig.1 ENVIRONMENTAL The City and County of Swansea is the third largest Authority in Wales, employing in excess of 11,000 people and one of the largest employers in the West Wales region Swansea is both diverse and culturally dynamic and must show the way in tackling discrimination and inequalities in all aspects of life and work LEGISLATIVE Ensure new and revised national, UK and European employment and health and safety legislation is embedded into policies PERFORMANCE Identified need to substantially improve performance in key areas across the Council ORGANISATIONAL The Council is engaged in fundamental organisational change There is an ever increasing requirement to be responsive to customer needs and strategic priorities Highly complex and challenging employment environment that requires innovation and transformation in the way we do things We will promote performance improvement and innovation by introducing a framework of competencies, standards and practices which will assist the organisation in creating the conditions for managers and employees to focus their energy effectively on delivering the organisation s goals. We will be introducing new mechanisms to support managers in implementing Human Resources policies and procedures, including Managers and Employees Self Serve on the Human Resources Management System, and also a newly designed competency based performance and development review system. We are seeking to build an organisation that treats employees with dignity, fairness and respect. Diversity and a respect for other cultures are integral to this aim. We must find ever better ways to recognise and value the contribution of our people and invest wisely in their development. We are committed to achieving a more positive health, safety and wellbeing culture for all our employees by the provision of appropriate professional advice and guidance to managers in relation to securing safe work places and practices. We will support employees with a disability or those returning to work after long term sickness to work to realise their work potential by recommending reasonable adjustments to the work place or the provision of specialist equipment. Ambition is Critical 11
Improvement Priorities 2013 to 2017 In November 2012, the Chief Executive set out proposals for the reorganisation of the senior management structure. The thinking behind this was to ensure that the organisation is equipped to operate effectively in a complex political, partnership and citizen focussed environment. The national and local political context that the Council is currently working in has already been outlined earlier in this document. There are also additional internal organisational considerations that need to be considered particularly the impact on the workforce that the proposed new structure will have. It is important that our organisational culture and values are attuned to how we work and how we perform both individually and collectively in our teams and service areas. Individual contributions make up the sum of our performance as a Council, and in the current climate, improving our performance is critical to the sustainability of the services our citizens rely on us to deliver. Therefore, it is important that all employees support the organisation s focus on the following: Create the capacity for national and regional collaborative working To positively contribute to the development of policy at a national level, managerially and politically Create the capacity and capability to lead the City Region Create capacity for change and focus on the Council s priorities To create a cultural jolt particularly in relation to fostering innovation at all levels Maintain the confidence of Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) and Her Majesty s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales (ESTYN) over the short term while changes at Senior Management level are implemented and embedded to ensure smooth transitions from old to new ways of working To clearly establish responsibility for operational activity, performance and customer focus at Head of Service Level To value equally strategic and operational activity, and resource accordingly To deal with silo working, whether it is real or perceived The Human Resources and Organisation Development service seeks to support the above by providing a professional operational and advisory service, and also to work with managers on developing their skills, capacity and capability through effective Organisational Development support. Ambition is Critical 12
The Human Resources and Workforce Strategy provides a framework to transform people performance in Swansea and enable the organisation to manage change effectively and align its Strategies and Plans to workforce management and planning activities. Implementation Framework It is important that this document forms the framework for people management for the Council, not just for the Human Resources and Organisation Development and Learning and Development community within the Council. Whilst the strategy is an important starting point, making it a reality will be dependent on service Business plans which set out the development and implementation processes, new ways of working, supporting development activities and future workforce and succession planning activity. The HROD Service will aim to provide Heads of Service and managers with the professional support they need in order to achieve high levels of performance and productivity from our employees so that we continue to deliver improved services to our citizens. Involvement from our managers and their continued engagement with our efforts to improve the service is critical to achieving our goals. We will endeavour to build in quality assurance to our delivery plan by monitoring our progress and providing clear updates on a regular basis, e.g. regular Corporate Management Team briefings on Workforce Matters and Highlight Reports to the Workforce Programme Board and Strategic Programme Boards, as appropriate. The Human Resources and Organisation Development service aims to provide a professional service of advice, guidance and support to managers and employees, with the following areas being identified as key priorities. Ambition is Critical 13
HR AND WORKFORCE STRATEGY FRAMEWORK EQUALITY & DIVERSITY Equality Diversity & Enable our workforce to recognise and manage diversity appropriately Raise and promote cultural awareness Continue to support greater diversity in employment in order to better represent the community Take active steps to implement the Equalities Act 2010, including publishing the Strategic Equality Plan and setting equality objectives EMPLOYEE RELATIONS Employee Relations Continue to work to improve current processes to establish meaningful consultation and effective negotiating processes, including Dispute Resolution Continue to work on achieving wider and more direct employee involvement and communication Continue to consult with Trades Union colleagues, developing working relationships to achieve workable solutions Introduce a health, safety and wellbeing communication strategy across the Authority to include Trade Union colleagues ORGANISATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Organisation development Review the requirement for Organisational Development expertise and how it is configured and delivered across the Council support the development of an organisational culture that encourages innovation and supports change and transformation through to implementation identify and address the workforce dimensions of organisational transformations, restructuring and redesign of service delivery anticipate and effectively tackle critical current and future workforce challenges support the maximisation of organisational productivity through appropriate action Ambition is Critical 14
Working Practices Understand changing business needs in order to respond appropriately and support service delivery Ensure employment policies are appropriate, fit for purpose and promote work-life balance within a service provision framework Ensure best use of resources to establish greater flexibility in deployment and working practices Respond to changing customer and business expectations Utilising technology to improve real time management information and reporting (e.g. the Human Resources Management System - ISIS) The introduction of the HR Staff handbook will enable managers to implement policies and procedures consistently and effectively manage workforce planning, performance and productivity Continue to manage headcount reduction and redeployment activities across the organisation, taking into account future service delivery needs and organisational sustainability Undertake a skills audit across the service and develop a training plan to assist with the development of existing staff in key areas of expertise Pay & Reward Recruitment & Selection of Staff Implement a fair, sustainable and affordable grading structure Continue to support the development of technological payroll processes and procedures (the ISIS system) Continue to consult and support the delivery of the Pay and Grading project and new pay structure Continue to provide appropriate support for redeployment, recruitment and retention that embraces the need to maximise our ability to attract, retain, and retrain the workforce to meet current and future organisational needs Make use of appropriate positive action strategies to encourage diversity across the workforce Align recruitment and redeployment activities to service and corporate workforce planning and succession planning activities Modernise the recruitment process by maximising technology currently available, integrating processes and procedures to achieve efficient and timely deployment and redeployment Ambition is Critical 15
Managing Sickness Leadership Management Development and Establish and implement appropriate strategies to reduce absenteeism and the impact absenteeism has on services Ensure a fair and consistent application of, and compliance with, the Managing Absence policy Ensure appropriate support mechanisms are implemented to support attendance at work Support health surveillance initiatives Ensure effective monitoring and review through improved real time management information Target the most frequent causes of sickness absence; stress and musculoskeletal disorders support political and managerial leaders and partnership boards in developing leadership skills to tackle new challenges, including their health and safety responsibilities foster the development of leadership/managerial skills, knowledge and behaviours at all levels in the authority and across public sector partnerships Collaborate locally, regionally and nationally on the development of appropriate competency based programmes to equip future managers and leaders with the skills required to deliver services to our citizens Performance Management Design and implement appropriate Performance and Development Review processes Support the delivery of corporate performance management priorities through appropriate HR mechanisms Increase understanding and awareness of the organisation and its objectives through appropriate development activities Develop and implement appropriate competencies to carry out designated roles Support performance management activities through appropriate development programmes Support service redesign activities and workforce performance management through appropriate implementation of HR policies and procedures Ambition is Critical 16
Workforce Succession planning Workforce Development & Align workforce planning to performance management and workforce development activities, as appropriate Support development of a cohesive approach to strategic workforce planning and succession planning activities locally, regionally and nationally Align service redesign, business planning and succession planning processes Develop and implement a succession planning process that contributes to service business planning and ensures future workforce sustainability Continue to develop internal management capability in workforce planning activities Continue to support the development and provision of internal and external business intelligence reporting (through ISIS) Support development of integrated workforce planning across the organisation and maintain links with the collaboration and regionalisation agenda initiatives support workforce development activity across the organisation through effective competency based programmes support workforce management and diversity best practice through fair but rigorous competency based performance management processes identify key future occupational skills requirements and taking appropriate action to address these identify and define the most important current and future skills needs support the development of appropriate career pathways, where applicable, across the authority to ensure future sustainable service delivery EMPLOYEE HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELL-BEING Healthy and Safe Working Environment Develop and deliver work streams to support managers to reduce long term sickness absence and absence due to work related accidents and ill health. Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing responsibilities of all employees, their representatives and managers, are clarified, promoted and monitored to ensure that they are understood and delivered Produce and deliver a Health and safety communication strategy including the introduction of a single fit for purpose corporate health and safety committee structure Deliver a proactive auditing role to support senior managers to secure a positive and consistent health and safety culture Ambition is Critical 17
Ensure the sharing of good practice from within the Authority and partner organisations Support the introduction of performance management principles and their application to health, safety and wellbeing Ensure that relevant targets for continuous improvement are introduced and monitored Identify and deliver a programme of mandatory health and safety training for all employees Summary The ambitions outlined in the above are going to be a challenge for the service to deliver in the current climate of headcount reduction and budget constraints. The commitment of the existing service workforce to deliver a professional service will continue in these difficult times. However, the service recognises that there is a need to change the way we do things to become more pro-active rather than reactive. Therefore, we recommend the following immediate actions: Submit proposals and Business Case for the revitalisation of the Organisation Development function to be submitted to SPB for consideration in 2013/14 Submit proposals and Business Case for a specifically designed Leadership and Management development programme to support effective workforce and succession planning activities during the next Business Planning period: 2013/14 review the recommendations of the Price Waterhouse Coopers workshop and if necessary reprise the workshop with an increased participation from front line Heads of Service in 2013/14 review the current Human Resources and Organisation Development structure in key service areas in 2013/14 undertake a skills audit of the existing service workforce identifying skills gaps and opportunities for development and succession planning in 2013/14. Ambition is Critical 18