Local authorities are facing a critical skills shortage as experienced staff come up for retirement.
Suzanne Cumberbatch finds out what they are doing to address the problem
Suzanne Cumberbatch finds out what they are doing to address the problem
Local government is in a state of flux, and now is the time to be attracting the next generation of council employees.
By creating a passionate, high-performing sector, capable of delivering excellent services, local authorities will be able to compete successfully with the private sector to attract the talent of the future.
But how do councils attract graduates and other young professionals into their offices, and once there, how do they prevent a high staff turnover?
Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, money is tight throughout local government and councils are being forced to look across the board at efficiency savings. According to research undertaken by the IDeA, to make restructuring and a change in working successful, councils have to pay attention to bringing workforces with them and keeping staff up-to-speed.
‘We need to get the language right in getting local authorities to recognise that, if they don’t do something as a sector, they won’t have the high-performing workforce needed to deliver services,’ says national adviser for workforce strategy at the IDeA, Joan Munro.
‘Councils must change practices or they will see a high turnover of staff. Local authorities have a lot of frontline workers who want to make a difference, but often, councils are not offering the career development these employees need. As a result, they have no choice but to pursue their careers elsewhere.’
About 50% of councils have skills pathways, and 53% of authorities are reportedly taking action to address skills shortages. But, according to Ms Munro, this is not enough.
As a generation of council employees reach retirement age, councils are facing an urgent situation with a large gap in experience looming on the horizon.
Where councils are taking steps to improve their workforce, major changes are being seen. At Sandwell MBC, for example, the council has been employing groups of young apprentices at the same time, and creating social groups to encourage them to stay at the council. ‘The scheme has been a great success,’ Ms Munro adds. ‘Through this scheme, youngsters are being taken on, and since no-one feels alienated, they are staying.’
Another suggestion from the IDeA and the Audit Commission is for councils to work with their partners to address workforce issues, for example, recruitment. Councils can also work with the police over crime, the voluntary sector and schools over children’s services, and health bodies for social care.
‘Knowsley MBC is joining up almost everything to do with health and social care, and working with the primary care trust to do this,’ explains Ms Munro.
‘And Birmingham City Council and Solihull MBC have 28 different organisations working together.
This makes it easy to move between them, putting this joint body in a great position to attract people into the public sector.
The IDeA’s Faster, fitter, more flexible: Chief executives developing councils of the future publication features a number of challenges councils have taken on and overcome. Great Yarmouth DC’s chief executive, Richard Packham, explains that, at times, it can be hard changing mindsets and attitudes.
‘We went from getting it disastrously wrong to getting it very much right,’ he says.
‘The key was clarity of vision, clarity of message and putting the frontline staff at the centre of the whole process.’
After a disjointed launch of a new call centre, the council went back to basics to put workforce planning at ‘the heart of the new approach’.
If local authorities want to become champions at delivering services, they need a dedicated workforce committed to achieving this. And steps taken so far are definitely putting them on the right track. n
By creating a passionate, high-performing sector, capable of delivering excellent services, local authorities will be able to compete successfully with the private sector to attract the talent of the future.
But how do councils attract graduates and other young professionals into their offices, and once there, how do they prevent a high staff turnover?
Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, money is tight throughout local government and councils are being forced to look across the board at efficiency savings. According to research undertaken by the IDeA, to make restructuring and a change in working successful, councils have to pay attention to bringing workforces with them and keeping staff up-to-speed.
‘We need to get the language right in getting local authorities to recognise that, if they don’t do something as a sector, they won’t have the high-performing workforce needed to deliver services,’ says national adviser for workforce strategy at the IDeA, Joan Munro.
‘Councils must change practices or they will see a high turnover of staff. Local authorities have a lot of frontline workers who want to make a difference, but often, councils are not offering the career development these employees need. As a result, they have no choice but to pursue their careers elsewhere.’
About 50% of councils have skills pathways, and 53% of authorities are reportedly taking action to address skills shortages. But, according to Ms Munro, this is not enough.
As a generation of council employees reach retirement age, councils are facing an urgent situation with a large gap in experience looming on the horizon.
Where councils are taking steps to improve their workforce, major changes are being seen. At Sandwell MBC, for example, the council has been employing groups of young apprentices at the same time, and creating social groups to encourage them to stay at the council. ‘The scheme has been a great success,’ Ms Munro adds. ‘Through this scheme, youngsters are being taken on, and since no-one feels alienated, they are staying.’
Another suggestion from the IDeA and the Audit Commission is for councils to work with their partners to address workforce issues, for example, recruitment. Councils can also work with the police over crime, the voluntary sector and schools over children’s services, and health bodies for social care.
‘Knowsley MBC is joining up almost everything to do with health and social care, and working with the primary care trust to do this,’ explains Ms Munro.
‘And Birmingham City Council and Solihull MBC have 28 different organisations working together.
This makes it easy to move between them, putting this joint body in a great position to attract people into the public sector.
The IDeA’s Faster, fitter, more flexible: Chief executives developing councils of the future publication features a number of challenges councils have taken on and overcome. Great Yarmouth DC’s chief executive, Richard Packham, explains that, at times, it can be hard changing mindsets and attitudes.
‘We went from getting it disastrously wrong to getting it very much right,’ he says.
‘The key was clarity of vision, clarity of message and putting the frontline staff at the centre of the whole process.’
After a disjointed launch of a new call centre, the council went back to basics to put workforce planning at ‘the heart of the new approach’.
If local authorities want to become champions at delivering services, they need a dedicated workforce committed to achieving this. And steps taken so far are definitely putting them on the right track. n
