To provide an overview of the work undertaken to engage staff in the development of a new Workforce Strategy for the period April 2024 to March 2027 and seek views from Scrutiny Management Board on the emerging themes of the strategy.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services introduced the report.  It was noted that the board had made recommendations to the executive on ‘Herefordshire Council’s Human Resources and Workforce Strategy’ at the meeting on 28 November 2022 (link to minute 36 of 2022/23).

The principal points of the discussion are summarised below.

1.           With attention drawn to the sentence ‘Central to the new strategy will be a theme of a ‘one council’ approach where staff not only work within their directorates but are able to work across directorates and we aspire to “grow our own” to achieve a one council culture.’ (paragraph 6, agenda page 10), it was clarified that this related to skills and capability development to support individuals to make conscious career decisions to move within or outside their directorates.

2.           It was confirmed that the “grow our own” approach would explore coaching and mentoring opportunities between the council and other local employers, and that there had been early discussions with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System about transferable skills.

3.           It was noted that work was ongoing to address the gender pay gap, informed by emerging research and work at a national level, particularly in relation to flexible working practices and targeted interventions.

4.           The committee was advised that: although not mentioned explicitly in the report, apprenticeships featured within the draft workforce strategy and there was engagement with schools; the ‘Spirit of Herefordshire’ website would include career and learning pathways, although its focus was on the Children and Young People Directorate initially; the council had joined the Local Government Association’s National Graduate Development Programme, with three graduates appointed in the current year; and the council wanted to be known as an employer of choice with a skilled and stable workforce. 

A committee member suggested that the Spirit of Herefordshire website could include references to apprenticeships.

5.           It was noted that a key theme was ‘Culture and Belonging’ to attract and retain a diverse workforce, and that employee networks had been fundamental in shaping the draft strategy.

6.           The committee was advised that the council did not have an overseas recruitment campaign currently but this was being explored, potentially for the Children and Young People Directorate, informed by the learning from the campaigns run by local health partners.

7.           A committee member considered that: further consideration could be given to the wording of the themes and objectives (paragraph 19, agenda page 13) for the purposes of brevity and clarity; and the ‘Emerging Thrive values’ (agenda page 22), should focus on the substance of the content, rather than be constrained by an acronym.  The Chairperson welcomed the inclusion of word clouds, as different words would resonate with different people.

8.           The Chairperson commented on the need for staff and others to be able to provide open feedback and fair criticism, for unfair criticism of staff to be challenged, and for staff to be supported to try new things, recognising that they will sometimes fail.  The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services emphasised the importance of the ‘Inspirational Leadership’ theme, alongside emotional intelligence.  Other comments were made about embedding core values and behaviours.

9.           It was confirmed that information from exit interviews had been used as part of a desktop exercise to inform the emerging themes, such as matters around flexibility.

10.        A concern was expressed that the strategy should not be too internally focussed, without considering how employees could be enabled to do their jobs better.  It was suggested that clarity was needed about how the strategy connected to the County Plan and the Delivery Plan.  The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services drew attention to the questions asked during the engagement sessions with staff (paragraph 13, agenda page 11) and commented on the need to develop an agile and adaptive workforce.  It was noted that the Learning and Organisational Development Team would work with the Corporate Leadership Team to align the strategy with the County Plan and the Delivery Plan. 

11.        In response to a question about measures of success, the Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services commented on the potential for a key performance indicator on employee churn over a three-year period.

12.        In response to concerns expressed about the loss of experienced officers and about opportunities for internal promotion, the Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services reiterated the importance of ‘Inspirational Leadership’ and supporting the workforce to develop skills and capabilities.

13.        Attention was drawn to the recruitment and retention challenges identified in a recent presentation to the Health, Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee (link to the presentation on Home Care Capacity and Delivery).  It was suggested that pre-employment ‘taster days’ could be offered. 

The need to publicise the council’s apprenticeships was acknowledged; there were 83 active apprenticeships currently.

14.        Comments were made about the potential value of council leaders participating in practice interviews for students within schools.

15.        The committee was advised that: information had been collected from engagement sessions on organisational culture; as an internal strategy, the public had not been consulted; the Children’s Improvement project included a specific work stream on culture; and there would be strategies for each directorate to reflect the different challenges and workforce requirements.

16.        The Vice-Chairperson commented that the discussion had been useful but it had been limited by the fact that the draft strategy had not been circulated.  The Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services noted that the timeline was effectively six weeks late.  The Chairperson suggested that board members, as part of a work programming session, may wish to consider the potential for further scrutiny activity.

The Chairperson noted that no formal recommendations to the executive had been identified and invited the Cabinet Member Finance and Corporate Services and officers to take the comments of the committee into consideration as part of the continuing work on the strategy.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.