Working Together

Welcome and Introduction

Nigel HowellsChief Executive of East Lindsey District Council

and

Chair of the Lincolnshire and Rutland Public Sector Compact Steering Group

Working Together

A stock-take of issues as they impact on public sector employers in Lincolnshire and Rutland

Nicola Marshall Lincolnshire County Council

Content

• Context setting and areas for further discussion

• Feedback from the stock-take exercise

• Some indicators for the Action Plan

Methodology

• Rationale for the exercise : evidence for Action Plan

• Contextual information

• Questionnaire : 2 themes – Top 3 issues; 22 sent; 14 replies

• Interviews : 3

• Discussion Group

Context in Lincolnshire• 306,155 people of working age are economically active

• 24.7% work in public administration, education and health

• Low levels of qualifications

• Ageing employee base and exporter of graduates

• Reduced numbers of young people coming through the school system

• Disability and access to employment

Recruitment and Retention (1)

• Questionnaire: 38 responses, 11 areas of interest

• Supply side issues in a national labour market. 18% of responses cited recruitment difficulties for professional and technical jobs.

• Salaries are not competitive: 31% of responses.

• Turnover increasing: importance of workforce planning and succession planning

Recruitment and Retention (2)

• Attracting local talent: graduates and apprenticeships.

• Traditional labour pool decreasing: Migrant workforce; Diversity and accessibility of jobs in the public sector.

• Rurality; budget and costs; image.

Learning and Development• Questionnaire: fragmented response; organisational

perspective; 17 separate issues or topics identified

• Budget and opportunity costs of training - 28%; equality of access; cultural and diversity issues.

• Low levels of Level 2 qualifications. Skills for Life issues.

• Leadership and Management : managing change; identifying skills needs; soft skills.

Potential Action Points (1)• Increase the numbers of apprenticeships in the public sector

• Tackle low-level skills through Skills for Life and employers ‘Taking the Skills Pledge’ (Leitch Review)

• Identifying future skills gaps: types of service to be provided.

• Do we have any common training needs across L+R?

Potential Action Points (2)

• Supply of training, development and education: is there sufficient and good quality provision to fill the gaps?

• Are the existing Information, Advice and Guidance services satisfactory?

• Opening up the public sector to non-traditional workers.

• Influencing the wider labour market – e.g. through contracting of services and writing in training and qualification requirements.

Thanks for listening !

……… any questions ?

Learning & Development Issues, challenges and a way

forwardPresentation written by

Jane Johnson and Helen Smith of the

Lincolnshire Workforce Modernisation Service

Presentation delivered by Helen Smith

Issues 1

• Tension between organisational objectives and future direction and personal career aspirations

• Equity of access to learning and development opportunities

• Balance between formal learning e.g. credits and courses and informal learning

Issues 2

• Complex structures – we don’t always know what is needed

• Communication with learning and development providers

• Funding structures

Example

• Development of a new type of worker in the NHS

• Partnership working with a variety of NHS organisations, differing professionals, university and a college

• Curriculum and the role developed in tandem

• There were challenges along the way and its early days … but we feel that we are getting there!

Lessons Learnt

• Need clear workforce plans and be able to articulate training needs

• Work hard to overcome communication difficulties

• Understand each others’ timescales and priorities

• Set out expectations of service early and recognise what is realistic for both sides to deliver

Recruitment and Retention Issues

Justin Brown

Head of Economic Regeneration Policy

Lincolnshire County Council

Economic development and public sector recruitment

• Lower than average knowledge based employment

• Rural Action Zone• Coastal Action Zone• Recruitment packs• National skills and labour

shortages

0

20

40

60

80

100

%

Financial intermediation

Real estate, renting, business

Public admin, defence

Education

Health, social work

Manufacture

Other

Transport, storage, comms

Hotels and restaurants

Retail trade, repair of vehicles

Construction

Agriculture, hunting, fishing

H I G H E R

L O W E R

The Beech House vox-pop(local issues)

• “I just sort of fell into it”

• “I liked the idea of moving around the organisation”

• “The job pays well”

• “Training and career progression was attractive”

The Beech House vox-pop(national issues)

• “I took a life choice, not an employment choice, to move here”

• “The work is too intense”

• “I miss the culture of more populated areas”

• “I took a risk –there wasn’t a job for my spouse”

The questions that arose in my mind…

• How can we do more to catch the “fallers” ?

• Could we do more to move people around –within our own organisation and beyond ?

• How do we make our jobs more attractive to people on the career ladder ?

• How do we streamline work ?