Agenda item

To receive an update presentation on the HR/OR Workforce.

Paul Young, Head of HR and Contracted Services presented an update on the Workforce and Organisational Development Strategy 2021 – 2024 which had been updated in July 2021. At the July meeting it was agreed that a 6-month update be provided.

Eleven objectives and four themes had been included in the strategy which covered the areas that would be focused on. A Workforce Board had been established which met every 3 weeks which would identify areas that required development, and this would feed into the Workforce and Organisational Development Strategy.

It was recognised that through the strategy period, that the council and schools had also been working hard on the covid response in addition to normal duties.  

HR Delivery and Transformation were focusing on pay and reward as there were real challenges with retention of staff in certain areas of the council. As a result, job evaluations would be looked at, alongside reward packages that were being used in Bracknell Forest. The aim was to reduce the amount of agency staff that were being used across the Council and to decrease the spend in this area which would be a challenge as there were particular areas that were a challenge to recruit to not just in Bracknell Forest, but also in neighbouring authorities. It was hoped that regular updates would be provided to the Committee, but it would be a real challenge to crack, and was a really large piece of work.  

In addition, the management practise across the Council was being looked at, with manager sessions being held which also focused on recruitment and retention and a training program for managers would be commencing.

Health and Wellbeing had been important over the past 18 months, an employee assistance program had been worked on, and support was being provided across the Council. A bid was being submitted to the Public Health funds to see if there was anymore that could be done.

Streamline support was being looked out for HR support and processes, with better online support signposted for managers.

A new recruitment platform was being introduced in January 2022, it was hoped that this would provide better data for recruitment and that the right target audiences were reaching vacancies. It was also a more streamline approach, making recruitment easier for managers.

Targeted recruitment events had been attended at both the Community Care Live event in the Autumn and the Lexicon. Another recruitment campaign would be happening in February, where the Council would have a presence.

Policy reviews were still ongoing, and there was a rolling programme in place.

Career pathways within the council were being looked at for social care and occupational therapy.

Values and behaviours were being redefined due to feedback received from staff. These would be used as part of the Bracknell Forest brand and recruitment going forward. Equality and Diversity work was ongoing, and 25 Equality Allies had been trained across the Council, there role was to be a listening ear for anyone who was facing any challenges or issues. They had been in place for the past 2 months.

The Bracknell Forest Manager framework and Leadership and management development was being updated and streamlined.

A new Learning and Development plan was being put in place; a skills analysis has been undertaken across the council with a 50% response rate, this had allowed real qualitive date to show where the skill gaps were missing across departments. This work also linked into the mandatory and statutory training requirements, so the department had a real understanding about what training was required across the Council and therefore, the learning and development across the council could be planned in a more targeted way.

A future update would be brought to the next meeting.