People Strategy 2021-26

People Strategy 2021 - 2026 - updated February 2023

Introduction

Rushcliffe Borough Council has been recognised as a high performing organisation, but we are not complacent. We want to build on our achievements and continuously improve - ensuring we are providing the best quality services we can, and in the most effective way.

Our employees are central to our achievements so far and to our future ambitions – they are responsible for leading, designing, supporting, and delivering services. They ensure that our residents, businesses, and visitors to Rushcliffe are the focus of everything we do.

We therefore need the best people working at Rushcliffe, working in a culture, environment and with the opportunities to achieve their best. Our people strategy sets out our plan to make this happen, underpinned by our values and culture.

Key Drivers

The people strategy takes account of our corporate objectives including the need for financial resilience, environmental considerations, and the continued delivery of quality services, but in new ways that offer greater choice to residents.

The context we operate in is one of uncertainty, and we therefore need to ensure we have the resilience and ability to adapt, innovate and working collaboratively with key partners.

We need to make sure that we have the flexibility to change and redesign services to maximise opportunities provided by changing technologies. Our adaptability and use of technology have been demonstrated in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Providing clarity, staying calm and remaining positive are at the heart of our values and were fundamental in ensuring we responded effectively and continued to deliver services and support our residents and businesses during the crisis. We will build on these qualities as we work to support the community and businesses in their recovery and renewal post-COVID-19. We want to ensure that the culture and ethos of Rushcliffe remains strong while we develop and embed new and emerging ways of working.

To attract and retain the best people, we need to consider how society and our potential talent pool is changing – how we can be an inclusive employer and respond to the different expectations people have of work and of balancing their lives outside of work. The Council’s community leadership role remains reflected in our support for the development of skills and employment opportunities for local people.

People Strategy - Priorities

• Attracting and retaining the best people.
• Being inclusive and building diversity.
• Engaging and leading people.
• Learning and evolving.
• Supporting and recognising performance.
• Supporting health and wellbeing.

These priorities are underpinned by our values, to:

• Challenge, but have realistic expectations.
• Be open-minded, flexible and innovative.
• Manage resources by focussing on what is important.
• Involve, empower and trust people and recognise their strengths.
• Support, develop, appreciate and value colleagues.
• Be honest and have grown-up conversations at the right time.

The strategy and the outline actions that come from it will reflect and reinforce the Rushcliffe culture, described as:

• Action-oriented
• Ambitious
• Camaraderie
• Can-do
• Challenging
• Culture
• Customer-focused
• Dedication
• Excellent
• Facilitating
• Flexibility
• Forward-thinking
• Fun
• Honest
• Innovative
• Open
• Positive
• Potential
• Progressive
• Responsive
• Sharing
• Stretching
• Understanding
• Visionary
• Work/life balance

Outline action plan to deliver the strategy

1. Attracting and retaining the best people

• Review recruitment policies and procedures to become more candidate-centred and ensure effective selection methods are used.
• Seek ways to continue to diversify the candidate pool and support opportunities for the local community.
• Review induction arrangements in the context of emerging/new ways of working.
• Act on feedback from staff surveys and exit interviews.
• Ensure pay and rewards are competitive, through review and benchmarking.
• Review job design to reflect views of potential recruits and support greater flexibility.
• Ensure that opportunities for flexible working are widely available and understood.

2. Being inclusive and building diversity

• Continue monitoring and understanding reasons and actions to address under- representation and pay gaps.
• Ensure equality, diversity and inclusion considerations as part of policy development.
• Through development and communication, increase awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion issues to understand barriers and how these could be addressed.
• Develop and implement a new equality action plan.
• Continue to fully engage with national schemes and initiatives to support under-represented groups into work.

3. Engaging and leading people

• Provide leadership and management development initiatives that address the new challenges and opportunities that come from emerging ways of working, change, performance management and partnership working.
• Support councillor development based on personal development plans and consider Councillor Development Charter as a potential framework.
• Ensure any policy review provides a clear framework of principles and give managers flexibility to operate.
• Ensure regular focus on the Council’s values and culture as part of selection, induction, communications and development.
• Continue engagement with employees through ELG, Chief Executive’s staff sessions and regular communications/feedback opportunities.

4. Learning and evolving

• Review policies to ensure these support flexibility and organisational change and emphasise the Council’s culture and values.
• Provide development opportunities to support the management and implementation of change, innovation, and ongoing development, including coaching and action learning.
• Develop and implement a workforce development plan to focus learning and development in line with future requirements.
• Support learning through secondment schemes and opportunities for project working.
• Engage with appropriate Government schemes to support development and employment opportunities, particularly in the context of local economic recovery/renewal and greater inclusion of under-represented/disadvantaged people.

5. Supporting and recognising performance

• Review performance management practices and policies.
• Develop an internal talent management programme that identifies potential at all levels and provides staff with development opportunities.
• Review progression opportunities for employees, eg career grades.
• Continue to recognise and celebrate achievements for staff and the council.

6. Supporting health and wellbeing

• Ensure our terms and conditions and staff rewards include opportunities for promotion of staff health and wellbeing.
• Continue to monitor sickness absence and respond to any trends in most common reasons for absence.
• Continue to demonstrate focus of employee wellbeing in actions and plans developed in relation to COVID-19.
• Ensure any workforce development plans include provisions to support resilience and readiness for change.

 

Appendix A

Health and Wellbeing Strategy

Aims and Objectives

The Council recognises its employees as its biggest asset and the importance of creating a culture which proactively supports health and wellbeing. The objective of this strategy is to:

• Encourage and support employees to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle
• Support employees with manageable health conditions or disabilities to remain in work
• Create a culture of open discussion around stress and mental health
• Provide a safe working environment for employees to work in
• Create an enjoyable work environment with high staff morale

How the objectives are achieved

• Promoting positive wellbeing at all levels within the organisation, actively led by the senior leadership team
• Through active Workplace Health Champions who meet at least quarterly to plan and deliver workplace health initiatives in-line with national campaigns and the needs of the employees
• With trained Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA)
• Provision of physiotherapy and occupational health services including pre-employment checks for new employees
• Provision of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and additional counselling services where required. The EAP includes other advice including legal, financial and consumer
• Through implementation of the Health and Safety Framework
• Through various HR policies for example the Supporting Employee policy and Alcohol and Substance Misuse policy
• Delivery of health and wellbeing messages through appropriate means of communication such as Staff Matters, e-mails, notice boards and promotional materials
• Ensuring fair and effective absence management processes are in place
• Through regular staff surveys, identifying trends and any areas of concern
• Delivery of training to develop personal resilience
• Access to reduced gym membership and encourage participation in fitness activities
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Employee rewards and benefits which help to reduce financial stress
• Employee engagement through Well-being and Social Club

Monitoring the success

• Monitoring of appropriate data through KPI’s
• Outcomes and results from employee surveys
• Access to EAP, Counselling Services and Occupational Health
• Accident data and incidence rates
• Sickness absence data
• Uptake and feedback from wellbeing related activities
• Feedback from Workplace Health Champions and MHFA’s