Following on from CSG’s successful roundtable in London earlier in the year, on the 8th of June we held the follow-up event this time in Manchester with leaders and senior executives from across the north of England.  The room was full and the debate engaging.  Many of the issues were familiar from our first roundtable but there was a strong desire to move forward, learning where councils were having success and exploring new opportunities to work together.

There was a broad agreement that councils need to find ways to be more agile.  People want to be able to apply as soon as they see a job on their mobile.  If recruitment processes take too long then talent is lost as candidates take offers from those more agile.  One Head of HR and OD shared, “We’ve had success taking recruitment to the community, interviewing candidates there and then and then following up with checks post-event.  We’d like to do more of this but it is time-consuming.”

Related to this it was agreed that as well as being more agile, the commercial sector is generally better at promoting available career paths and yet people can grow their careers across a council.  In fact for people who don’t know what they want to do, councils offer great opportunities to move between services and departments.  But councils do need to improve their communication of what roles are available.

Councils could also get better at taking people on with transferable skills and then train where specific skills are required.  One Director challenged whether local government is adapting to the future of work by allowing more flexible working and being more output driven. The culture was highlighted as important and it can be the recruiting manager that holds back HR by insisting on advertising for specific experience or office based only.

Whether you call it a local government brand or employer value proposition there was a general consensus that councils aren’t the best at promoting the full benefits of a career in local government.  One CEO noted, “There is a great story in local government – we need to get that out there.  This is particularly for the next generation where social values are so important.”  Another noted that local government is social value by default.  Members also have a role in promoting council careers that perhaps they don’t currently take on and by working closer together this could help improve diversity and inclusion within the community.

The Greater Manchester group of councils shared their experience of closer working particularly on workforce planning.  Whilst recognising that there will be a need for hyper-local recruitment it was acknowledged that by reducing competition this creates opportunities for closer workers at a regional level.  The examples discussed were opportunities to share scarce skills such as a planners or attracting graduates or sharing a number of apprenticeship roles. 

The thought leadership from the discussion will be shared through APSE and the PPMA and it was clear that the councils at this event see there are clear opportunities for councils to improve their recruitment and retention even in these challenging times. Whether that be to improve reach across local communities or looking to retain older members of the workforce rather than lose service experience.

Thank you to all the councils that attended and to APSE for hosting and to Mo Baines for presenting their Local Government Skills research findings.