HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE Senior Management Team A Paper by Gaynor Coldrick

Health and Safety Executive Senior Management Team Paper
SMT/10/03
Meeting Date:
6 January 2010
FOI Status:
Open
Type of Paper:
For discussion
Trim Ref:
2009/505904
Exemptions:
HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE
Senior Management Team
Workforce update to the HSE Board for 2009/10
A Paper by Gaynor Coldrick
Advisor: Dave Hockey
Cleared by Gaynor Coldrick on 22 December 2009
Issue
1. To note and endorse the annual update on a range of key workforce issues for
the HSE Board in February 2010.
Timing
2. For discussion at the January 2010 SMT meeting.
Recommendation
3. That the SMT:
a) note the progress on key issues including recruitment, turnover, How and
Where We Work (HWWW), future workforce strategy, degree requirement for
recruits, internal diversity, and People Survey 2009.
b) agree the content for presentation to the Board in February 2010.
Background
4. At the meeting in February 2009 the Board were given a general update on
HSE’s workforce as the first in an annual series requested by the Board.
5. This paper gives the second annual update.
Action
6. As in paragraph 3.
Page 1 of 13
Health and Safety Executive Board
Meeting Date:
Type of paper:
24 February 2010
Above the line
Trim reference:
2009/505924
Paper No: HSE/10
FOI Status:
Exemptions:
Open
WORKFORCE UPDATE
Purpose of the paper
1.
The Board is invited to consider this annual update on a range of key
workforce issues including recruitment. Any advice or steer that the Board wishes to
offer on meeting the future challenges HSE faces would be welcome. It is suggested
that future updates be given in April/May of each year to enable reporting of a full
year activity.
Background
2.
Recruitment has continued to be a major priority during the current year and
we have made good progress in most areas though, along with many other GB
organisations, we continue to have difficulty recruiting some specialist skills in
specific sectors. The relocation of functions to Redgrave Court under the How and
Where we Work programme (HWWW) required significant re-deployment in London
and recruitment in Bootle. April sees the launch of HSE’s first Single Equality
Scheme, and we have just participated in the first civil service wide Employee
Engagement Survey, branded the ‘People Survey’.
3.
Attached at Annex 1 are breakdowns of HSE’s workforce showing staff in
post, starters, leavers and diversity statistics. The figures are based on full time
equivalent (FTE) staff currently on payroll, and exclude HSL who have separate
workforce planning arrangements.
Progress on Recruitment in 2009/10
4.
In many areas our recruitment efforts have been successful. Between 1st
April and 30 November 2009 we succeeded in recruiting 294.4 staff (FTE) across a
range of posts and Directorates in HSE. Start dates have been agreed with a further
34 recruits1 and major recruitment campaigns are ongoing for HID and ND. We
have maintained inspector numbers above the ‘red-line’ target of 1283, and have
met the significant recruitment needs arising from HWWW including recruiting into
perceived hard to fill posts such as lawyers, communications professionals,
statisticians and social researchers to work in Redgrave Court.
5.
In some specialist areas we have exploited a public sector (safer jobs)
recruitment and retention advantage because of the economic recession, but we do
not expect this to last beyond 18 months at most. We need to prepare for the
upturn.
6.
In 2009/10 we have succeeded in recruiting new staff in traditionally hard to fill
areas, such as specialists in HID (onshore), nuclear and FOD. It remains difficult,
however, to fill certain types of specialist posts because of shortages of people with
1
As at 30 November 2009. New recruits are expected to start by March 2010 and include 21 inspectors. The
inspectors comprise a range of disciplines including nuclear, risk assessment, offshore, diving, C&I and
mechanical engineer.
Page 2 of 13
the relevant skills in the GB labour market. Difficult areas include offshore, divers,
predictive risk and control & instrumentation.
7.
It will become increasingly difficult to recruit experienced professionals and
like most organisations we will need to develop a greater proportion of the required
skills in-house. Since April 2008 we have developed 15 specialists across a range of
disciplines through the equivalence arrangements and ‘grow your own’ pilots to
develop mechanical and electrical engineers in FOD and HID.
8.
We have put considerable effort into recruitment and resourcing issues over
the current year and some particular initiatives include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Working with D/Ds and PFPD to develop better workforce plans enabling a
more planned and strategic approach to recruitment activity and staff
planning.
Continuing the development and professional training of our in-house
recruitment function.
Introducing a consistent employer brand to ensure we clearly
communicate the benefits of working for HSE to our target markets. This
will include a long term engagement strategy to build our profile as an
employer of choice, particularly in relation to science and engineering.
Continuing to explore the scope for further, targeted and flexible pay
interventions.
Developing partnerships with a range of specialised recruitment
consultants and agencies giving us greater access to networks and more
difficult recruitment markets. Two agencies have already been engaged to
recruit specialists for HID.
Continuously refreshing our recruitment channels to ensure we are
presenting potential applicants with professional and modern techniques.
Turnover
9.
Average turnover has been around 7% over the last three years but this has
increased to over 9% during 2009/10. The increase appears unusual in the current
climate, but is mainly due to staff leaving through the HWWW programme with large
numbers of people being redeployed to other government departments or leaving on
voluntary retirement/release schemes.
10.
Table 8 (Annex 1) shows leavers since April 2009. As at 30 November ]there
were 306 known leavers. The main discipline groups of the leavers were:
administrators (170), regulatory inspectors (48), scientific (31), and offshore (12).
Resignations accounted for 112 (37%) of leavers, transfers to other government
departments for 101 (33%), and retirements for 52(17%). Flexible Early Retirement
as a result of HWWW accounted for a further 38 leavers (12%). Other reasons for
leaving included reaching the end of fixed term appointments, end of loan to HSE
and dismissal for inefficiency.
Page 3 of 13
How and Where We Work Programme (HWWW)
11.
We have successfully completed the HWWW programme. In addition to
successfully recruiting 138 staff to Redgrave Court, the required reductions in Rose
Court were achieved within the planned timescale. Of the original 351 staff in scope,
only one person remains in Rose Court with a further 12 staff on loan or secondment
to other government departments. Human Resources are working closely with these
individuals to secure permanent redeployment from HSE.
Future Workforce Strategy
12.
A draft corporate workforce strategy is being considered by the Senior
Management Team shortly. The key aim of the strategy will be to help HSE develop
the workforce that is needed to deliver the new health and safety strategy and
business plans, and to respond to anticipated future workforce challenges over the
three year period to 2013. The workforce strategy proposes six priority areas for
action, the detail of which is set out in annex 2:
•
Recruitment
•
Career Development
•
Diversity and Age Structure
•
Learning and Development
•
Talent Management
•
Management competence
Degree Requirements for Recruits
13.
At the meeting in July the Board considered a paper regarding the use of
degree level qualifications as an entry requirement for trainee inspectors. The Board
endorsed the current approach but asked that we consider the feasibility of
developing an option to allow exceptionally promising candidates without this level of
educational qualifications to be considered.
14.
SMT have considered the options, and the 2010 intake of trainee inspectors
(which will be advertised from March 2010) will invite applications from exceptional
candidates who may not have a degree level qualification, but who can demonstrate
the required level of academic ability through other means. Applicants who feel they
meet this criteria will be considered in parallel with other applicants but will be asked
to submit a detailed portfolio of evidence. They will undergo the same battery of
tests as other candidates and those that meet the required standard in the tests will
have their portfolio of evidence assessed with a view to inviting sufficient candidates
to assessment centre to produce a number of new recruits without degrees.
Internal Diversity
15.
The Board are considering separately a paper on HSE’s new Single Equality
Scheme (SES). The SES sets out how we will meet our duty to promote equality in
preparation of the Equality Bill, and includes an action plan setting out a range of
measures to improve diversity in HSE.
Page 4 of 13
16.
A number of projects are already underway – a career development
programme specifically aimed at Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in Job Bands
6 to 4 was launched in January and invites staff in scope who believe they have the
potential to progress further to be considered for the programme. The programme
will involve a range of activities to support personal development including skills
workshops, mentoring, action learning sets and job attachments. The programme is
based on an initiative that has been used successfully in DWP for a number of years
and has been developed in conjunction with HSE’s diversity networks. It will be
evaluated with a view to extending more widely.
17.
We have also completed a career progression study of disabled staff in HSE.
The initial findings show that although there is no evidence of bias in the career
development or promotion arrangements, there do appear to be inconsistencies in
the level of support provided by line managers to disabled staff and this may be
acting as a barrier to development and progression. A final report will be presented
to HSE’s Diversity Steering Group in March 2010 along with recommendations for
action.
18.
As part of its commitment to develop staff, HSE has a mentoring
programme. The first intake was set up initially for BME staff but this is now a longterm programme open to all. It is envisaged that, eventually, everyone in HSE will
have the opportunity to take part either as a mentee and/or a mentor. The sixth
intake is scheduled for February with four further intakes currently scheduled into
2011. There have been over 70 mentee/mentor pairings. The workshops are run by
our Personal Development provider (DLS). It is envisaged that pairings will last
18 months and there is a comprehensive evaluation at the 9 month stage. The first
three intakes have been evaluated with a largely positive response and feedback
incorporated into the planning of subsequent intakes. Mentors have included a
number at SCS level.
19.
Annex 1 contains the latest data on diversity in HSE. Although there have
been slight increases in the number of women at Job Bands 1 and 2, there continues
to be under-representation of women at senior levels in HSE. Encouragingly we
have increased the proportion of female trainee inspector recruits, up to 38% from
29% in 2008. The overall proportion of HSE staff with a disability remains
unchanged at 4% but there has been a slight reduction in the number of BME staff,
down to 4% from 5% in 2008/09 (attributable to the staff reductions in Rose Court).
20.
Regarding equal pay, HSE introduced its current step-based progression
system in October 20052. Since its introduction we have steadily reduced the
number of steps (or years) that it takes staff to reach the top of their pay range. We
have made good progress on closing gender pay gaps across all job bands. We are
working closely with Cabinet Office and Treasury Solicitors to remove any further
potential vulnerabilities on equal pay.
People Survey 2009
21.
Board members will be aware that HSE recently took part in the first crossgovernment civil service employee engagement survey which was delivered to 95
government organisations representing 97% of civil servants. The HSE response
2
Before 2005, HSE had different progression mechanisms, including guarantees that staff would reach the top
of their pay range in 12 years (2003) and 11 years (2003).
Page 5 of 13
rate was encouraging with 71% of our staff completing the survey against a civil
service average of 64%.
22.
At the time of writing only a brief ‘flash’ report was available, though more
detailed findings should be available in February to enable a further oral update to be
given at the meeting. The early indications are encouraging and although direct
comparison with previous bespoke HSE surveys is not straightforward, there have
been some encouraging improvements in key areas. Areas which have been rated
more positively by our staff include:
23.
•
Job satisfaction
•
Pay
•
Management of HSE as a whole
•
Confidence in senior management
•
Dealing with poor performance
•
Management of change
•
Continuous improvement
•
Information required to do job
•
Understanding HSE’s objectives
•
Opportunities to develop career
There have been slightly less positive responses in the following areas:
•
I am proud to work for HSE
•
Learning and Development activities helping to improve performance
24.
There are other areas that may need to be addressed. For example only 32%
of staff believe that SMT has a clear vision for the future of HSE, only 37% of staff
feel that HSE inspires them to the best in their job, and 10% of our staff feel they
have personally experienced discrimination in one form or another at work. The full
survey will be considered by SMT in February with a view to developing an action
plan focusing on key emerging themes.
Conclusion
25.
HSE has faced a number of challenging workforce issues over the last
12 onths but overall, we believe we have made good progress in key areas. We will
continue to work on the areas of concern and put greater effort into longer-term
planning to ensure we are prepared for the upturn in the economy and the potential
shift in turnover and recruitment difficulties this will inevitably bring.
Action
26.
The Board is asked to note progress in the key workforce areas and to
support the proposed future workforce strategy as the best way of ensuring that HSE
has the skilled workforce it needs in the future.
Page 6 of 13
Paper clearance
27.
The paper has been cleared by Geoffrey Podger.
Page 7 of 13
Annex 1
WORKFORCE TABLES
(full time equivalent staff in post at 30 November 2009)
Table 1: Staff in post by job band and directorate
Directorate
SCS
Band 1
Band 2
87
Band 6
43
1
Chief Scientific Adviser's Grp
3
Communications Directorate
1
Cross Cutting Interventions
3
Deputy Chief Executive
2
2
15
22
29
39
39
148
Field Operations Directorate
9
26
137
476
199
211
219
1276
Hazardous Installations Direc
5
20
99
261
18
40
85
529
Human Resources Directorate
1
2
17
12
17
22
23
94
1
4
2
4
40
Grand
Total
244
3
Operational Policy & Support
49
Band 5
Chief Executives Office
Nuclear Safety Directorate
20
Band 4
Chemicals Reg Directorate
Legal Advisors Office
2
Band 3
2
4
18
11
18
6
8
68
4
12
29
7
11
66
26
37
53
14
7
145
2
4
6
2
5
7
2
27
10
30
115
86
19
29
56
347
1
1
1
3
Operational Strategy Div
1
5
19
50
13
8
5
Planning,Fin & Procurement Dir
1
4
3
13
16
21
18
75
Science & Technology Group
1
6
27
39
5
6
12
96
44
111
505
1073
507
457
526
3223
Grand Total
Table 2: Gender and job band
Numbers
101
Percentage
SCS
10
34
Grand
Total
44
Band 1
27
84
111
Band 2
102
403
505
Band 2
20%
80%
100%
Band 3
367
706
1073
Band 3
34%
66%
100%
Band 4
231
276
507
Band 4
46%
54%
100%
Band 5
319
138
457
Band 5
70%
30%
100%
Band 6
368
158
526
Band 6
70%
30%
100%
1424
1799
3223
Grand Total
44%
56%
100%
Job Band
Female
Grand Total
Male
Table 3: Race and job band
Numbers
Job Band
SCS
White
BME
33
SCS
22%
78%
Grand
Total
100%
Band 1
24%
76%
100%
Job Band
Female
Male
Percentage
Non
participant
9
Not
Known
Grand
Total
Job
Band
White
2
44
SCS
75%
BME
Non
participant
Not
Known
Grand
Total
20%
4%
100%
100%
Band 1
84
3
21
3
111
Band 1
76%
2%
19%
3%
Band 2
318
11
155
21
505
Band 2
63%
2%
31%
4%
100%
Band 3
641
50
302
80
1073
Band 3
60%
5%
28%
7%
100%
Band 4
280
16
102
109
507
Band 4
55%
3%
20%
22%
100%
Band 5
271
27
134
25
457
Band 5
59%
6%
29%
5%
100%
Band 6
Grand
Total
280
22
168
55
526
53%
4%
32%
11%
100%
1908
129
891
296
3223
Band 6
Grand
Total
59%
4%
28%
9%
100%
Page 8 of 13
Table 4: Disability and job band
Numbers
Percentage
No
Disability
Has
Disability
Not
Known
SCS
40
2
2
Band 1
107
1
3
111
Band 1
97%
1%
3%
100%
Band 2
465
19
21
505
Band 2
92%
4%
4%
100%
Band 3
961
32
80
1073
Band 3
90%
3%
7%
100%
Band 4
380
18
109
507
Band 4
75%
4%
22%
100%
Band 5
415
18
25
457
Band 5
91%
4%
5%
100%
Band 6
425
45
55
526
81%
9%
11%
100%
2793
134
296
3223
Band 6
Grand
Total
87%
4%
9%
100%
Job Band
Grand Total
Grand
Total
Job Band
44
SCS
No
Disability
Has
Disability
91%
Not
Known
4%
4%
Grand
Total
100%
Table 5: Age and job band
Pay Scale Area
<20
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-60
>60
Grand Total
Band 1
0%
0%
5%
29%
62%
5%
100%
Band 2
0%
0%
9%
31%
54%
7%
100%
Band 3
0%
2%
25%
40%
29%
4%
100%
Band 4
0%
12%
28%
39%
20%
1%
100%
Band 5
0%
8%
21%
42%
26%
3%
100%
Band 6
0%
12%
18%
34%
31%
5%
100%
SCS
0%
0%
0%
18%
74%
8%
100%
Grand Total
0%
6%
20%
37%
33%
4%
100%
Table 6: Proportion of inspectors aged 56 or over
Discipline
Staff (FTE)
Percentage
Mines
7
50%
Quarries
5
50%
Offshore
47
42%
Nuclear
69
37%
Medical
2
28%
Specialist
73
27%
Regulatory
121
13%
Grand Total
325
21%
Page 9 of 13
Workforce Recruitment
Table 7: Staff recruited by discipline group in 2009/10 to date (full details on e-HR system) at
30 November 2009
Discipline Group
Staff
Administration
110.3
Economist
4.8
Legal
9.6
Mines
3.0
Nuclear
19.8
Nursing
1.0
Offshore
5.0
Professional/Technical
2.0
Regulatory
106.9
Scientific
8.0
Specialist Inspector
Grand Total
24.0
294.4
Workforce leavers
Table 8: leavers by discipline group in 2009/10 to date (full details on e-HR system) at 30
November 2009
Discipline Group
Administration
Staff
169.9
Economist
2.0
Foundation
1.0
Information
3.3
Legal
8.7
Mines
5.0
Nuclear
7.0
Nursing
0.4
Offshore
12.2
Photographer
1.0
Professional/Technical
1.0
Regulatory
48.2
Scientific
31.6
Specialist
11.6
Statistician
3.0
Grand Total
305.9
Page 10 of 13
Annex 2
Draft Workforce Strategy – Key Elements and Explanation
1.
Recruitment
Over the last two years we have increased the effectiveness of our recruitment
activity and have managed to meet the majority of our recruitment needs, including
the significant challenge of recruiting significant numbers of professional and other
staff to meet the needs of the How and Where We Work redeployment. Targeted
pay investment and the economic downturn have enabled us to improve our overall
success with the recruitment of specialists.
But repeated recruitment campaigns are costly and we are still not able to recruit
sufficient staff in a number of disciplines, despite the recent pay award.
We want to extend our recruitment capability to deliver sufficient people to meet
business need and maintain the ministerial ‘red line’ in all areas. Research carried
out by one of our recruitment consultants, McCann Erickson, indicates that our
marketing and communications are not reaching all the people who could be of
interest to us, and when it does reach them it is not always giving the full spectrum of
the jobs that we offer.
In addition to the initiatives described at paragraph 8 of the main paper, further work
planned includes extending our capacity to develop specialist skills in-house,
specifically targeting recruits with the potential to develop into specialists, and
ensuring future pay and reward strategies prioritise scarce skills.
2.
Career development
We have the potential to offer a wide range of varied and interesting careers but we
do not exploit this and there is a lack of clear career paths and options in some
areas. Less than half of our staff believe there are opportunities to develop their
career in HSE3. Too often career choice is about waiting for the person in the higher
job band to move on (or out of HSE).
In many cases the deployment of staff results from individual choice and the ‘free
market’ rather than through managed career development moves. There appears to
be insufficient planned movement between Directorates.
Operational D/Ds have restructured how specialist inspectors are deployed which
may open up more career opportunities, and work is ongoing to promote the concept
of twin track careers for staff who want to work at a more advanced level in their
specialism and those who want to take on a managerial role.
But the movement of people needs to strike a better balance between business need
and personal development. We want to be able to offer a range of defined career
paths and see HSE as a great place to work. This will increase our organisational
flexibility and responsiveness and help to make HSE more attractive as an employer
as career development is one of the key factors people consider when looking for
jobs. Work planned includes developing corporate career management
arrangements to oversee the deployment and development of specialists, developing
3
HSE People Survey 2009
Page 11 of 13
competence frameworks for technical competence, and rolling out the Professional
Skills for Government competency framework giving greater clarity and consistency
to the career development needs for all staff.
3.
Diversity and age structure
There are structural weaknesses in the age profile of our workforce and we need to
recruit from more diverse groups. Currently nobody aged under 20 works for HSE,
only a quarter of our staff are aged under 40, and a fifth of our staff are 55 years of
age or older.
We want a diverse workforce and to continuously refresh our pool of talent. We
need to move towards a flatter overall age structure and recruit people earlier in their
careers. We want to increase the representation of women, BME groups and
disabled staff into senior grades i.e., Band 3 and above.
As part of our employer branding initiative we are developing an engagement
strategy to raise our profile with key, relevant organisations. We will specifically
target relevant universities and professional institutions, and use media in a more
imaginative way to target under-represented groups. We are participating in the
government Graduate Talent Pool initiative creating a rolling programme of graduate
internships with the aim of raising our profile as an employer of choice for recent
graduates. Proposals for extending our arrangements for developing specialists will
include options for a specialist development programme enabling us to recruit people
much earlier in their careers.
4.
Learning and development
We have substantially increased the volume of learning and development support
delivered to respond to the increase in new recruits. The Regulator Development
Needs Assessment tool (RDNA) and Specialist version has been developed and
rolled out. This will help to focus, structure and plan the development of inspectors,
after they have finished their Early Years training.
High levels of recruitment has put a strain on the Early Years programme, but we
have used HSE Strategy funding to bring in extra resource to help us through the
peak in demand. A review of specialist training needs has been completed, and it
proposed a number of measures, crucial to which was the appointment of a
Specialist Development Manager. The SDM’s role is to support new specialists and
their managers through the Early Years programme, and ensure each new Specialist
agrees an appropriate and robust training programme with their line manager. The
SDM post is only funded for 2 years, so we will need to keep the longer term
requirement for this under review.
In the future we want to have a system of learning and development in place to meet
the needs of all staff promptly and effectively – this goes right across the whole
spectrum form Early Years and Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
training for inspectors, through to effective management, leadership and personal
skills development programmes.
The main actions in this area include using the RDNA to record the competences of
all inspectors, including specialists, using the SDM role to have more targeted
training and development programmes for new specialists, and helping line
managers ensure placements are timely, appropriate and spread effectively between
Page 12 of 13
regions. We will also implement an action plan for improving leadership and
management in HSE e.g., through better promotion of the Pathways programme.
5.
Talent management
There are a multitude of development programmes available to staff but these are
not presented or marketed very effectively, and there is no coherent framework of
talent management arrangements. For example, there are no development
programmes at all for staff at Job bands 4 to 6. We have no consistent definition of
what constitutes ‘potential’.
The overwhelming majority of administrative vacancies are advertised within HSE
only, severely limiting the available pool of potential candidates and the opportunity
to bring fresh talent into the organisation.
We will develop an effective talent management strategy enabling us to attract,
develop and manage talented individuals with high potential. We are participating in
a Cabinet Office initiative which will require all civil service organisations to open up
advertised vacancies to the wider civil service. This will open up jobs in HSE to a
much wider pool of potential candidates and enable us to refresh the talent pool.
We are currently launching a development scheme for BME staff at Job Bands 4 to 6
and this will be evaluated with a view to making a similar scheme available more
generally.
6.
Management competence
There are some strong indicators that management competence is improving. The
majority of staff feel that their line manager motivates them effectively, and the
proportion of staff who feel that poor performance is dealt with effectively has
increased by 14% since 2006.4 There have been significant reductions in the levels
of sickness absence and feedback from the HR casework support team shows that
an increasing number of managers are seeking advice on how to tackle poor
performance.
There remains a view, however, that there is scope to improve performance
management and that there are too many occasions when poor performance is
inappropriately tolerated.5
7.
Summary
These six priority areas form the basis of our draft workforce strategy and this will
provide a coherent framework for future development of the workforce. A
programme of work to address these areas is either already underway or planned
and will be incorporated into a clear, time bound delivery plan. We will use relevant
metrics to help monitor and report progress on workforce issues which are all subject
to resource availability.
4
Both indicators from the HSE People Survey 2009
Emerging finding from review of HR Transformation Project which included interviews of a sample of
managers across HSE.
5
Page 13 of 13