Public: Workplace reform | Public

How will the inevitable spending cuts in the public sector be managed?

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Quangos and regional development agencies could be the first to go when it comes to slimming down the public sector

Regardless of the hue of the next government, organisations the length and breadth of the public sector are bracing themselves for cuts. Maintaining service quality with less resource is likely to be the biggest challenge facing the sector in the coming years.

Services like the NHS are unlikely to be cut into drastically at the front line, although some have suggested that significant savings could be made in what has been coined the "corporate overhead."

Developing better management and leadership skills can help rationalise the service away from the coal face, without leading to a decline in service. It's an approach already being done well by some foundation trusts, and one many believe can be effectively replicated throughout the rest of the NHS.

Outside essential services, most recognise that quangos and regional development agencies are under the spotlight. David Cameron has been adamant in his belief that this area of the public sector harbours a significant degree of waste, and Gordon Brown has stated that 129 quangos could be either abolished or merged without significant impact on service.

Pensions have been suggested as another target for cuts, with some feeling they are the "sacred cow" of the public sector. Reducing public sector pensions could indeed help to cut deficits and save capital, but there's a real fear that it would also significantly harm organisations' ability to attract and retain the talent needed to maintain and improve service levels.

One interesting idea that we've seen gain some support among the senior managers to whom we have spoken with is the concept of zero-ased budgeting. Distinct from incremental budgeting, this involves all parts of the public sector needing their entire budget approved every year rather than simply any increases.

Even if done on a three-yearly basis, many have said they feel it would help to target inefficiencies in all areas of the public sector, going a long way to dealing with spending cuts.

A common theme running through many of the conversations we've had has been getting the right people into the right places. Recruitment has never been a more important issue - it will be vital to find inquisitive people who are unafraid to ask the right procurement questions and develop answers to deliver services with fewer resources. That means looking seriously at how you attract people, getting as much advice as you can on where to look for the best talent and how to recruit them.

There one unavoidable fact – spending cuts are coming to the public sector. Understanding how to manage them and continue to deliver the services that are needed is the big question facing the entire sector. Informed debate will help us arrive at answers, as will ensuring the public sector remains home to intelligent, motivated professionals.

To see some of the conversations we held earlier this year with public
sector figures about this issue, visit Market Talk.

Nicola Linkleter is public sector executive director at recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark

A more ruthless approach

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Due diligence must be the starting point of any merger but public leaders have to toughen up when it comes to making unpalatable decisions

The recent National Audit Office report, Reorganising Central Government, revealed an estimated 51 government reorganisations had cost more than £780m, with technology being one of most significant expenses alongside people and property. The conclusion: little evidence of 'value for money' returned on the investment.

UK politics' addiction to change is generally based on positive motives. Driving greater public sector efficiency should win public support. However, high profile failures dampen public appetites and, as the NAO report clearly illustrates, further failures are inevitable without strong business cases and clear objectives.

Whatever 6th May's outcome, the incoming government is unlikely to be able to kick the restructuring habit. To gain real savings, the technology, people and property elements need careful structuring.

The NAO paper prompted Xantus to commission Sourceforconsulting.com to write a report, Public Sector M&A?, which is based on interviews with independent restructuring experts. It indicates that the public sector can learn key lessons from private sector mergers. I should add that research shows only 30% of private sector mergers actually succeed, while there is also clear evidence that not every public sector restructure fails.

Ofcom is a prime example from the public sector. In fact, in 2006, the NAO praised the process that formed Ofcom from five independent regulators. The whole approach of creating a new entity from scratch was, in my view, critical to the project's success. Had the merger followed the traditional path and fused five pre-existing bodies into an amorphous mass, the outcome may have been very different.

There are also lessons from less successful mergers. HMRC, for one, was recently subjected to a Cabinet Office Review after seven years of underperformance following the merger between the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.

So, what are the lessons?

Technology is often the catalyst for restructure success or failure. Here, private sector lessons are invaluable: due diligence at the outset; fearless decision-making; and rapid execution of the agreed plan even if it requires unpalatable job losses at all levels.

Due diligence must be the starting point of any merger decision. Private sector projects have clearly stood or fallen by the research, or lack of it, undertaken in advance. Assessing the capability and compatibility of departmental IT is as essential as evaluating the whole organisation.

Public sector departments are protective of their ways of working. This extends to the IT and database systems they run, the governance and processes that run them and often the external suppliers involved in providing and supporting the infrastructure.

As well as establishing whether genuine efficiencies can be made, due diligence will also determine which systems need to be retained or removed. An early understanding of the complexities of information management will ensure a vital system is not switched off only to emerge as pivotal to new organisation. Equally, if overall costs appear greater than long-term savings, then why restructure?

Next comes fearless leadership. Change is never easy and half the people involved aren't going to like the decisions made! There is little place for public sector diplomacy or 'silo mentalities' in driving effective change, with many experts even suggesting a more dictatorial approach is needed once the merger decision has been taken.

This fearless approach needs to extend to smarter working with suppliers. Often long-term IT service contracts and technologies are securely embedded. Clear assessment of need, long-term goals, and an ultimately ruthless approach to systems selection is essential in avoiding headlines trumpeting another public sector IT integration disaster.

Finally, decisions should be just that – decisive. Decide which IT systems to use; decide what departmental structures are needed; and decide the cost savings to target. Planning must be careful but acted on quickly, decisively and fearlessly. Politics has no place in successful restructures and faint hearts never win.

David Yip is director of Xantus Consulting

MPs' report makes recommendations for the IPCC

Jo Adetunji — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:37:39 GMT

MPs' report into the Independent Police Complaints Commission concludes more needs to be done to restore public confidence

Less than 1% of all complaints against the police are dealt with by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, according to a committee of MPs.

Although the IPCC was set up to oversee the handling of complaints made against the police, the Home Affairs Committee found that in 2008-09 less than 1% were directly investigated by the watchdog.

It also found that only 10% of "serious" cases referred to the body were subsequently managed by the organisation's staff.

In another finding from witnesses to the committee, the MPs' report criticised the practice of former police officers taking an investigatory role in cases involving possible former colleagues. "Ex-police officers should not end up investigating possible ex-colleagues in their former force. Public confidence in the impartiality of the IPCC is bound to be damaged by these practices," the commitee said, adding that it was "shocked that this situation has been allowed to develop."

The committee found that while there was "a disconnect between what the public complain about" and the remit of the IPCC, the gap should be filled by the police's Professional Standards Department (PSD) - which handles the majority of complaints against the police.

"Ultimately, most complainants, whose concerns arise from poor service, would just like an apology. The IPCC should act to ensure this is forthcoming more often by impressing upon police PSDs the need to investigate all complaints in a clear, open manner and from the position of remedying poor public service," the committee said in its 11th report on the IPCC.

"We are surprised that the IPCC has apparently not taken a greater interest in this area and call on them to do so. While we do not believe that legislation should be introduced to remove the so-called "opt-out clause" which does not require individual officers to proffer an apology for their behaviour, the IPCC should also play a stronger role in ensuring this good practice is adopted by forces."

In 2008 the watchdog reportedly faced a crisis of confidence after more than 100 lawyers specialising in handling police complaints resigned from its advisory body over delays and poor decision making- a charge which the IPCC fiercely defended.

Although the committee of MPs could not establish specifics into why IPCC investigations took a long time to conclude, it said that any investigation "lasting up to 269 working days is unsatisfactory to all concerned and does nothing to increase anybody's confidence."

The MPs' report said there was a case for "a more open process involving, for example, the sharing of proposed timetables of work and completion dates, a greater explanation of how the investigation is developing and where possible, the sharing of initial evidence such as CCTV recordings, would increase the confidence of those using the system and remove the doubt and uncertainty which has been reported to us far too often."

Calling for "reform of some kind," the committee said there was no reason not to disclose information during the investigation to interested parties.
Recommendations made by the committee include a clearer benchmarking process that included statistical targets, such as complainant satisfaction, that would lead to better understanding of the IPCC's performance.

Jo Adetunji

Problems and solutions to trustee recruitment for small charities

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Small charities need skilled leaders to guide them through difficult economic times but finding and recruiting the right people can be problematic. A new specialist trustee recruitment service could help

Small voluntary and community organisations never fail to impress me with their ability to instinctively know how to get more "bang for their buck" when it comes to stretching money for frontline services. Their passion and enthusiasm for their cause means they consistently deliver high quality services under the most challenging of circumstances.

While funding is obviously important, the success of any voluntary and community organisation, regardless of its size, is down to the way in which it is governed and led. Funders are increasingly expecting voluntary and community organisations to demonstrate their impact and accountability and expect to see business plans and diversity strategies as part of funding applications.

The recession and impending public sector cuts mean we are facing lean years as a sector and all organisations will need skilled leaders, more than ever, to guide us through this difficult period.

More than a million people are already charity trustees, responsible for everything their organisation does. Yet the role of charity trusteeship is sorely under recognised and many charities – particularly smaller ones – have problems finding and recruiting the right people.

Almost half of all voluntary and community organisations say they are finding it more difficult to recruit now than they did five years ago.

For smaller organisations with few or no paid staff, this can place even greater demands on individual trustees who may be expected to take on a number of roles beyond that of governing the organisation.

NCVO, together with law firm Bates, Wells & Braithwaite and interim management recruitment consultancy Russam GMS, has now launched a specialist trustee recruitment service for small charities, through company Trustees Unlimited. The service enables organisations to tap into candidates with a wide range of backgrounds and experience, filling skills gaps and thereby strengthening boards.

Our advice is that voluntary and community organisations need to take trustee recruitment as seriously as they would staff recruitment. Organisations should look beyond their immediate networks and reach out to a wide group of people as potential trustees.

Historically, many organisations have relied on "word of mouth" to recruit their trustees and this obviously limits the pool of interest for trustee roles and can mean they do not recruit people with the skills and experience they require to govern effectively.

This, of course, poses particular issues for smaller organisations where budgets are extremely tight and spending money on anything other than direct delivery of services can appear to be wrong.

One London-based voluntary organisation told us: "We don't really have a budget line for governance. We've got one for trustee meetings – for sandwiches and so on – does that count?"

If as a sector we want to ensure that we speak with even greater authority when representing our most marginalised communities, we need to invest in trustee recruitment and recognise that finding and keeping trustees is a vital task for all voluntary and community organisations.

I hope that our new service is an affordable way of making this process easier for smaller charities, that have so much to gain from getting leadership right.

Ben Kernighan is deputy chief executive of the National Council for
Voluntary Organisations

For more information visit Trustees Unlimited

Work Foundation: outstanding leaders focus on people

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:11:52 GMT

New in-depth study reveals controlling, target-driven approach to leadership as counter-productive

Research by the Work Foundation has exploded the myth about powerful, controlling and target-driven leaders being good for business - whatever the economic climate.

Based on over 250 in-depth qualitative interviews, its two-year study, Exceeding Expectation: the principles of outstanding leadership, claims to provide proof that a highly people-centred approach to leadership results in outstanding performance.

Six high-profile UK organisations took part in the study including EDF Energy, Guardian Media Group, Tesco and Unilever.

As data in the report demonstrates, one of the most striking elements to emerge from the research was the stark contrast between how outstanding and good leaders behaved.

Until all the interviews were completed and analysed, researchers did not know if leaders taking part in the project were deemed to be 'outstanding' or 'good' in terms of their achievements and how they were perceived by their direct reports and managers.

Lead author Penny Tamkin said, "The evidence from our research indicates there needs to be a paradigm shift for all leaders who remain fixated on numbers and targets. Outstanding leaders focus on people, attitudes and engagement, co-creating vision and strategy. Instead of one-to-one meetings centred on tasks, they seek to understand people and their motives. Instead of developing others through training and advice, they do this through challenge and support. They manage performance holistically, attending to the mood and behaviour of their people as well as organisational objectives. And instead of seeing people as one of many priorities, they put the emphasis on people issues first."

Author Gemma Pearson added, "Outstanding leaders are focussed on performance but they see people as the means of achieving great performance and themselves as enablers. They don't seek out the limelight for themselves but challenge, stretch and champion others, giving them the space and support to excel."

The report reveals three organising principles of outstanding leaders:

• they think and act systemically, seeing the whole picture rather than compartmentalising

• they see people as the sole route to performance and are deeply people and relationship centred rather than just people oriented

• they are self-confident without being arrogant; they are aware of their strengths and their position of influence, yet use these for the benefit of their organisation and its people

As Penny Tamkin explains, "Our findings strongly suggest that an approach which connects leaders to people and people to purpose defines outstanding leadership. Leadership that focuses on mutuality and respect is not only good for people but good for organisations too."

The second phase of the research will examine the implications for leadership development and find out if outstanding leadership can be developed through the three organising principles which differentiate outstanding leadership.

Make public bodies more diverse

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:05:17 GMT

New research shows that public bodies are overwhelmingly male and white, as the government launches a campaign to make them more diverse and meet its own targets

Harriet Harman, the mininster for women and equality, is spearheading a campaign to make public bodies more diverse, as research is published showing that such bodies are comprised mainly of white men.

A summary of the Ipsos MORI research, carried out for the Government Equalities Office and the Cabinet Office, shows that nine out of ten people in the survey have never considered applying for a national public appointment.

Last June, the government set targets to increase diversity on public bodies. By 2011, women must form 50% of new public appointees - up from 33% in March 2008. The number of disabled people is to rise from 5% to 14%, while the number of people from ethnic minorities, now just 5.7%, is due to rise to 11%.

Several programmes have been launched to support the campaign, including a network for public appointments ambassadors and two mentoring programmes.

Harman said public bodies take decisions that affect everyone's lives, but are not representative of society.

Skills for growth white paper needs more work

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:09:00 GMT

While commitment to apprenticeships and the employer-led sector skills councils can only be a good thing, the removal of support for schemes such as 'non-first' qualifications are a glaring mistake

The new skills strategy white paper, Skills for Growth, is a positive move forward, but there is still significant room for improvement in the proposals, particularly in regard to the implications for the companies represented by Proskills and the wider manufacturing sector.

We welcome the strategy's commitment to giving industry, through the employer-led sector skills councils (SSC), a voice in the skills system, to help develop the British economy for the future.

The paper also increases the amount of investment in apprenticeships, which will help tackle youth unemployment and train people for real jobs.

However, the strategy also suggests that this investment will see the withdrawal of support for other, equally important vocational qualifications.

I find it hard to understand the decision to withdraw funding from qualification units, and the removal of support for additional "non-first" qualifications that can be used to "multi-skill" people in the workplace.

Our research shows that these are precisely the training options that will be of most benefit to companies and people in our industries as we move out of the recession.

The vital need to simplify

The strategy recognises the vital need to simplify the skills system and Proskills welcomes the plans to reduce the number of regional bodies with overlapping responsibilities.

I am concerned though, that the suggested changes will serve only to simplify the system for the government and stakeholders rather than for industry.

If changes are not made with employers in mind they will not benefit the economy or the people who work in this country.

To keep employers engaged with the skills system it is vital to use a sectoral approach but the white paper gives the strategic lead to the regional development agencies, rather than the sectoral bodies who know the needs of their industries.

As Stephen Falder, the chairman of Proskills and director of HMG Paints commented: "employers will welcome the commitment to continuing investment in vocational education but there is a view that many previous government promises have been hollow especially as the funding promised to the manufacturing sector through Train to Gain was not delivered".

The findings of the recent review of Train to Gain by the National Audit Office highlighted significant inefficiencies and my concern is there will continue to be considerable wastage in the system after this strategy is implemented.

Proskills and other SSCs have achieved more efficient results through sector compacts. These agreements helped to assign funding directly where it was needed and we believe that this approach is the right one for the future.

Quantity over quality

The "quantity over quality" approach to training still seems to form a central part of the process by which funding is allocated. We should be placing public money where it can generate the best results. It seems incredible that there are 14 times as many publically-funded apprenticeships awarded annually in hairdressing than manufacturing, despite the turnover per head generated in manufacturing being more than 7 times as high as in hairdressing.

Clive Bowers, chairman CPI Corrugated Sector and chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Corrugated UK, has added his backing to this argument, recently saying, "public money should be invested in skills where it can generate the best results for UK PLC. Manufacturing has to be supported as it is the fundamental source for the future prosperity for UK PLC".

If we're to increase productivity and competitiveness in the UK, it is essential that we have support to upskill and multiskill our current workforce as well as investment in young people.

The "picking the winners" approach implied by the recent New Industries, New Jobs paper doesn't cover key parts of the UK economy and significant parts of manufacturing and industry are likely to continue missing out on much-needed government funding and support.

A wider vision of the future, identifying priorities for investment based on real employer demand through sectoral bodies, would be more successful and would ensure true value for money in the skills system.

Terry Watts is chief executive of Proskills UK

Viewing information as a strategic asset

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Recognising data as a strategic asset and not a toxic liability requires a step-change in information strategy

There's a plethora of Government-produced papers and media-hype about the importance of information management within the public sector and how data needs to be used and seen as a strategic asset.

Many of these reports risk subverting public sector organisations away from the operational efficiency programme. A rush to cut costs could make these organisations lose sight of their need to be forward-thinking.

Private sector businesses already use business analytics to gain useful customer insight, develop new revenue streams and scrutinise their business models. As these businesses become more agile and innovative, they become more successful.

The same business analytics tools will also enable public sector organisations to implement a proactive approach by using information management as a strategic asset, which will help enable operational efficiency and effectiveness across government – from preventative health and welfare services through to public safety and security.

Most public sector information management strategies are still in the early stages of the 'information evolution' cycle. Organisations that focus only on compliance with legal and regulatory requirements are condemned to a continual cycle of reactive "fail-and-fix". Cultures should change to use existing data for insight and enable the sector to "predict-and-prevent."

Public sector bodies require a step-change in their information management strategies if they are to continue their overall transformational agenda.

There is a mounting pressure for the public sector as a whole to reduce its costs. However, any cost-cutting efforts cannot be made at the expense of public service delivery. These organisations need to work smarter – both more efficiently and effectively.

Identifying good costs and bad costs

The Government's Operational Efficiency report on public spending and reporting in May suggests that too many public sector organisations cannot differentiate between essential 'good costs' and the expendable 'bad costs'.

Good costs can be investments in technologies that address underlying problems, for example, and are the building blocks of a true information management strategy and the foundation of citizen-centric services.

The gap between increased demands and reduced budgets in the public sector is growing, and the only way for organisations to bridge it is to transform the way they manage their most under-utilised asset: information.

Visibility in information management: go beyond efficiency

Visibility of data and processes is essential for any government organisation to successfully transform and is a theme running through the many government reports this year, including:

* Audit Commission - In the Know

* Knowledge Council - Information Matters

* Transformational Government Review – Central Government

* The Cabinet Office - The Power of Information

* National Audit Office - Strategic Procurement / Procurement Capability Review

* Operational Efficiency Report – Central Government

Lessons from best practice

Increasingly, private sector organisations are taking their core data, integrating it across existing silos of information and then analysing it to gain insight into their business and customers. This insight helps them understand past performance and customer behaviour amongst many other trends and will help them communicate the right messages to the right audience. These practices are positive steps towards helping elevate organisations to positions of excellence and leadership.

One example is Vodafone. The company needed a central reporting system, which brings together measurement data from a wide range of sources. Business Analytics makes the necessary information available to the relevant people, on which they can base sound business decisions. Government departments use business analytics to make evidence-based decisions.

Business analytics – the public sector possibilities

There are beginning to be a number of visionary uses of business analytics solutions in the public sector – one of which is the NHS Information Centre (NHS IC), England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. Business Analytics is enabling the NHS IC to clean, manage and analyse information held on disparate systems more efficiently.

It also automates information management and sharing across the different trusts around the country, which informs better local decision-making.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) uses business analytics to decrease the number of fire incidents and save the lives of London's residents. Predictive analytics helps the LFB to prioritise the allocation of fire prevention resources because it can predict and pin-point specific households most at risk of fire to prevent fires before they occur.

Business Analytics has allowed the London Fire Brigade to move away from allocating resources based purely on historical data.

Predict-and-prevent is a sustainable method for on-going improvement benefits, but business analytics can also improve best practices for internal compliance in the short-term. It can help report against benchmarks and targets; detect and stop fraud; and comply with a range of regulations that govern public sector operations.

Business analytics provides a quick return on investment – it can provide analysis and insight in a short time frame. In addition, there is no requirement to rip-and-replace, because business analytics works across any application, hardware or operating system.

The need for a cultural shift

A culture that values information as highly as people, property and pounds could have a significant difference: Data Connects estimates that poor customer data quality costs each Local Authority on average more than £1m every year – so fixing this data quality imbalance could have a significant financial benefit, for example more effective debt management, debt collection, and reducing avoidable contact (NI14).

In addition to financial benefits, better information management could help to prevent future social costs, such as Baby P, Victoria Climbie, Soham and Shipman.

A positive cultural transformation will stop information being locked away and not used. Once data is viewed as a strategic asset, not a toxic liability, organisations can finally navigate with 20:20 vision and foresight. The more sustainable approach of valuing information must be embedded into an organisation's strategy and DNA – from the top-down.

To achieve this, the excellent approaches developed by organisations such as the Knowledge Council and the Audit Commission must be widely and rapidly deployed throughout the public sector.

Richard Broad is head of public sector at SAS UK

Sizing up the workplace

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Outlawing workplace discrimination against aspects of personal appearance would mean employment tribunals
establishing the attractiveness of claimants

On 19 October 2009, the Size Acceptance Movement staged a demonstration in front of the mayor of London's office, calling for the introduction of legislation outlawing workplace discrimination against the overweight.

The mayor's office and the government are yet to comment on the demonstration but it raises some intriguing questions that are worthy of consideration.

Current legislation prohibits discrimination against employees or prospective employees on grounds of sex (including marital status, civil partnership and gender re-assignment), race (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin), disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and age.

However, it does not cover less favourable treatment or victimisation on grounds of weight (so-called 'size-ism') or other aspects of personal appearance (commonly known as 'look-ism').

In some circumstances, it may be possible for individuals to bring claims relating to issues of size-ism or look-ism using existing employment laws. For instance, there has recently been a well-publicised case involving a one-armed employee whose trendy retail employer took her off customer-facing duties, on the basis that her appearance might be off-putting to customers.

Equally, a female employee who considered herself to have been less favourably treated than a slimmer comparator might also be able to show that an overweight male employee would not have been treated in the same way, in which case she could bring a sex discrimination claim on this basis.

Alternatively, an employer who (consciously or subconsciously) treats a younger employee who falls short of its employee image expectations less favourably than it treats fuller-figured or aesthetically-challenged older employees could face an age discrimination claim. Nevertheless, an employer engaging in size-ist or look-ist practices is generally unlikely to be found guilty of unlawful discrimination under the current statutory regime.

Despite SAM's efforts to highlight the issue, it is probable that this will remain the case for the foreseeable future, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the government has recently proposed major new anti-discrimination legislation in the form of the equality bill, which is likely to come into law during the course of 2010. This will replace current legislation with a single Act dealing with all types of unlawful discrimination, as well as introducing measures to address the gender pay gap.

If there had been any appetite to extend the remit of discrimination legislation to cover size-ism and look-ism, this would presumably have been done during the preparatory stages of this bill, before it was introduced to parliament.

Secondly, even if the government did have a desire to introduce legislation to prevent less favourable treatment on grounds of weight or appearance (or, perhaps more probably, was required to do so by the European Union), drafting such legislation would be problematic.

Defining the point at which an overweight person becomes entitled to employment protection would be extremely subjective and, even if an objective measure (such as Body Mass Index) was used, this could produce some fairly arbitrary results. For example, BMI does not take body type into account and the scores of short and/or muscular individuals tend to be disproportionately high.

Defining the remit of the legislation would be even more of a minefield if it was extended to cover look-ism. It is difficult to see any objective standards that might be used to assess personal appearance and, in the absence of such guidelines, employment tribunals would be required to make a finding as to whether a claimant was sufficiently unattractive to benefit from statutory protection. It is not a prospect one would expect them to relish.

Finally, public policy considerations would also neeed to be taken into account and there would clearly be some conflict between the introduction of such measures and the National Health Service's 'fight against obesity'. Current disability legislation specifically excludes alcoholism and drug addiction from the definition of a disability to ensure that those who might be seen as contributing to their condition are not provided with greater protection than others.

It is not impossible to see similar approach being taken so that the overweight are not 'rewarded' to the detriment of their thinner and (it would be argued) healthier colleagues.

Although SAM's protests are unlikely to result in any change in the law or widen the potential liabilities faced by employers, they nevertheless raise some thought-provoking issues. Unlawful or not, there is no doubt that size-ism and look-ism go on in workplaces across the country, with the result that many decisions relating to the recruitment and promotion of staff are being taken on grounds other than merit.

Although research has suggested links between employees' weight and productivity/absenteeism levels, these only become statistically significant in the case of clinical obesity. It therefore appears that many employers are losing out on talented and hard-working individuals as a result of lazy sterotyping, which, in today's competitive marketplace, seems unfortunate and surprising.

James Williams is a partner at Archon Solicitors LLP

Holding up the mantle of diversity

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:14:57 GMT

Diversity for women in the civil service has come along way since the "disappointed fiancee" letters of the 1940s but the service isn't becoming complacent

Not long ago The National Archives unearthed a rather unusual file. The so-called "disappointed fiancees" file was full of letters from female civil servants, who many decades ago had resigned so they could get married, only to then find themselves left at the altar.

Keep delving through those archives and you may even come across a report from 1946 looking at the effectiveness of married women in the workplace. It is no surprise it found that their usefulness had "in no way been impaired by marriage." What these documents show is how different things used to be: although it was only in 1972 that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office lifted its rule that married women had to resign from the service! But, look at today's civil service and the figures tell a very different story.

The civil service has been transformed into a modern and diverse employer. More than half of all civil servants are now women. The latest figures published this week show the proportion of women at senior levels has almost doubled since 1996 – hitting 34%. While many private sector companies are still struggling to boost the numbers of women on their boards, a quarter of our top management positions are held by female staff. Compare this to FTSE 100 companies, where just 11.7% of directorships are held by women. What is more, on current trends, by 2020 the most senior levels of the civil service will be majority female.

This isn't the only way the civil service has set itself apart from other employers. The proportion of staff from a black and minority ethnic background continues to increase. Today they represent one in 12 of our staff and over the last 10 years the proportion of disabled people in the civil service has doubled.

But, we are not complacent and we have no intention of stopping here. The economic downturn has shown that in difficult times our work to deliver important public services to all parts of society is more critical than ever. To make sure we're doing this to the very best of our abilities, the civil service needs a diverse workforce that fully reflects our increasingly diverse society. Not least, because the innovation in thinking and delivery that diversity brings us will enable us to do more with less.

That is why I and a number of my permanent secretary colleagues have formed a Diversity Delivery Board so we can make sure improving diversity is a priority for all department leaders. The Promoting Equality and Diversity strategy, which was launched in 2008, sets out the civil service commitment to diversity and to meeting challenging targets. We have also put in place schemes to try to encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds to join the civil service and to develop the potential of existing staff. Every year we run annual summer internships for black minority ethnic and disabled graduates and our Leaders UnLtd scheme, which is aimed at women staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and those with a disability, provides the necessary skills to help talented staff move up to senior levels.

The future is also looking promising. The diversity of our graduate fast stream programme continues to improve. Last year 48% of successful applicants were women and since 1998 the number of applicants from an ethnic minority background has trebled.

But, there is of course a story beyond the figures and that is what tonight's civil service equality and diversity awards are all about. The awards will honour all those dedicated civil servants who do amazing work in communities across Britain and overseas. The work they do ranges from a groundbreaking initiative to increase prosecutions of crimes against women; a hostel project to help the homeless back into work and improving access at a local railway station for older people, disabled people and parents with pushchairs. These examples show that every day civil servants up and down the country are making a real difference to people's lives, including to some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society.

Bill Jeffrey has been civil service diversity champion since 2005 and is permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence

Council to follow flexible work route

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:33:00 GMT

West Berkshire council cut office space and reduced costs by introducing a three-tiered work pattern which means employees have the chance to work out in the field, from home or in the office

West Berkshire council looks set to knock 40% off its facilities bill by 2011 through the use of flexible working practices, a policy that will also make it more sustainable and improve employees' job satisfaction, not to mention the likelihood of making the local authority a favourite of the Audit Commission.

Gazing upon a sea of empty desks can be a painful experience for the manager all too aware of the cost of each workspace in terms of rent (or capital cost), business rates, and the energy to light, heat and air-condition each vacant slot.

Where there is a substantially peripatetic workforce, a combination of desk sharing, working from home and in the field and a management culture based on the achievement of objectives rather than watching-the-clock, make slimming down the office a practical possibility.

The Audit Commission itself, fresh from admonishing local authorities because 80% of English authorities spent more on their offices than they received in sales announced that it had reduced its office requirement by adopting new ways of working, sharing services and utilising new technology – in addition to shedding staff (click here to read Public article).

The London borough of Tower Hamlets already showed in 2008 how it can be done. The borough has received accolades for its accommodation strategy which entailed moving 4,000 staff and reducing its office buildings from 13 to 5, saving £750,000 on facilities costs in the first year and yielding a potential £30million in property sales.

Now West Berkshire council is set on a similar path. Realising that some desks were unoccupied for 60 to 70% of the day, the local authority has introduced a scheme intended to enable 85% of its staff to work flexibly by 2011. Office space needs will be reduced by 40% with a corresponding cut in overheads and the council says that two of its offices have already been consolidated into one new building that houses full-sized desks for fixed employees and smaller desks for flexible workers.

Not everyone at West Berkshire has swapped mahogany for Mondeo and even those that are mobile have different work patterns.

West Berkshire is said to be one of the first in the public sector to use "comprehensive user profiling" and "mobility diagnostics" to build a robust business case and cost model.

The council worked with consultants from mobile phone maker Vodafone who shadowed and interviewed more than 100 staff to establish "day-in-the-life" scenarios and to identify the cultural, technical and training needs implicit in such a change.

The consultants defined three working styles: – "fixed", "home flex" meaning those that can work at home for a portion of the week, and "free" meaning those working mostly outside the office.

The solution is technology dependent and includes laptops, tablets and Blackberry devices but each employee receives the equipment most suited to their role according to the council.

The property savings were clearly persuasive. But West Berkshire's scheme, dubbed "Timelord", will also reduce its carbon footprint because of a 30% reduction in travel as well as cutting its property-related energy requirement.

Other advantages include greater productivity and access to "clients", as well as less tangible benefits such as increased job satisfaction and improved work/life balance which are likely to keep staff turnover costs in check too.

Senior civil servants resist diversity

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:17:51 GMT

In the 16 years since Clara Arokiasamy first investigated the poor showing of black and Asian managers at the highest echelons of the civil service, little has changed in management practice to encourage true diversity and cohesion

Over the past decade there has been a small but welcome increase in the number of black and Asian middle managers in both the public and private sectors. But this trend is not reflected in the higher echelons of public sector management and there remains a disturbingly low level of black and Asian representation in senior management posts in both the civil service and in local government
In the civil service as a whole, the percentage of minority ethnic civil servants rose from 5.7% in 1997 to 8.3%% by 2007 and the present figure of 8.5% is regarded by the civil service as being "broadly representative" of the population as a whole. The main aim is to increase the stark under-representation in the Senior Civil Service to 5% by 2013. But over the same decade, the figures for senior black and Asian managers have remained at a dismal 3.5% and the figures for local authorities are even worse, with only 2.7% of all officers from an ethnic minority and an even lower figure for chief executives and executive directors.
Despite the uphill struggle, a few black and Asian candidates do make it into senior management. But at what cost?
Sixteen years ago, I researched black and Asian employees' perceptions of racial conflict at work in a London local authority. The key findings made grim reading. It was a common perception among respondents that their skin colour was sufficient to produce discriminatory responses from their employers, that they were consistently being overlooked for promotion in favour of less qualified white peers or sub-ordinates, and were not being given opportunities to lead on high profile projects. Other complaints included the marginalisation of their seniority and intellectual contributions; the undermining of their status by politicians, senior bureaucrats and sub-ordinates; hostile response to their attempts to challenge institutional racism; isolation and burn-out; and a lack of support. Management procedures were widely deemed ineffective in managing complaints of racism and discrimination and there was widespread use of the "divide and rule" tactic, favouring of one minority group over another, which encouraged inter-ethnic rivalry and the division of minority managers into the"acceptable" minorities: those willing to legitimise the organisation's status quo; and the others perceived as change agents, who were able to challenge those practices deemed racist.
So what has changed since then? I recently renewed connections with a number of people either directly involved in my research or employed in local government at that time. I also met a number of black and Asian senior managers, human resource executives,and independent advisers who contacted me with their perceptions and personal stories following the publication of my article on the exclusion of women of colour from the cultural sector (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/11/government-female-minority-appointments).
Sadly, all of them echoed the previous findings and most felt the situation had worsened. Many feel the 2000 amendment to the race relations act was limited to creating policies, leaving the practice and culture of organisations unchallenged. More dangerously, a culture of complacency among politicians and employers is perceived to have replaced the urgency for change witnessed in the 80s and 90s.
One person I spoke to parted company with the Senior Civil Service and is now a freelance consultant; but feels similar problems exist in the consultancy world. Another individual was considering taking formal action. These are not isolated incidents. There are many other similar stories which are not made public because employers choose to settle out of court.
Of course there are those, albeit fewer in number, keen to counter this negative perspective with positive tales of success. They dismiss the accusation that they are compliant or tokenistic by arguing that change can only be attained by being part of the system, even if it requires condoning poor race equality performance.
Four years ago, at a seminar about the state of minorities in the public sector, I heard an Asian senior civil servant whisper: "This is after all their country - we need to be grateful that we have these jobs". Perhaps she had forgotten that she was British too.
No one objects to those who have had positive experiences or wants to dismiss their achievements. But what many oppose is their collusion with politicians and employers in being presented as the ultimate voice for black and Asian managers, used to dismiss experience and evidence of racial inequalities.
Successive national and local governments which have tinkered with race equality and cultural diversity need to wake up to the fact that no amount of recruitment drives, rhetoric about community cohesion, workforce surveys, or parading selective role models, will create a racially diverse workforce until public sector employers are made accountable and action is taken to change management practices which feed invisible and overt discrimination against visible minorities, and develop new models responsive to the needs and talents of all citizens.

Clara Arokiasamy, director of Kalai, an international consultancy in organisation development, writes and comments on cultural diversity and human rights.

Government and the gender gap

Jane Dudman — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:22:00 GMT

The government can do more to reduce the gender gap in the workplace, claims a new report

Government departments need to more imaginative about the way they design jobs and advertise them, says a new report, if they are serious about reducing the gender gap in the workplace.

In "We need to talk about... hours", author Laura Dewar looks at job advertising in the civil service to see whether the equal opportunities legislation of April 2007, which requires departments to demonstrate commitment to promoting equality between men and women, is being translated into recruitment practice.

One test of this is whether it is offering jobs as available part-time, not just full-time.

The report follows proposals for radical reforms to maternity leave laws, to enable fathers to take more time off, by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Dewar concludes that while the civil service is "capable" of being a progressive employer, with good quality part-time roles, job ads on the civil service website need to be clearer, to reflect all departments' gender equality objectives, and all posts should be available part-time, unless there's a clear business case to prevent this.

"There should be a positive message about encouraging part-time and job-sharers to apply and the mechanisms in place to show how this will work in practice," says the report.

The report, published by Working Families, which campaigns for work-life balance, says government departments should keep a tally of the jobs they have not been able to offer part-time or as a job-share, and should be more imaginative about designing jobs before posts are advertised.

"We believe this is essential to encouraging a culture that values skills and experience rather than the hours someone can work," it says.

The EHRC said the UK's laws on parental rights are lagging behind changing attitudes within families and entrench the current unequal division of labour and caring between the sexes.

We need to talk about...hours, by Laura Dewar, published 1 April by Working Families, workingfamilies.org.uk

Jane Dudman

Going to work in the 21st century

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:59:00 GMT

Despite reports to the contrary, job tenure is increasing

New Capitalism? The Transformation of Work, by Kevin Doogan, Polity, £16.99

The basic idea that change at work has been systematically oversold is now widely accepted. We were told of the erosion of long-term commitments at work. In place of the traditional full-time job a host of "contingent" forms of labour were taking their place - temporary, casual, self-employed, part-time.

And it was not just excitable journalists and futurologists with their eyes on the turning of the century who helped the story on its way. Some of the leading social scientific minds of our generation - Sennett, Giddens, Beck, Castells - have contributed a set of narratives that Kevin Doogan bundles together as "new capitalism" before ransacking them with impressive mastery of both data and theoretical literature.
Together these narratives amounted to a message of fear. Whizzing information flows, footloose capital and accelerating technology created instability and deteriorating conditions that no structure, institution or nation state was capable of withstanding. Manpower, the temping firm, was held up as the largest employer in the US (though as Doogan points out, it depends how you count employees and in truth the claim is baseless).

It was always hard to square many of these visions with the statistical evidence. Countries supposedly at the forefront of the purported "transformations", such as the US and UK, had low rates of temporary and self-employed work; arguably they remain the exemplar job-holding societies. Doogan's great service is to challenge so comprehensively such dominant theories, even suggesting job tenure is lengthening in some developed nations.

The difficulty is in explaining why people feel greater insecurity than seems warranted by the evidence - why "discursive reality" and "material reality" have parted company. Doogan accuses leading commentators who are instinctively sympathetic to the plight of working people as being, in effect, stooges for neo-liberalism by overstating the powerlessness of workers. The "postmodern turn" in sociology has led the discipline to see instability, fragmentation and thin air wherever it looks.

If new capitalism has long been awaiting this damning critique, what is missing is a fresh description of what it is like to work in the 21st century.

Stephen Overell is associate director of the Work Foundation

O'Donnell's pride in public officials

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:58:00 GMT

The recession may put huge pressures on public finances, but it is also a great opportunity for the civil service. That may sound like a bad case of the Pollyannas, but it is cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell's heartfelt conviction.

O'Donnell spelled out his vision of these opportunities (and challenges) in a lecture to Lancaster university students at the Royal Society of the Arts last month. He acknowledged that the pace of change presented problems, but was adamant the civil service was well-equipped to deal with them.

Jobcentre Plus is coping admirably with the extra demands on its services, O'Donnell said. "What other organisation, public or private, could cope so well with so substantial an increase in its workload over a period of just a few months?" he said, pointing out the service was conducting around 400,000 new jobseeker interviews a month.

The cabinet secretary also dismissed fears the recession would erode the commitment to reduce emissions. "We must also make sure that decisions we take now do not damage our long-term objectives in areas like climate change."

But the competing and increasing demands of the public, at a time of fewer resources, means the civil service will have to be ever nimbler.

Building trust remains an issue, too. "Whilst public trust in civil servants has increased over the years - almost doubling since 1983 - we will struggle to improve this further if we are stuck with Sir Humphrey stereotypes," he admitted. All civil servants must behave with honesty, objectivity, integrity and impartiality, and not tolerate any violations of these values.

O'Donnell dismissed the furore over corporate hospitality. "Senior civil servants are more transparent about the hospitality they receive than in any other sector. It is a vital part of the job of running BERR [the business department], for example, to build relationships with businessmen and women."

The cabinet secretary said he was "proud" Whitehall permanent secretaries had volunteered to forego their bonuses. But he acknowledged the need to improve leadership further. While the capability reviews had been a success, with departments showing a marked improvement on their previous scores, there were still weaknesses. The global downturn has forced the pace of collaboration between Whitehall departments: the civil and diplomatic services are having to work together even more closely to ensure domestic and international initiatives to reinvigorate markets are as co-ordinated as possible. But this is just the beginning.

"Departments will need to get better at collaborating with others. And we need to bring capability and delivery together more explicitly in the overall performance management framework."

Whereas in 2006, too many of the top 200 civil servants spent all their time on narrow policy areas, now their workload is much more evenly split, with departmental and civil service-wide issues taking up more of their time.