Local government recruitment teams are already struggling to keep heads above water. And there’s a tidal wave of trouble coming too, with an aging workforce and increasingly holey pipelines. We spoke to Rebecca Davis, Chief Executive of West Midlands Employers about how they’re tackling these challenges – not just for individual councils but for everyone across local government.
Local government has a major skills gap – and there’s more trouble on the horizon. These stats from Rebecca prove the point:
57% of the West Midlands’ local government workforce is aged over 46. A ticking demographic time bomb.
The number of 18 year olds in the West Midlands is set to increase by 25% by 2030 – but only 35% of job applicants fall into that demographic.
On average, the region has a 9% vacancy rate – two percentage points higher even than the NHS benchmark.
The issue is, this situation often spirals into competition between councils – which hurts everyone and solves nothing.
So what’s the solution? West Midlands Employers believe they’ve hit on one with their PIECE model. And the results absolutely back them up.
Who are West Midlands Employers?
WMEmployers are a not-for-profit regional employers’ organisation offering employment services for the Public Sector. WME is co-owned by the 32 councils in the West Midlands region, and offers innovation and people services to support councils, through collective effort, expertise, and influence.
The PIECE model for local government recruitment
WME has been enormously successful in helping councils across the region improve recruitment delivery. We’ll discuss each aspect of the PIECE model below. But first, let’s quickly talk about collaboration, because this sits right at the heart of the model.
Rebecca tells us:
“Collaboration is the piece of the puzzle that completes the picture. Collaboration needs to connect into every other element of your talent attraction strategy. We look at everything we do through a collaboration lens, because collaboration is the piece that has the biggest impact and joins the dots.”
A rising tide lifts all ships. Every other puzzle piece is dramatically more effective when it’s glued together by collaboration – on an internal, local, regional, and national level.
Let’s look at how that plays out.
Read more: How Milton Keynes City Council transformed their recruitment
Perception
One of the biggest hurdles for effective local government recruitment is people’s perceptions about the sector.
(Source)
Yes, local government can have long hours and heavy workloads. But that’s far from unusual next to many private sector roles.
And yes, maybe ten-plus years ago, council working culture was very different – less flexible; more bureaucratic; more bloated. But many councils today are innovative, forward-thinking, modern, flexible workplaces filled with driven people making real progress.
To attract and retain new talent into the sector, prospective candidates need to genuinely* understand what a career in local government can offer.
Collaboration is central to this bigger picture, to leverage economies of scale so every pound goes further. Because more talent within the sector is better for everyone.
WME have seen great success both with their regional job board WMJobs, and by running a regional perception campaign to raise awareness of local government careers.
By leveraging the reach of 32 councils, WME has seen an 18% increase in active board users and a 30% increase in clickthrough rate.
*Note, “genuine”. Changing perceptions isn’t about ignoring tough realities. Glossy promotional materials tend to leave people feeling mis-sold – so you might improve talent attraction but your retention will plummet too.
As Rebecca says: “We need to reach an equilibrium. There’s no point having a great attraction strategy if you’re haemorrhaging staff and leaning too heavily on agencies”.
Insights
Insights are critical to effective local government recruitment. And particularly benchmark data, so you can understand the bigger picture across local government, not just within your council.
Rebecca comments:
“Across the sector, there’s a lack of insight about the whole local government workforce. We just don’t understand enough about what people working in local government want; do; feel. That’s hugely to our detriment – but it’s also a huge opportunity”.
One of the most needle-moving things WME’s done is launch the national ‘Local Government Workforce Hub’, which offers a centralised data platform for councils. Council recruiters can input standardised metrics and workforce KPIs – so you can report, benchmark, and easily drill into different insights across your local area.
These insights then inform:
- Smarter workforce planning
- Sensible budget allocation
- Initiatives based on real issues
- Collaborative funding to tackle group challenges
For example, WME’s 32 councils have committed £100,000/year to a collaborative Workforce Priorities Fund, to tackle the issues hurting everyone. They’ve also launched a Regional Agency Framework that’s projected to save £7M over the next four years.
(For more info on the Local Government Workforce Hub, contact your local Regional Employers organisation).
14 of our councils now use a single platform – Tribepad. This gives them access to data that enables better decision-making across discrete policy areas. Tribepad allows them to become really data-rich in their recruitment.
Engagement
The right recruitment software plays an enormous part in improving engagement – with candidates, managers, and recruiters.
As Rebecca says:
“Many councils settle for using their HR system as their applicant tracking system. Please don’t! If you do anything, fight to get to a bespoke ATS because it does far more than your HR system will ever be able to”.
The right recruitment software powers faster, more efficient processes that are better for everyone. And it’s another area where collaboration has been enormously valuable.
West Midlands Employers recently switched to Tribepad as their Strategic Partner for recruitment, migrating 14 councils onto the platform in two tribes over six months. On-time and on-budget. A massive achievement. And already, within three months, they’ve seen some massive wins:
- Applications per job increased by 27%
- Time to offer reduced from 27 days to 6 days
- Over 60,000 applications, 1400 interviews, and 1000 offers
- Forecasted £895,000 in cost-savings over four years
- Clear roadmap for service improvements
Rebecca emphasises the importance of choosing an ATS that’s geared for the future, because of the enormous changes on the workforce demographic horizon:
“Everything has to be gearing up for Gen Alpha. You’re on a runway at the moment – you need to take off for the new workplace of the future. There’s no point having an ATS that doesn’t give you scope to grow and collaborate”
For WME, onboarding councils onto one single applicant tracking system has created a partnership that improves buying power and enables powerful collaboration. To tackle local government’s hiring challenges, together.
Collaboration
Faced with acute and growing skills shortages, local government recruitment can easily descend into in-sector in-fighting. But competition ultimately only moves the problem around: one council’s gain is another’s loss. As well as inflating recruitment costs massively.
The problem is, this competition doesn’t solve the actual problems of local government recruitment. It’s fundamentally short-sighted.
Councils need to work together to grow the talent pool and start attracting (and retaining) more net-new talent. For the good of each council, but ultimately for the good of every community and the country as a whole.
Read more: Lessons on improving stakeholder relationships from Richmond and Wandsworth Councils
For example, Rebecca suggests:
- Engage with procurement, marketing, managers and leaders
- Hunt out kindred spirits in neighbouring organisations
- Look where there’s local political alignment and district or county networks
- Speak to your Regional Employers organisation about regional collaboration
- Explore national collaboration organisations like the PPMA, LGP, and CIPD
Experience
For Rebecca, experience has two facets: candidate experience – a hot topic for practically everyone – but also experienced recruiters. And the two are fundamentally interlinked. Great recruiters deliver great experiences.
Recruiters are a real asset in organisations, but they need to have a highly-defined skillset. Recruitment can no longer be seen as an administrative task. With 75% of the candidate market passive, we need to give our recruiters the skills, tools, and ability to become top professional recruiters.
To that end, WME has developed two specific training programmes – one for entry-level recruiters and one for senior resourcing leads. If every local council invested in upskilling their recruitment team, the overall standard of recruitment across the sector would improve dramatically – to everyone’s gain.
Rebecca recommends:
- National training programmes
- Networking opportunities
- Professional bodies
- Talking to your Regional Employer organisation
- Talking to WME
Upskilling your recruiters means they’re empowered to deliver top-tier candidate experiences and processes that stand out. Even next to the private sector. And that’s better for everyone.
Watch the PPMA webinar to hear about the PIECE model from Rebecca herself.
And find out more about Tribepad for local government recruitment here.
Tribepad is the trusted tech ally to smart(er) recruiters everywhere. Combining ATS, CRM, Video Interviewing, and Onboarding, our talent acquisition software is a springboard for fairer, faster, better recruitment for everyone.
Trusted by organisations like Tesco, NHS Professionals, and Subway, 25-million people in 16 languages use Tribepad.
