Agenda item

This report sets out a refreshed Recruitment Strategy 2024-2026. The Plan is intended to supplement the Workforce Strategy, the One Medway Council Plan and the Financial Improvement and Transformation Plan.

Discussion:

The Head of Talent and Development introduced the report which outlined the recruitment priorities for the Council for the next two years to improve systems and processes in response to market challenges.

The following issues were discussed:

Recruitment of underrepresented groups – it was commented that Council staff were broadly representative of the community save disabilities, where 6% of staff were disabled compared to 16% in the community. A Member asked if the disparity included those members of the community who were unable to work because of their disability and would it represent a better comparison to not include those unable to work. The Head of Talent and Development replied that she did not have the details available but would provide the information outside of the meeting.

In response to a question what the strategy was to recruit more men, particularly young men, to the Council workforce, the Head of Talent and Development explained that the Council was aware it needed to consider the disparity between the numbers of men and women, the Council had a positive apprenticeship scheme which attracted many men, so it needed to monitor drop out rates of men from its workforce.

Armed Forces Covenant – Clarification was requested whether the guarantee of an interview for ex-services and their families included currently serving members of the armed forces. It was confirmed that current members of the armed forces would be provided with a guaranteed interview under the armed forces covenant and this included immediate family.

Advertising – in reply to a question whether the Council advertised in outlets which promoted under represented demographics, the Head of Talent and Development explained that the Council had offers from niche advertisers, however, financial constraints was a limiting factor on where the Council advertised. The Council was able to track who started applications so it would review whether there was a higher dropout rate from some demographics than others.

Local Authority Trading Companies (LATCOs) – Members requested further information whether the demographics of Council workforce would be significantly changed if Local Authority Trading Companies were also included. The Head of Talent and Development did not have the information available so undertook to provide updated statistics to Members outside of the meeting.

Blind recruitment - in response to a question whether the introduction of a blind application process would be considered for future inclusion in the strategy, the Head of Talent and Development explained that the Council’s recruitment software had the capability to do this. The Council would review recruitment data from January 2025 through quarterly monitoring and six monthly reporting, following this, the Council would identify trends and give further consideration to trialling a blind application process in July 2025.

Decision:

a)     The Committee noted the Council’s Recruitment Strategy, as set out at Appendix 1.

b)     The Committee agreed the proposed high level key actions in the Recruitment Strategy and timescales for delivery in each case.

c)     The Committee proposed monitoring of blind recruitment for six months from January 2025 as an area for improvement that they feel is necessary to ensure our recruitment and selection processes, procedure and system changes, enable us to meet the priorities and actions associated with the Workforce Strategy, One Medway Council Plan and the Financial Improvement and transformation Plan.

d)     The Committee noted the comments of the Joint Consultative Committee which were that pay and benefits remained an issue and trade unions remained in favour of a return to national joint council pay and conditions.