The document discusses the challenges faced by a UK council in bridging workforce gaps and achieving efficiencies of £100 million with 5,500 fewer employees by 2015. The council's approach involved greater customer focus, collaborative leadership, engaging and empowering employees, avoiding mass redundancies, better deploying talent, and sticking to core values. Through this approach, the council closed 20 buildings, relocated 3,300 employees with 1,500 working flexibly, achieved £100 million in savings, and reduced the workforce from 8,400 to 6,300 without redundancies. Ongoing challenges include further improving outcomes and efficiencies with additional headcount reductions.

1. Sue Stanhope, Director of Human Resources & Organisational Development
Bridging the Gap

2. Context
• “Excellent” council
• Improve outcomes
• £100m efficiencies (£200m)
Challenge
•Avoid a sense of crisis
•Achieve more with less
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3. 2009: 8,500
2015: 5,500?
Bridge the workforce gap
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4. Approach
• Greater customer focus
• Collaborative leadership
• Engage & empower the workforce
• Avoid mass redundancies
• Find hidden talent and deploy it better
• Stick to our values: “Proud, Decent,
Together”
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5. Talent Utilisation
“Getting the right people in the right
jobs doing the right things”
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6. We don’t employ robots!
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7. Organisational
Results
• New operating model
• Closed 20 buildings, relocated 3,300
employees, 1,500 working flexibly
• £100m savings
• Workforce down from 8,400 to 6,300
• No redundancies
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8. Organisational
Results
• Customer satisfaction up
• Protected front-line
• High levels of engagement/trust:
• 84% manager acts in line with the council’s values
(8% neutral)
• 85% council’s values match their own (7% neutral)
• 91% do their utmost to deliver services in line with
the council’s values (4% neutral)
• 72% trust senior managers (13% neutral) - CIPD:
35% - lower in public sector
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9. Ongoing challenge
• Continued focus on
improving outcomes and efficiency
• £100 over 3 years = further reduction in
headcount (+ extra 10%)
• Community Leadership Council
• Alternative Service Delivery
• Sticking to our purpose and values
• Managing demand
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10. Types of Demand
• Value demand
• Excess demand
• Failure demand
• Preventable demand
• Co-dependent demand

11. We don’t employ robots!
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