YHN People Strategy-‘Fit for the Future’ (2014-16)

Version control tableVersion number 2Date current version produced

April 2015

Author Lisa Ainscough- Business Strategy TeamLisa.ainscough@yhn.org.uk

Contact officers Beverley Elder- Strategic Human Resources Managerbeverley.elder@yhn.org.uk

Daniel McGuiness- Lead Communications Officerdaniel.mcguiness@yhn.org.uk

1. Introduction2014 marks the tenth anniversary since we were established as Newcastle City Councils ALMO. We have come a very long way since then, expanding in both scale of delivery and scope of the services that we provide to our many varied customers. At the heart of this success are our people. We could not have achieved all that we have without the on-going hard work and commitment, skill and passion demonstrated on a daily basis by our workforce.

To ensure this success continues we need to continue to develop and invest in our people in order to deliver our business objectives and respond flexibly to the changing needs and structure of our organisation. The challenge is that we need to do this within the constraints of considerable economic pressure and an ever-growing demand to deliver our services more efficiently.

With increased expectation on our organisation to represent value for money, we need a working environment that enables our people to perform at their very best, engaged and motivated by inspirational leaders.Where things go wrong, we need appropriate mechanisms and support in place to deal with problems efficiently. As in our previous People Strategy, the feedback we received through an organisational wide staff survey has influenced the priorities we have identified. The strategy has also been influenced by our review of internal and external factors.

1.1 Scope of the strategy

We have set our People Strategy over a two year period to coincide with the lifespan of our current management agreement with Newcastle City Council. It applies to all of our employees, both current and prospective and also our board members.

The purpose of our People Strategy is to set out our key priorities for the medium term underpinned by a set of commitments. Our strategy is not intended to document every single one of our people management activities but instead focuses our attention on those priorities that we believe will make the biggest difference to our people and ultimately the overall performance of our organisation and the customer experience.

1.2 How does the People Strategy support our Business Strategy?

The implementation of this People Strategy will contribute towards us achieving our statement of purpose and objectives as set out in our Business Strategy 2013-2016:

‘Enable positive living for people in our homes and neighbourhoods’

This reflects that we are committed to improving council homes and the city, and supporting customers when they need it, but that we recognise our services must enable customers and avoid the unintended consequence of heightening their dependence on us.

We are working together to achieve these three objectives:

We can only achieve these objectives with the help of a productive, motivated and supported workforce

1.3 Our Core Values

Our core values are at the heart of the business, and are the principles and standards that influence the way we work and behave. They make a difference by giving us a sense of pride and belonging at work, and show we care and are committed to people and the work we do. Our core values are what will help us to achieve our organisational objectives and are instrumental to this people strategy.

Accountability – acting openly and taking responsibility Integrity – acting fairly and honestly Passion – working positively with enthusiasm Respect – treating everyone with care and professionalism Forward thinking – proactively seeking improvements and solutions

2. Looking back- what have we done so far?Our previous People Strategy was produced in 2010 and set out a range of actions to be completed over a four year period. Below is a summary of many of our achievements to date:

A c h i e v e d t h e I n v e s t o r s i n P e o p l e ( I I P ) G o l d a w a r d p u t t i n g u s i n t h e t o p 1 % o f I I P a c c r e d i t e d o r g a n i s a t i o n s a c r o s s t h e U K . a n d e n d o r s e d a s I I P C h a m p i o n s

A c h i e v e d t h e G o l d B e t t e r H e a l t h a t W o r k A w a r d

H u m a n R e s o u r c e s a n d O r g a n i s a t i o n a l D e v e l o p m e n t f u n c t i o n s m o r e c l o s e l y a l i g n e d w h i c h h a s e n a b l e d u s t o m a k e b e t t e r u s e o f o u r r e s o u r c e s .

H e l p e d t o i m p r o v e w o r k - l i f e b a l a n c e b y i n c r e a s i n g t h e r a n g e o f b e n e f i t s a v a i l a b l e t o s t a f f .

I n t r o d u c e d a L e a r n i n g M a n a g e m e n t S y s t e m ( L M S ) i n c l u d i n g e - l e a r n i n g t o b e t t e r f a c i l i t a t e s e l f l e a r n i n g .

I m p l e m e n t e d a n E m p l o y e e C a p a b i l i t y P o l i c y a n d P r o c e d u r e t o i m p r o v e t h e s u p p o r t a v a i l a b l e f o r d e a l i n g w i t h p e r f o r m a n c e i s s u e s .

S u c c e s s f u l l y i m p l e m e n t e d o f n e w h o u s i n g s e r v i c e s s t r u c t u r e e n a b l i n g u s d e l i v e r a m o r e e f f i c i e n t s e r v i c e t o o u r c u s t o m e r s a n d m a k e b e t t e r u s e o f o u r s k i l l s a n d r e s o u r c e s .

3. The challenges we faceNewcastle City Council review of YHN services

Driven by the need to make substantial efficiency savings, Newcastle City Council are currently carrying out a review of YHN and some of the key services we provide. The aim of the review is to try and identify opportunities for efficiencies and to achieve better alignment of resources in order to meet the needs of the customers and communities that we both serve. Included in the scope of this review are the three services that are largely responsible for implementation of this strategy, Communications, Human Resources and Organisational Development. In developing this strategy we have been acutely aware that financial resources are, and may be further, restricted. Where possible we aim to carry out all new initiatives within existing budget allocation which inevitably has limited the scope of the action plan.

We also acknowledge that the outcome of the review may have an impact on our on-going capacity to deliver the action plan, it is therefore intended that is a live document and that periodic amends may need to be made to reflect the current operating environment as it becomes apparent.

Economic climate and welfare reformChanges in the global economy and the subsequent recession have resulted in on-going pressure on our organisation to deliver value for money services. We are increasingly required to provide more for less and come up with innovative cost effective ways of doing things and this has been one of the key drivers for this strategy.

It is clear that Welfare Reform is already having significant implications for YHN and for our customers, particularly in terms of tenancy sustainability and income management. We are taking intensive action to proactively support our tenants and to prepare ourselves for the impact of Universal Credit and reductions to people’s benefit. This includes us undertaking a wide scale transformation of the way in which we deliver tenancy services to enable us to make more efficient use of the skills and resources available and so that we are better placed to deal with the challenges that welfare reform brings.

Sickness levels

We have worked hard over the years to try and keep sickness levels low however in recent years, despite a range of supportive and preventative measures, we were not able to meet our target of eight days absence per a full time employee (FTE) The actual figure for the end of the last financial year was 10.25 days absent per FTE. Sickness costs our organisation a lot of money not to the mention the impact it has on the wellbeing of our employees. We are determined to do all that we can to reduce the impact of sickness on our organisation and have therefore incorporated a number of actions within this strategy to help us do this.

4. Staff survey 2013- what our people told usAs in previous years we carried out an independent staff survey to help us better understand how our staff are feeling about working for YHN. Every single member of staff received the survey and 68% responded. The survey measured employee engagement and covered a number of contributing themes including culture, jobrole and satisfaction, learning and development, communication, leadership,reward and recognition and individual role and empowerment. The responses we received have helped shape and informed the action plans which accompany this strategy.

In 2013 our average employee is……….

Committed to doing what is required to perform their job well Committed to doing what is required to help YHN succeed Is proud of the work that they do Satisfied with their job

However some people are feeling…….

Uncertain about the security of their job role That change could be handled more effectively Communications at YHN are not always effective or open and honest They are not given opportunity to contribute to decision making Concerned about bullying and harassment

The overall level of employee engagement at YHN in 2013 is 58% with a further 40% who are partially engaged.

4.1 So why does engagement matter?

We believe that an engaged workforce is paramount to the on-going success of our organisation. In light of this we have based our strategic priorities around those areas which our staff survey showed had the greatest impact upon employee engagement.

We further believe that higher levels of employee engagement will result in a number of positive outcomes including:

higher productivity and organisational performance increased operating and net profit improved customer focus lower levels of absenteeism and higher levels of staff retention.

We hope through implementation of this People Strategy that we see a positive transition through the levels of engagement, moving more people from partially or

disengaged to fully engaged and address the concerns that emerged from the staff survey as listed above.

5. Our strategic priorities for 2014-2016Informed by our staff survey and the challenges currently facing our organisation, we have identified three inter-related priorities which we will be concentrating on over the next two years. Our People Strategy is supported by an annual People project plan that details all the associated milestones and key responsibilities

.

5.1 Priority 1- Great leadership

Healthy, Engaging and Inclusive Optimum Performance Great Leadership

We have become accustomed to having to deal with change largely driven by the external environment in which we work. We are continually having to re-assess the way in which we do things resulting in some substantial changes to the way we deliver services both in terms of what we do and how we do it.

We know, through our staff survey, that change can make many of our staff feel insecure and can impact upon their motivation and performance. To help counteract this, our leaders need to be even stronger and more visible than before. We need to ensure they are enabled to effectively lead our people through this change, instill confidence and motivate our workforce to continue to work well together to achieve our organisational goals.

An effective leader is someone who communicates clearly, concisely, and often, and by doing so motivates everyone to give their best all the time. They challenge their people by setting high but achievable standards and expectations, and then giving them the support, tools and training to pursue those goals and become the best employees they can possibly be. For our people to continue to be effective in their roles we need to continue to encourage and support these positive leadership behaviours and ensure they are demonstrated all levels.

Alongside our leaders we need to continue to develop our ‘managers’ to ensure that our employees feel respected, supported, empowered, inspired and valued.

We cannot leave this all to chance, given the increasing complexity of the work we do and how we work, and the diverse nature of our workforce. As in many other organisations, our focus has often been on the technical skills and the ‘what’ we do sometimes overlooking the ‘how’ we do things and the behaviours we demonstrate which are often the most important in driving long term engagement and organisational success.

We will need to continue to support and develop our leaders and equip them with the necessary skills and behavior to create and build commitment amongst their staff for sustainable change.

Our vision for 2016:

We will be led by proactive, innovative, flexible and commercially aware leaders at all levels. Our leaders engage and motivate others to maximise their potential in a strong and dynamic organisation.

Our commitments:

Providing direction and purpose Increasing visibility Effectively managing change Leading by example

Great leaders

Commitments Key activities2014-2016

Responsible officer

Date for completion

Outcomes

Providing direction and purpose

1. Commission leadership conference to include dynamic leadership, courageous thinking at strategic and operational level, corporate resilience and risk management.

2. Evaluate the merits of implementing a senior leadership programme, to be self- determined by the individual, with support from HR/OD

Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder/Daniel McGuinness

Sandra Archbold

31/10/2015

31/12/2014

More work needed to populate these

This work not completed but superseded by:Property Services – Common Purpose programme for all managers in the directorate.Tenancy Services – NS bespoke programme underwayActions:Conversation with Sheila needed about her requirementsFind out from OD what has been done/planned to evaluate the impact of these programmes

3. Provide a bi-annual face to face update to all staff on our organisational performance against our top 20 targets

4. Host information relating to business plan and top 20 on front page of our intranet.

5. Revision of team service plans to reinforce ‘golden thread’

6. Enable easier staff access to key messages/information resulting from Board and Committee meetings

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

Louise Horsefield

Daniel McGuinness

31/05/2015

31/05/2015

31/05/2015

30/06/2015

We all clearly understand the aims and objectives of our organisation and we work effectively together to achieve them

Completed for Board. Note from Olivia, included in Rewind.To do:Include item on committees in Rewind.

Increasing visibility

1. Review the format of John’s blog and Viewpoint sessions

2. Implement new approach to team brief format including mixed

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

31/05/2015

31/03/2015

View point sessions to stay the same.Blog to be extended to others e.g other directors, Bev

To be presented to MT alongside managers conference

directorates and greater involvement by Wider Management Team members

3. In consultation with staff, implement a range of initiatives aimed at increasing the visibility/responding to concerns of senior managers across the organisation. E.G 50 days of action.

Bev Elder 30/09/2015 There is a great relationship between leaders and staff across the organisation.

Effectively managing change

1. Develop e-learning modules ‘ just for a change’ and ‘developing resilience’ to help enable managers confidently lead teams and individuals through change

2. HR and OD to deliver change management workshops as required by the organisation.

3. HR and OD to actively support all service reviews at a strategic and operational level.

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder

Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder

31/03/2015

31/03/2016*

31/03/2016*

We are resilient to change, we welcome the opportunities that change can bring and we are able to respond positively to any challenges along the way.

Leading by example

1. Reassess our management competencies to reflect the behaviour expectations of our leaders.

2. Continue to offer and promote access to leadership focused opportunities e.g. public services academy (PSA) master classes.

3. Develop and promote leadership focused action learning sets

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

30/09/2015

31/03/2016*

30/06/2015

Our staff are motivated and engaged by inspirational leaders and managers who clearly demonstrate our core values in their interactions with others.

Priority 2- Optimum performance Effective performance management is fundamental to ensuring that our workforce is focused on delivering our business objectives, it underpins the ongoing success of our organisation. It provides the basis for our managers to agree and assess performance against clear objectives as well as providing a positive mechanism for channelling staff motivation, driving learning and development, raising morale and recognising excellent work.

We want to create a working environment in which our people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. We want to ensure that our workforce is focused on delivering our business objectives and that staff motivation; morale and recognition are well managed.

It is also essential that we are able to identify poor performance and ensure that we have robust mechanisms in place to deal effectively with this in a timely manner. We know that from time to time some people may experience difficulties resulting in under performance. When this happens we need to ensure that our managers have appropriate mechanisms in place to deal with this effectively. It is the responsibility of our managers to ensure that those who are not performing to the required levels receive the necessary support and guidance to enable them to improve. Our staff survey revealed that managing poor performance continues to be an area for improvement and there is a perception amongst some that we are not always effective in managing poor performance and that is not dealt with consistently. We recognise that a failure to deal with unsatisfactory performance adversely affects the quality of service delivered and has an impact on other employee’s morale and engagement. Furthermore, early intervention when poor performance is identified is essential, enabling a supportive approach to be taken. As such, performance issues should be given the highest priority by all involved in the process, within the constraints of workloads and other operational requirements.

Development of our people will also continue to be a high priority for our organisation. Unless there is continuous development of both individuals and teams performance will not improve. We need to continue to invest time and resources into providing appropriate development opportunities to help our staff grow.

Our vision for 2016:

Our people are better enabled to facilitate their own learning and to develop their careers through a varied range of learning and development opportunities. Performance is managed fairly and consistently across the organisation and staff contributions are valued.

Our commitments:

Effectively managing performance Continuous personal and professional development Coaching and mentoring culture Celebrate success

Optimum performance

Commitments Key activities2014-16

Responsible officer

Date forcompletion

Outcomes

Effectively managing performance

1. Review our capability policy and procedures to ensure that under-performance is effectively addressed within the appropriate timescales.

2. Deliver people management skills workshops for managers which will incorporate performance management tools

3. Introduce a narrative based two box system (competence/behaviours) for assessing individual performance within the appraisal process

Bev Elder/Lynne Holden

Bev Elder

Sandra Archbold

31/12/2014

30/03/2016*

30/09/2015

Our performance management processes (1:1’s/appraisals) are consistently and fairly applied across the organisation.

Under-performance is managed more effectively across the organisation and productivity is increased.

4. Procure a re-focussed 360’ appraisal tool in collaboration with NCC to make best use of existing ICT

5. Benchmark with other organisations to identify best practice for 1:1’s

Bev Elder

Sandra Archbold

31/12/2014

30/09/2015

Continuous personal and professional development

1. Promote the individual and organisational benefits of continuous personal and professional development to all staff.

2. Increase promotion and provision of ‘on the job’ learning as a means of supporting career development

3. Increase promotion of the capability of the ‘My Learning Space’ within LMS

4. Increase number of e-learning courses

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

30/06/2015

30/06/2015

30/06/2015

30/09/2015

People are engaged and enabled to identify andmeet their own and others learning and development needs.

available through LMS

5. Develop a conference and event feedback page on our staff intranet to share the learning experience with other colleagues

6. Benchmark with other organisations to identify best practice for effective work shadowing/experience in other parts of the organisation.

7. Develop a more rigorous approach to enforce attendance of mandatory training.

Daniel McGuinness

Sandra Archbold

Sandra Archbold

31/12/2014

31/03/2015

31/03/2015

Coaching and mentoring culture

1. Launch ‘Coaching Resources’ site and ‘Discussion forum’ on Intranet.

2. Implement coaching programme to meet the specific needs of our BME, LGBT and people with

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

30/09/2014

31/12/2014

We have a resource of confident, well trained, coaches and mentors who work effectively with others to develop skills and improve performance across the organisation

disabilities.

3. Assign all new managers with a mentor

4. Develop tools to enable coaches / mentors to measure the impact of coaching / mentoring before and after the activity

5. Introduce coaching and mentoring support package for staff who have returned from or are about to go on parental leave.

6. Consider merits of implementing shared coaching arrangement with external partners e.g Gentoo & ISOS, Probation Services and other private and public organisations.

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

Sheelagh Walsh/Michelle Slater

31/03/2015

31/12/2014

31/12/2014

31/03/2015

Celebrate success

1. Include ‘good news’ stories/job well done as standard item on team meeting agendas

2. Re-launch staff awards.

3. Evaluate our existing mechanisms for recognising success/high performance and identify additional opportunities for doing so

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

Bev Elder/Sandra Archbold/Daniel McGuinness

31/12/2014

30/06/2015

31/12/2014

A working environment where the contribution and success of others is valued.

A recognition culture that motivates people to improvetheir own and the overall performance of our organisation

Priority 3- Healthy, Engaging and Inclusive To achieve our organisational objectives and maximise our performance we recognise the importance of maintaining and improving the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of our employees. We are committed to encouraging an inclusive environment and a happy, healthy workforce. We believe that well-being encompasses a positive and healthy experience for people who work at our organisation. Its scope is wide and takes in health and safety, mental and physical health of our staff and the provision of a professional and high-quality working environment where people feel valued. All this is underpinned by a continuing commitment to the principles of equality and diversity.

We firmly believe that successful workplace well-being will include improved engagement and commitment from individuals, reduce risks to occupational health and safety, result in higher levels of staff satisfaction and reduce levels of absenteeism.’We also believe that the way our people feel about our place of work will materially affect the performance of our organisation and ultimately the service that our customers receive.

Our vision for 2016:

Our people will be healthy and be fully supported to enhance and improve their mental and physical wellbeing. Our people will feel that they have a voice, and that they are able to communicate, consult and influence decision making as well as confidently raise concerns and to challenge.

Our commitments:

Health and Wellbeing Managing absence Better at communicating Employee voice Embracing diversity

Healthy, Engaging and Inclusive

Commitments Key activities2014-16

Responsible Officer

Date for completion

Outcomes

Health & wellbeing

1. Deliver a health and wellbeing programme closely aligned with the key targets for reducing organisational absence and improving physical and mental wellbeing.

2. Develop our wellbeing intranet site to provide more information for those people who want to improve their health & wellbeing (e.g lower cholesterol/ back exercises)

3. Continually review the role and responsibility of the current health and wellbeing group to ensure it is aligned to needs of the business.

Sandra Archbold

Daniel McGuinness

Sandra Archbold

31/12/2014

31/12/2014

31/12/2014

Relationships between managers and staff are strengthened and problems are resolved quickly and appropriately reducing the need to evoke formal procedures.

Our people are well supported within the workplace to help prevent physical and mental illness including stress, anxiety and depression.

4. Increase promotion of the full range of staff benefits including Employee Assistance programme

5. Refresh the dignity at work policy. This will include implementation of contact support colleague network with remit to support colleagues who are experiencing issues relating to bullying and harassment.

6. Increase the number of mental health first aiders to provide one to one support to staff who are experiencing mental health concerns.

Bev Elder/Lynne Holden

Bev Elder/Ruth Wilkinson

Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder

31/12/2014

30/09/2014

31/12/2014

Our staff are engaged, motivated and high performing.

Managing absence

1. Implementation of absence management workshops

Lynne Holden 30/09/2014

2. Provision of absence management mobile surgeries

3. Screen saver campaign on cost of sickness to the organisation

4. Targeted poster campaign aimed at preventing key causes of sickness

5. Evaluation of our current return to work procedures with view to making it a more participatory process

6. Personalised and organisational communications to address key pinchpoints in absence, e.g school holidays, Monday & Fridays.

7. Increase the information available to managers through

Bev Elder

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness/Bev Elder

Bev Elder

Bev Elder/Daniel McGuinness

Bev Elder

31/03/2016*

31/03/2015

31/03/2015

31/12/2014

31/12/2014

30/09/2014

We have an attendance culture where unessential absence is minimised and people clearly understand the impact that absence has on our organisation.

the MSS system so they can better identify sickness trends and patterns.

Better at communicating

1. Determine employee communication preferences so that we can tailor the way in which key messages are relayed throughout the organisation to better meet employee need.

2. Pilot a ‘no email’ day to encourage people to talk to each other.

3. Produce ‘ a day in the life of’ documentary style video for each team to increase understanding of the many varied roles across YHN

4. Evaluate and where necessary improve existing communication

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

Daniel McGuinness

31/12/2014

30/09/2015

31/03/2016*

31/03/2015

Communications at YHN are effective, relevant, open and honest.

methods currently used to keep staff up to date with what is happening across the organisation

5. Introduce a monthly ‘key messages’ round-up to be shared by all managers in team meeting discussions.

Daniel McGuinness 31/03/2015

Employee voice

1. Undertake a benchmarking exercise to explore alternative employee engagement techniques used in other organisations e.g use of social media/’my conversation- NCC’

2. Introduce regular ‘temperature checks’ for our staff to understand how they are feeling at regular points through the year.

Daniel McGuinness/Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder

Daniel McGuinness/Sandra Archbold/Bev Elder

31/12/2014

31/03/2015

We are given opportunities to express our opinions, feel confident in doing so and our opinions are valued by others.

3. Evaluate effectiveness of Viewpoint as a means of offering staff the opportunity of communicating with our Chief Executive

Daniel McGuinness 31/12/2014

Embracing diversity*

1. Continue to provide resources to support the development and continuation of staff network groups (BME, LGBT and Disabled Staff)

2. Incorporate new Equality and Diversity category into the re-launched staff awards

3. Evaluate our current Equality and Diversity training provision and develop a new E&D training plan for all staff and board members.

4. Review & revamp E&D sharepoint site including best practice

Louise Horsefield

Daniel McGuinness

Sandra Archbold/Michelle Slater

Daniel McGuinness

31/03/2016*

31/03/2015

30/09/2015

31/12/2014

We will all have a broader understanding of E&D issues.

We have a thermometer for our E&D priorities and projects to see whether what we are doing and planning is suitable.

and external E&D blogs.

* links with Equality And Diversity Project plan

We are able to easily recognise any areas of inequality within our workplace and take swift and appropriate action to remedy them.

*a date of 31/03/2016 indicates an on-going action already underway.