In today’s economic climate, organisations are facing a number of workforce challenges including skills shortages, reward and retention, hybrid working and changes in employee expectations. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that we invest in our people.

This Masterclass provided an opportunity to focus on some of the current people and workforce challenges in the public sector and explore ways in which organisations can get the best out of their workforce; helping them realise their true potential and consider ways in which to attract, retain and develop the workforce of the future.

With contributions from Mike Gibney, Chief People Officer at the Walton Centre NHS FT and Leanne Jones, OD Business Manager at Wigan Council, we were able to hear about unique and innovative approaches from across the region and share examples of good practice.

Mike prompted us to think about:

• The cultural conditions that we set; how do we ensure our organisational mission, strategy and leadership are aligned to the organisational culture?
• As leaders, everything we do is about engagement with our people. We need to clearly signal our intent, challenge difficult behaviour, understand what motivates and demotivates people and live the values of the organisation.
• Some practical steps include making sure you understand your business-critical roles and build succession planning into your supervision/appraisal conversations.
• Bringing your whole self to work – create a culture of maturity and openness where people feel safe to share how they are feeling.
• Create a sense of pride and belonging and the importance of creating social value; anchoring organisations in the local community, breaking down barriers and building connections for future recruitment.

Leanne shared the great work that has taken place in Wigan to innovate workforce recruitment and retention. Prompted initially by the challenges in recruiting social workers in Children’s Services, Team Wigan have introduced a number of changes to the way they advertise and recruit to vacancies.

Innovative approaches include:

• Investing in the Wigan brand and rebranding as an employer of choice
• “People are not looking for us, we need to look for them” – shifting from traditional advertising routes to community based activity
• Open adverts for a range of vacancies
• Quick, simple application process
• Being proactive about future talent pathways
• Developing to retain staff

You can watch the full webinar here.