Streetscene brought together Grounds Maintenance, Street Cleansing and Cemeteries staff to provide a new integrated service.
Streetscene was formed by working with staff and Trade Unions to make savings of 20 per cent – £1.75 million – while delivering an improved and more flexible service.
This workforce modernisation programme has brought new role profiles, a wider skill base, changed cultures and attitudes and maintained service standards to the public.
Ensuring the workforce was engaged, focused and motivated to deliver an excellent service to the public following the review was achieved through employee involvement, increasing training opportunities, communicating, career development and maintaining open channels with the Trade Unions.
The changes have resulted in increased levels of public satisfaction, a reduction in absence rates by more than a third and a reduction in employee grievances. In addition the Council has been recognised that this approach is good practice and won the Workforce Transformation category in the 2012 Municipal Journal Local Government Awards.
PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs· contributes to organisation’s goals and addresses current or emerging challenges
In 2010 all Services were asked to make savings of 20 per cent during the following three years in order to address a budget shortfall of £35 million. A new approach to service delivery was required to achieve this.
A restructure of the Environment and Related Services management team took place. A review of the Grounds Maintenance, Street Cleansing and the Cemeteries Service also took place. It was recommended that the three service areas be amalgamated into an integrated Streetscene service. This would help deliver the Council’s strategic objectives by providing a recurring annual budget saving of £1.75 million, alongside a workforce modernisation programme.
There were 25 different job roles and a major challenge was to create a shift in culture from a ‘that’s not my job’ attitude to a partnership approach. Previously investment in training had been poor, resulting in skill levels being eroded. There were 24 operational depots spread across the district, creating a disparate workforce and making supervision difficult. Employee relations were stifled and there were no regular Trade Union discussions.
The key stakeholders through this period of change were the workforce, Trade Unions, the public and the Elected Members. A plan was put in place to ensure each of these groups remained engaged throughout the change process.
Self-assessment using the Public Sector Improvement Framework (PSIF) tool was carried out and involved small groups of the workforce carrying out internal appraisals of services. The most common themes to emerge from the self-assessment were poor communication, a lack of opportunity for training, input to Service delivery including the use of equipment.
A communications plan was established to ensure each stakeholder group was involved. Regular workforce briefings were held. The Head of Service and Operations Manager met the workforce every four to six weeks and provided information about savings and the change process. A communications groupchaired by the Councillor with responsibility for Environment, and including full-time officers of the Trade Unions, was also established.
During this period the Council held public meetings to discuss budget pressures. These were known as ‘Straight Talking’and provided an opportunity for managers to present the street scene concept and hear the views of the public in respect of these services.
This enabled all stakeholders to be given information and to have a say on the changes to the Streetscene service areas.
While changes were vital, service levels had to be maintained or improved to support the corporate objectives and the Single Outcome Agreement of, reducing health inequalities; economic regeneration; increased tourism and providing a cleaner and greener environment to the public.
Following an extensive period of planning and preparation a committee paper was prepared, which had the following recommendations:
- Deletion of 217 positions and the creation of 151 new posts
- Creation of new role profiles integrating a wider skill set across the service
- Closure of 24 operational depots to move to four main depots
- Bringing external work in-house to protect jobs and provide training opportunities.
DELIVERING / · implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders
· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
Formal consultation with Trade Unions took place following Committee approval of the recommendations. It was vital that the consultation was authentic and meaningful.
During the consultation process a number of compromises were reached with the Trade Unions, which ensured balanced employee relations in the future. The Trade Unions were fully consulted on how employees would move from the old structure to the new positions.
There was a strong view from the Trade Unions that criteria such as skill levels and sickness absence should not be used to transfer employees to the new structure, which was accepted by management.
During this period extensive discussions took place to manage the reduction of the workforce, with every effort being made to avoid redundancies. Following the consultation period the workforce was issued with ninety days’ notice advising that their positions would be deleted. Employees would apply for the new multi-skilled positions using the Council’s redeployment policy.
New role profiles were created for these new positions to encompass corporate objectives such as performance management, future use of technology and improved customer service. Health and Safety commitments were also bolstered. The Trade Unions were given draft role profiles to consider and provide input. Most of their comments were on moving criteria from essential to desirable – which allowed their involvement in future training opportunities for their members.
INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / ·Demonstrates leading practice, and is capable of replication elsewhere·Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
The Council now has operatives who can carry out a range of ground maintenance and street cleansing duties as a complete approach to caring for the public realm.
For example, former gardeners now empty bins in remote locations and litter pick cemeteries. This wider job remit provides operatives with increased levels of job satisfaction.
Posts were created at two different remuneration levels. This provided pay progression for employees on the lower graded positions who, with training and up-skilling, could progress to the higher graded positions.
The Council has invested £17,500 in training operatives to increase skills, including the creation of a specialist arboriculture team. This has provided career development in an area where work was previously carried out by contractors.
Area supervisors have developed training matrices to identify skill shortages and training needs.
Finance has been re-directed from overtime budgets to training budgets to address this. Providing training opportunities has been an important tool in changing the culture.
The Council also created a seven-day per week shift pattern of four days on and four days off. The shift pattern has provided a better service to the public and reduced overtime by £250,000.
Multi-skilled job roles have made covering sickness, absence and holidays more efficient and effective.
The Council also took an innovative approach to replacing the compact sweeper fleet with a budget of £500,000.
Suppliers were invited to an open day where they brought their machines to the Council’s training centre. A cross-section of the workforce, made up of drivers, operatives and supervisors were invited to assess the quality of the machines.
Manufacturers were given hour long slots to make their sales pitch to the workforce and demonstrate their machines. The workforce was then asked to stick ‘post-it’ notes to each machine detailing their likes and dislikes. These comments were recorded and given consideration in the final procurement decision.
The suppliers, who operate on a national basis, said that they had never seen this level of employee involvement before. This procurement created a buzz in workforce and was an excellent cultural change tool. The workforce felt an immediate sense of ‘ownership’ when the new machines arrived in December 2011. These changes were important steps to integrate the new service and to shift the culture of the workforce.
North Ayrshire Council won the Workforce Transformation category at the 2012 Municipal Journal Local Government Achievement Awards.
The Council has been contacted by other local authorities from England and Scotland – including Glasgow City and South Ayrshire Councils – keen to learn from the Streetscene approach.
RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer and internal performance measures·demonstrates howbetter outcomes are being achieved
· a full range of relevant results– either already achieved or with potential to deliverover time
Improved service for customers is shown in the Local Environment Audit Scores (LEAMS), which are verified by neighbouring Councils and Keep Scotland Beautiful.
Graph 1 below shows the progression of the LEAMS scores through the period of the review and since implementation of the changes.
The Council’s annual survey asks residents about their levels of satisfaction with the public open spaces within the district.
Graph 2 above indicates that levels of satisfaction have increased since Streetscene was introduced.
One of the main objectives in introducing Streetscene was to change the culture of the service.
Specific efforts were made using HR tools such as communication, consultation, employee involvement and training to change culture. The number of grievances raised by employees has reduced from 7 in 2008 to none in the last year.
Absence rates have reduced from 5.6 per cent in 2009 to 3.2 per cent in 2011 – an overall reduction of 35 per cent.
The Council now has an integrated service with a multi-skilled workforce. The public has an increased level of service provision, which is more effective and efficient. Trade Unions were involved throughout the period of change and there are increased training opportunities for the workforce. The main drive now is to develop the workforce – vital in ensuring the cultural change continues.
Budget savings of £1.33 million have been achieved and plans are in place to deliver savings of £350,000 in the financial year 2013/14 to meet the remaining target.
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013 Page | 1
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2013 Page | 1