Joining the dots: The 'SurreyJobs' Pathfinder

CASE STUDY Part 1 MAY 2003: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS

This is the first in a series of case studies which will track the development of the SurreyJobs Pathhfinder Project. As well as providing a narrative of events it draws out lessons and insights into the process which may be of value to other public sector organisations interested in using the power of technology to enhance their ability to recruit, retain and develop their people.

Overview

On 1st July 2003 the 'SurreyJobs' website was officially launched by a consortium of public sector employers in Surrey. As the culmination of work dating back for almost two years this 'Pathfinder' initiative reflects the aspirations of the 'e-government' project to harness information technology to the benefit of public services and their users.

In the case of SurreyJobs. the focus is on using the internet to improve recruitment by a diverse group of public sector organisations (ranging from local authorities to NHS trusts and universities). However, SurreyJobs. has an additional dimension to it. As well as exploiting technology it also aims to explore the benefits of partnership activity in this area.

In order to produce this case study interviews were conducted during April 2003 with a range of participants including the lead member of the SurreyJobs partnership (David Thomas at Runnymede Borough Council), the project consultant/co-ordinator attached to Surrey County Council (Steve Batley, working on the inter-agency countywide e-strategy), the webmaster (jobsgopublic) and a number of other organisations/employers involved in the initiative.

It is intended that as well as providing a record of the broad development of SurreyJobs. the case-study should also draw out lessons which may be useful to other public sector organisations. Further case studies will be published as the initiative rolls out in order to trace its subsequent evolution.

Origins

SurreyJobs. is one of the many initiatives stemming from the'e-government' project to ensure maximum use of information technology by public sector organisations. It Surrey this is being driven forward strategically by the '2010' group of Chief Executives which has about sixty members from across local government, health, education, and emergency services. In July 2001 a meeting of the group identified the use of IT in recruitment, retention and development as a key priority for its workplan.

The background to this is straightforward. Many public sector organisations in Surrey have chronic recruitment and retention problems. Surrey is an expensive place to live. The cost of housing is very high and deters movement into the area by public sector workers from other parts of the country. In any case, as a thriving economic area itself the Surrey private sector has plenty of rival jobs to offer. And for those workers who are committed to public sector careers the opportunities in the London area (in effect, as close as Croydon) which offer London weighting can appear more attractive. In other words, Surrey public sector organisations feel beset by three challenges - a high cost of living, a thriving local private sector economy and the rival attractions of nearby London. The use of e-technology in a partnership context - in other words being smarter about recruitment and retentuion - was seen as a potentially important way of responding.

Anticipated Benefits

The members of the 2010 group hoped that collective/partnership use of the internet would:

• raise the profile of Surrey public sector jobs and make the opportunities more widely known (including to potential incomers to the area)
  
• enhance the image of public sector working by presenting it in a more attractive, modern way
  
• reach a number of key groups who were currently underrepresented in the Surrey public sector workforce (including ethnic minorities. the young, the disabled)
  
• streamline and simplify the application procedure (by having a 'once only' application process)
  
• cut the time and costs of recruitment (especially advertising expenditure).

In addition, however, it was intended that this might be just be a first stage in a wider process of improving human resource management through use of the internet as a forum for a variety of other, longer-term activities. For example, an internet-based service could promote partnership activities between Surrey public sector organisations so that e-learning, secondments, career development activities, training opportunities etc. could be developed collectively and promoted via the website. As a result workers could be encouraged to remain, and pursue their careers, within the 'family' of the Surrey public sector. Surrey employers would be able to retain valuable expertise and experience whilst still offering opportunities for career advancement. In other words, by collaborating in this way a host of small organisations could get the benefits of scale of a large employer.

Establishing the Strategic Service Delivery Partnership

The first objective in this ambitious project was to establish a Strategic Service Delivery Partnership of interested organisations with an immediate focus on the e-recruitment/retention dimension. To drive the project forward it was decided to establish a steering committee, chaired and project managed by an independent consultant working with Surrey County Council, from amongst the most interested organisations. At this point the Surrey Personnel Officers Group (Local Government) became involved and, in due course, their Chairman and one other SPOG member joined the Steering Group (which consisted of personnel and HR staff representing the County and District Councils, the Police, Further Education, Universities and Probation).

Fairly soon after being constituted Pathfinder status was sought under the (then) DTLR's Strategic Partnership Pathfinder Programme. The aims and objectives of the Surrey e-recruitment/retention project fitted perfectly with Pathfinder role and a project proposal was successfully submitted under the auspices of Runnymede BC. As a result Runnymede then became the lead authority on the Pathfinder which was able to benefit from a range of mentoring and advice services on legal, technical and other issues provided by central Government. A representative of the (as is now) Office of the Deputy Prime Minister then joined the Steering group.

Immediate Challenges

With a steering group constituted, Pathfinder status secured and fairly clear aims and objectives the next priorities were to decide how to:

1. Set up the project technically
   
2. Recruit a critical mass of committed partners to make the project worthwhile

Setting up the project technically

Initially it was hoped that the partnership could develop and manage the website itself. In considering this, however, it was noticeable that possible participants were at widely differing starting points. A number already had sophisticated websites for the organisation and were actually involved in e-recruitment directly or were subscribing to an e-recruitment service of a specialist nature (for example, the universities were using the jobsac service provided by Warwick University).

However, other possible participants had little or no internet experience and were lacking in resources. Indeed one of their motives for getting involved in the programme was to try to gain expertise in this area. The conclusion by the steering group was that it was unrealistic to attempt to develop the software and set up a system by themselves. A consultancy would need to be brought in to provide a hosted service.

In making this decision it was realised that it was important that whoever was appointed should have had prior experience of running this type of service for the public sector. Sensitivity to public service ethos would underpin the service.

Tender documents were then drawn up and four private sector providers, known for their relevant experience in the software and recruitment fields, were invited to pitch for a two year project to set up and manage the system. Any intellectual property rights were to remain with the contractor.

The winner was jobsgopublic, a company which was already working with many public sector organisations in Surrey who made use of
their existing national public sector recruitment service. Jobsgopublic were also very competitive in terms of fees.

At this point it should be noted that jobsgopublic regard the Surrey pathfinder as an important demonstration project enabling them to gain vital experience and a track-record in this field. In recognition of this the full commercial price was not charged - an issue of some significance when weighing up the long-term cost-effectiveness of such a service in future. (In short, the cost of this service does not provide a guide to any subsequent, commercially-priced service).

Recruiting the Partners

The launch of the initiative was publicised to all members of the 2010 group and this was followed up by visits and presentations (by the independent consultant employed by Surrey County Council). However, in the event, of the sixty eligible organisations 20 actually decided they wished to be involved in the initial stage. Of these, the overwhelming majority were in local government. Other services included are Police, Magistrates Courts, Further Education, Universities and Probation. Currently there is just a single representative of
the NHS in Surrey. Inevitably this will raise significant issues about the character of the service, the jobs which would be posted on it and the candidates who will make use of it. The aim is to secure more participants from the NHS.

At this point, two months ahead of launch, it would seem that the jobs most likely to appear on the site and most likely to benefi from the partnership approach would be generic administrative and support functions. It will, however, be very significant to see how this unfolds.

Although there is no detailed evidence as yet of why some organisations have opted not yet to join the initiative it is likely that, in addition to organisational inertia and reluctance to experiment, the following may apply:

• they already use e-recruitment methods and wait to be convinced of the benefits of a partnership approach
  
• they remain committed to advertising in print, whether in the professional press or newspapers, and are reluctant to add a further medium to their repertoire
  
• they want to see the system prove itself before they take part
  
• they are nervous about the use of the internet and have no viable site of their own
  
• they are reluctant to commit the time required for a successful partnership

It will be important to see how many organisations join the initiative during its two year lifetime once it demonstrates its value.

Developing the Project

The work of developing the project then fell to the Steering Group, facilitated by the Surrey CC consultant and the staff of jobsgopublic.

Broadly speaking it was expected that the Surreyjobs.info site (as it was decided to call it) would:

• provide a single portal for an integrated system for the listing of all vacancies, categorised by type, within the participating organisations
  
• provide a 'brochure' page for each participating organisation so that they could have a shop-window to explain their role, functions and to give a feel for the character and experience of working with that organisation
  
• provide two-way links to each organisation's own website
  
• provide a means of applying for vacancies
  
• operate a 'Talent Pool' so that candidates could register their details and their interests so that they could be notified by recruiters of relevant vacancies
  
• provide two-way links with a range of other relevant sites including those operated by jobsgopublic and specialist services for ethnic minorities, the disabled and 'silver surfers' (older people who have switched on to the power of the internet)

A key decision taken by the steering group was that there should be a widespread sense of ownership of the project by all participants. As a result extensive papers were circulated in the course of the development process, workshops were held to discuss and explain how the service would be managed and extensive consultation. Achieving the right balance between involvement and overload is important since most participants were already feeling over-stretched and were keen that, amongst other things, Surreyjobs.info would reduce their workload. However, it is clear that in the preliminary stages an investment in time would be essential. That said, the inevitable turnover of staff meant that day-to-day involvement by the time of the launch was being undertaken by people who had not been involved in the beginning. Or, in some cases, whilst senior staff had made the original decision to participate the project was then shunted down the hierarchy to staff who may not have been so keen or interested in its development.

As a result initial progress was not as rapid as expected. Deadlines were set which proved to be unrealistic. Commitments were made by participants (such as producing text for brochure pages) which were not fulfilled. In the end, for example, jobsgopublic brought in an additional consultant to work directly with participants to produce their brochure pages. Some participants had still not set up their websites and, therefore, could make no link between their site and the Surreyjobs site.

Also it became obvious in the course of the various meetings that organisations had different priorities and perceived the initiative in conflicting ways. Working through these inconsistencies while explaining how the system would operate was very time consuming. There were, for example, differing requirements between organisations over, for example, the need to alert applicants to disclosure requirements for police investigation. There were also a variety of legal and data sharing Issues which had to be resolved. All of these took time and meant that while an initial site was launched in April the full site had to be rescheduled for July.

Lessons

We look forward to reporting in July on the Surreyjobs.info launch.

What is already clear, however, is that in a broad-based partnership activity it is important:

• not to underestimate the resources required to manage such a project, including, if necessary, financial resources to secure external professional advice
  
• to understand that the various parties will have different starting points and perspectives and these may take time to resolve
  
• to ensure that a contractual agreement/memo of understanding is established between partners before the project goes very far
  
• to set realistic time milestones and ensure that they are adhered to
  
• to take account of the fact that the administration of the partnership itself is likely to be very time-consuming
  
• that a balance should be struck between keeping participants informed in the preliminary stages whilst avoiding information overload
  
• that regular briefing sessions are provided to keep people involved and up-to-date with developments
  
• that a clear focus must be kept on 'adding value' to existing practice (if it doesn't add value then why do it ?)

Next Case Study

In Case Study 2, we shall examine:

• the initiative's targets for improved recruitment and increasedretention
  
• how the system will work in practice
  
• how the system was trialled and tested
  
• the kind of information provided about each participant in the brochure pages
  
• how the differing views between organisations were resolved
  
• how the service was marketed and promoted at its launch
  
• the fee structure
  
• the immediate impact on recruitment

Key Issues for e-HR Partnership Activity

e-Recruitment/Retention

A. Does e-recruitment

1. succeed in attracting
   - more candidates
   - better candidates
   - more diverse candidates?
   
   
2. streamline (and make simpler) the recruitment process
   - for employers
   - candidates
   
   
3. help raise profile of organisation, making it look more
   interesting, switched-on, modern?
   
   
4. reduce recruitment costs (both time and money)?
   
   
5. add-value in any other way?

(All of the above to be addressed in contrast to traditional systems)

Partnership

B. Does partnership with other public sector organisations in e-HR activity

1. produce a bigger pool of appropriate candidates ?
   
   
2. attract (or put off) professional 'sector specific' candidates?
   
   
3. generate benefits of scale (in terms of advertising power, fee rates from service providers etc.)
   
   
4. help to retain individuals within the local public sector 'family' ?
   
   
5. facilitate career development opportunities?
   
   
6. mesh easily with participants' existing internet presence?
   
   
7. operate with minimum bureaucracy/additional management while delivering maximum effectiveness ?
   
   
8. reflect a genuine 'public service' ethos (as opposed to tighter, more focused sectors - such as health, local government, emergency services etc.)

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