PublicSector
Councils' finance recruitment call
The social values of young job hunters make them an ideal fit for public sector roles – particularly finance – but awareness is a challenge. So councils are reaching out to them, Chris Smith discovers
Creating resilient organisations to deliver future public services is one of the biggest challenges facing employers right now.
Years of budget cuts and below-inflation pay deals have been compounded by freezes in training budgets. Many frontline roles are now competing with supermarkets in terms of pay and flexible working. Finance teams can’t compete with private sector starting salaries, with entry-level roles starting around £25,000, compared with more than £30,000 in the private sector. But there are signs of hope as young people aged Generation Z who were born in the late 1990s are making their presence – and values – felt in the jobs market.
For local government, workforce capacity is one of the biggest challenges facing local government in England, exacerbated after the Covid-19 lockdown, according to recent research by the County Councils Network (CCN).
It commissioned a report by PwC, Workforce of the Future, which surveyed 6,000 staff working in county and unitary councils across different council departments. The results gave cause for both disappointment and optimism.
The key findings were encouraging. The majority of respondents to the survey – 56% – said they were proud to work in local government, and 73% of those surveyed said they would recommend working in local government to their friends and family.
However, almost two-thirds – 64% – said that they believed local government was not perceived as an attractive employer to those outside the sector. Pay was the biggest issue for all employees, but 18- to 34-year-olds ranked career pathways as the second highest, whereas over-35s ranked flexible working as the second highest, and secondment opportunities third highest.
RECRUITMENT
Since 2012, the number of employees in England’s councils has reduced by over half a million (552,000), a decline of 31.5%.
Half – 42% – of all respondents believe they will receive enough training in their role to ‘future proof’ their skills
Source: Workforce of the Future
The finance picture
For finance teams, the picture is yet more difficult. According to a March report by the Local Government Information Unit, over half of local authorities in England expect to issue a Section 114 notice – declaring effective bankruptcy – within five years, with 9% at risk in the coming year. One local authority finance director in the report went as far as to describe the picture as “catastrophic”.
Finance teams, as a result, are very stretched and the attractiveness of the roles has taken a hit as a result.
“Many organisations are experiencing challenges both in recruiting and retaining capable finance staff,” says Joanne Pitt, senior policy manager at CIPFA. “Finance staff are under pressure and are working in an increasingly complex environment. All finance professionals recognise the challenging financial position the public sector faces, and this has an impact on morale. However the professionalism shown by the majority of the sector is still widely recognised.”
Cllr Mike Sole FMAAT is cabinet member for finance at Canterbury City Council. While Canterbury hasn’t experienced the level of strain other authorities in the country have, he says staff in the finance department are “busy”.
“It would be true to say that we could always do with with more staff and and it is not always easy to recruit,” he says.
“If you are not fully staffed up, that then puts pressure on the staff that are there.”
Part of the issue, Pitt says, is the sector is not sufficiently conveying its appeal to potential staff members.
“While salaries are a major consideration, other factors such as flexible working, training and working environment all play a part in recruiting or retaining staff. Younger staff will have very different career needs to those nearer retirement and organisations need to cater for the all staff wherever they still on their career journey,” she explains.
Additional reporting by Calum Fuller
The battle for hearts and minds
The public sector should use existing best practice on attracting new talent, says Cllr Tim Oliver, chairman of the County Councils Network.
“If we are to recruit and retain workers then we need a new national brand for local government,” he says. “This should mirror how the NHS has put itself at the forefront of peoples’ minds as a potential employer.”
Cllr Mike Sole FMAAT of Canterbury City Council agrees, noting the sector should play on the notion of public service in order to encourage applicants, as well as the benefits of public sector working, such as flexible working practices, training and development and secondment.
The sector is running a pilot scheme that is set to go sector-wide later this year. In January, public sector organisations in the North East of England launched a campaign to attract more people into the sector. Developed by the Local Government Association and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, the scheme encouraged people to “make a difference” where they live. That’s an approach Sole wants to see more of.
“We want to attract people who want to work for us for the right reasons,” he explains. “Any organisation where profit isn’t the main driver is going to have a completely different feel to it. It’s about public service.”
