Samantha developed a proactive talent programme aimed at developing staff in preparation for their first management role. The programme has six themes and participants attend a two-hour session on each theme then take away an activity to action within their department and feedback to the rest of the group at the next training session. A pilot involving 12 staff resulted in four staff being promoted within two months. Samantha has also developed a ‘Train the Trainer’ programme which has built individual and organisational capability and created a learning culture.

Hannah developed a resilience programme using her knowledge of how the brain and body reacts under stress and provided delegates with activities they could undertake and take responsibility for to improve their resilience. 26% of staff have attended the training and it scores highly in evaluation. There has been an increase in how well people felt supported by their manager in a recent HSE Stress Survey. Informal feedback is that the training is positive and motivating for delegates.

The Apprenticeship Academy facilitates the corporate ambition to be an employer of choice offering local young people the opportunity to gain qualifications through an employment-based route. The apprentices designed the logo and strapline which has given them a corporate identity they are proud of. The “Pathways to progression” programme includes monthly sessions on issues for young people and helps apprentices recognise strengths and weaknesses as well as improving positivity and self-worth. With 101 apprenticeships the target of 88 has already been exceeded.

Medway Makers Champions provide a two-way communication channel between colleagues and senior management. One strand of the initiative is service specific engagement forums. The Finance Department Forum was set up to explore results of the annual employee engagement survey. A Medway Maker sits on the Finance Management Team so colleagues can be confident their comments and suggestions will be shared with senior managers. As a result, a number of positive changes have been implemented including team meetings involving home workers, consistent approach to departmental practices, departmental newsletter, management reports in plain English and induction packs.

The Line Leader Academy was developed to enable and empower the Line Leaders to run their line as a business. Line Leaders were asked what would help them achieve their role and the issues raised included H&S, production, welfare, and warehousing. They also commented that they had never been asked or listened to before. The issues were collated and action plans developed. Line Leaders also worked on the issues at the training workshops. A review identified improvements from the initiative and these included: greater understanding of the business, feeling valued, improved communication and better teamwork.

Sharon supported a newly appointed Headteacher through a number of complex safeguarding disciplinary procedures. She provided guidance, shared a network of contacts, advised on how to communicate with staff whilst ensuring compliance with data protection and made arrangements to support suspended staff. Following the investigation process she advised on options and ensured compliance with statutory outcomes. Sharon’s knowledge, support and advice enabled the right decisions for the school.

Laura took on the responsibility of supporting the HR service at a neighbouring council and to work towards a future shared HR service. She has worked closely with the managers, as well as revising HR practices which have resulted in improvements in the management of sickness, disciplinary and capability issues. In particular Laura designed and delivered a training module to all managers to provide them with the skills and confidence to manage sickness absence. Her professionalism, thoughtful advice, “can do” attitude and assistance has been recognised at all levels in the Council.

Emma reviewed her organisation’s relationship with their agency worker provider. She identified a number of challenges including contractual issues and differing rates of pay. Emma had to influence at a senior level and gain agreement with multiple stakeholders to negotiate a satisfactory outcome. The organisation now has pay parity with 96% of its agency workers. Emma also introduced a “flag” system to ensure temporary workers were moved to a permanent contract in a timely way and ensured agency worker checks mirrored those of her organisation achieving a saving of over £600k.

Sandra has developed a People Strategy with a supporting four “pillar” plan which stood her organisation in an excellent position in a recent Care Quality Commission inspection. She demonstrates the organisation’s values, has time for all staff and undertakes ‘working with days’ across the organisation. Sandra leads on regional work and volunteers with compassion and professionalism to support other organisations. She never ceases to have passion, enthusiasm and new ideas for changes to working practices.

Carrie is an inclusive leader making sure everyone in the organisation is valued. She has gained national recognition for her workforce strategy for Children’s Social Care and was highlighted as talented in a recent corporate peer challenge. Carrie is passionate about raising the profile of HR and has presented at national conferences and Parliament. She has introduced innovative projects including the Apprenticeship and Leadership and created a business plan for an internal recruitment agency which reduced costs and staff turnover.

Megan is currently studying for CIPD level 3. She has reviewed processes and created an HR ‘how to guide’ covering HR and payroll best practice. Megan has also introduced the Eisenhower decision matrix to the HR team which is used during workload planning. She has grown in confidence and is valued as an HR professional.

Harriet is a dedicated and committed student and she has used what she has learnt on her course to improve the student experience via her role as course representative. In this role she has been a champion for diversity and inclusion and has been a constant support to the most vulnerable students. Harriet has also set up a network of current and alumni students to support their career development, fostered mentoring relationships across different cohorts, directly influenced inclusive class discussions, better provision of library resources and increased quality of feedback.

OPS was created by Medway Council to combat spiralling agency costs and provide skilled temporary staff to the Council and partner organisations. Since inception in October 2017 the team of four has developed a cloudbased time management system, launched a website and produced branding and promotional material. New temps have been recruited through job fairs, a local college and job centre. Ocelot has also successfully undertaken executive recruitment for the Council and is working with partners to train unemployed and vulnerable people to enter work.

The team launched a trailblazing social media and radio campaign to address a long-term teacher shortage. This involved asking young people how they would inspire pupils if they were teachers of the future. The winning idea was brought to life in a promotional video that will be used across social media to inspire future teachers and has been nominated for a RAD award. In addition, the team have used microsites, videos and social campaigns to recruit Head Teachers.

Gemma assisted a client in making more use of ”off-shoring” while changing the skills and requirements of the UK based team. This has led to a stronger organisation with a more diverse team but without an increase in HR spend. Gemma spent time getting to know the business and ensuring she was aware of what was required in terms of skills and culture. She has also assisted in implementing HR best practice, reviewing policies and implementing a new recruitment and performance management system.

Outset conducted a bespoke and comprehensive reward project for a private bank including designing and implementing a job evaluation framework which fitted the banks culture. Outset engaged with senior managers in challenging panel discussions to review over 150 job roles condensing them into role structures aligned with seven new grading levels. A new technology platform was tailored to the bank’s specific needs and the project was delivered pragmatically and on time.

Dakota Blue Consulting supported an organisation who acquired another business by integrating the people and ensuring the process of change was smooth. They worked on changing mindsets and behaviours on how to manage and develop the workforce resulting in a business of the year award. Dakota Blue also provided coaching to the management team resulting in a transition in behaviours enabling the organisation to create a culture of ownership leading to significant growth.

Summer was instrumental in designing and developing a programme of support for staff impacted by a transformation programme and new organisational structure. The programme included workshops, a series of webinars and 1:1 coaching support. Summer is able to design training that is practical and addresses the emotional impact of change. Staff feedback was brilliant and they felt they had real choices about how they approached the restructure. Staff also found they had more skills and experience than they thought so the programme was a positive experience and confidence boost.

Elaine was selected to establish a Line Leader Academy to develop talent through a programme of training including technical and management skills. She provided a bespoke training proposal which reflected the complexity of the business and language barriers associated with the diverse workforce. Elaine engaged with the Leadership Team and spent a day observing the Line Leaders in their work environment to ensure the workshops were tailored to the business needs and audience. Engagement has increased, communication with managers improved and skills developed.

Zoe has demonstrated a high level of commercial awareness in improving the recruitment process for her organisation. She engaged with other charities to identify the best way forward and devised a new recruitment process including new job descriptions, behavioural interview questions and service users attending interviews. Zoe has changed the recruitment function to reduce paper use resulting in saved time and resources. She is very professional, has completed CIPD level 3 and plans to start her level 5 soon.

Simon’s professionalism, infectious enthusiasm, thirst for knowledge and capacity for work led him to “acting up” as a senior in HR Support as soon as he had completed his apprenticeship. He impressed customers and colleagues with his contribution to training and development and on-line learning with an ability to embrace change and champion innovation. He completed CIPD level 3 in 2016 and was a founder member of a new internal recruitment agency where he has developed a time management system, the website and branding.

The team has an HR Strategy which underpins CAF’s strategy and has developed a range of integrated initiatives and frameworks. These include a Performance and Reward Framework, Behaviours Framework and a Managers Framework. This work has resulted in reduced turnover, improved engagement, IIP Gold standard, Disability Confident Award and has significantly contributed to CAF’s success in challenging economic conditions.

The HR service restructured and carried out a review which involved consulting with partners to understand what they valued and what frustrated them about the service. Four new HR strategic goals were introduced, a new SLA was created with KPI’s focussing on the strategic goals, reporting mechanisms were changed to focus on what the business needed, and HR processes were challenged looking at them from the end user. This work has led to HR becoming an integral part of the business again enabling relevant support and advice to be given on strategic decisions.

A newly appointed leadership team focused on five key objectives together with a dashboard of objectives which, with few exceptions, changed from red to green in six months. One objective focussed on cost reduction and fewer breaches of price caps on temporary workers and this has achieved a reduction of breaches from 1000 to 150 a week with £8m agency cost savings. In addition, more nurses are now starting than leaving each month.