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Are Poor Managers the Weak Link?

August 6, 2010 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Workforce Management

Photo: amontei, Flickr

In July 2010, Anthony Dance asks on the HRZone website why poor manager performance was not seen as a key issue for HR practitioners. It’s absolutely the case that many organisations see gaps in management capability as a serious problem.

A quick trawl through Personnel Today sees poor managers blamed for provoking conflict, increasing the levels of sickness absence, causing under-performance and creating a culture which allows poor customer service.

These concerns certainly aren’t surprising. In its 2005 Workplace Productivity Survey, the US-based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) examined workplace factors which impacted on worker productivity. The survey gained responses from 478 HR professionals and 613 employees and 58% of respondents reported the most important factor holding employee productivity back was poor management. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: efficiency and reform, managers, operational efficiency, poor performance, productivity, public sector, workforce No Comments »

by Attractor

Localism, Reform, Innovation and Transformation

July 26, 2010 in Leading and Managing Results, Public Services

With the UK public sector under huge financial pressure, government faces calls to protect resources for front-line services.

A recent Telegraph article provides valuable insight on ways to change how public services are run (in this case police forces) to provide effective outcomes with far less resources.

The report in question, from an ex-UK policeman now serving in Canada, seems to offer clear examples of how changes is working practice could yield significant savings without a loss of service quality.

According to figures used in the article, Alberta spends £150 for every citizen and employs one person for every 526 people served, while Manchester spends £276 for every citizen and employs one person for every 181 people served. Given the recent comments about using civilians in the police workforce, it is also interesting to note 37% of the police workforce in Manchester are civilians compared to only 26% in Alberta.

Even taking into account the difference in levels of violent crime (Manchester has 16 per 1,000 people while Alberta has only 10 per 1,000) comparing the two sets of figures throws up striking productivity differences in the two. So why is Canada more effiicenct?

Comparing Greater Manchester in the UK with Alberta, Edmonton, the key differences in policing practice in UK and Canada would seem to be -

less bureaucracy - in relation to arrangements for arrest, custody, taking statements, accessing legal representatives and making charging – resulting in greater front line efficiency and fewer administrative staff,
active front-line policing- the UK’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary recently reported as few as six per cent of warranted officers might be available at any one time to deal with crime. In Alberta everyone is hands-on, almost all the time – even senior officers,
greater use of technology – wireless laptops in vehicles displaying calls waiting for police attention and how long they have been waiting – plus real-time crime maps, incidents, methods and suspects,
local accountability- Alberta police are financed by local taxpayers and respond to their priorities, not those of central government.

The message from overseas suggests that removing the layers of management, measurement and compliance activity bearing down on front line services, allowing freedom for innovation and investment decisions together with local accountability can generate really transformative results.

It is through effective innovation and investment that front-line services are best protected, not by ringfencing budgets supporting out of date or ineffective working practices.

Tags: budgets, efficiency and reform, localism, police, productivity, public sector No Comments »

by Attractor

Shared Services – For and Against

July 23, 2010 in Corporate Services, Public Services, Shared Services and Outsourcing

Image : jinho.jung, Flickr

When organisations refer to their “shared services” projects, they are not all talking about identical solutions. Different experiences and variations in savings will reflect the nature of changes being made and the approach to implementation.

For some organisations, implementing shared services brings together a number of activities which were managed within local business units – creating a single, centralised solution.

Instead of each business unit controlling its own local service, they all share a single internal service delivered from a central location.

For other organisations shared services involves seeking to buy-in services from another corporate body – perhaps a parent organisation, a similar neighbour or a commercial partner. In this case, challenges of reorganising services and delivering service levels are multiplied by issues of finding the right partners, procurement and contracts.

In some very ambitous cases, organisations might be seeking to both centralise and buy-in services in one swift act which makes projects especially challenging. In all cases the service outcomes will be judged on the basis of how they work for customers and how much they cost. These judgements will be determined by how they set up their business and approach investment and improvement action. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: corporate services, efficiency, efficiency and reform, productivity, public sector, QIPP, shared services No Comments »

by Attractor

Maximising Value from HR

June 7, 2010 in Our Track Record

In the past, UK organisation were stereotyped by their slashing of training budgets when finances were tight – and then suffering the skills shortages which followed.

A new stereotype might be organisations looking to make efficiencies and reduce expenditure in their back-office functions so they can protect front line services.

Across the public sector, this “mantra” is being widely and loosely used without being explained in detail.

Real dangers exist where the implications of change are poorly thought through.

In richer times, it is easy to make the case for investment in services which support staff delivering effective front-line services. When times are hard, this is more difficult and its vital then, more than ever, to demonstrate how corporate teams impact on the business.

When organisations are looking to reduce expenditure, it is common to look for reductions in “overheads” – costs which can be reduced with little impact on front line services. Corporate back-office functions look “vulnerable” in this climate.

Organisations should always strive to ensure they are working in the most effective way – the optimum value between expenditure and achieving required outcomes. Back-office functions should be scrutinized as closely as other areas though it’s vital to keep a focus on what will maximise value rather than simply “reduce expenditure”. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: absence, back office, benchmarking, efficiency, HR, human resources, productivity, QIPP, roster, workforce optimisation No Comments »

by Attractor

Benchmarking and QIPP

May 31, 2010 in Our Track Record

Photo: Darren Hester, Flickr

NHS managers looking at our benchmarking solution have described how they will use it to plan and monitor local actions in response to the challenge of the NHS Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention initiative (QIPP).

A Payroll Manager explained it would enable him to demonstrate how service plans would adjust the profile of the organisation changing high level and detailed performance data.

As well as providing an evidence-base for improvement planning, the tool would enable them to meet the recommendations of the Operational Efficiency Programme, collating relevant information and providing comparison data to inform their decisions.

The solution has been created specifically for NHS organisations (versions for other part of the public sector or on the drawing board). Back-office benchmarking is new for the NHS and, obviously, depends on having significant volumes of data from relevant organisations to provide comparative information.

While still at an early stage in its service lifecycle – only just moving from planning to delivery – the early signs are promising. Already, 60% of the NHS organisations which evaluated the service have subscribed while others are still considering their position. No organisation having reached this point has, yet, decided not to subscribe.

Attractor is now marketing the service widely for the firs time and expects sufficient sign-up from NHS organisations to provide subscribers with authoritative, persuasive and compelling evidence to support local decision-making. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: back office, benchmarking, efficiency, HR, human resources, OEP, operational efficiency, payroll, productivity, QIPP No Comments »

by Attractor

NHS Savings – Absence Management

March 25, 2010 in Leading and Managing Results, Workforce Management

what happens after a cold - AnA oMeLeTe, march 2006, flickr

Photo:AnA oMeLeTe, Flickr

The UK needs to reduce public expenditure and government departments are now publishing their savings plans.

The Department of Health has adopted a £555m savings target for reduced sickness in the NHS – taken from the 2009 Boorman review.

Having published the target, Government spokesman are being asked how this particular saving can be realised – the intimation being that the target is not deliverable.

The detailed answer, not often proferred in interviews, is that government have adopted the recommendations of the Boorman report, which involves -

the production of staff health and well-being strategies,
providing staff health and well-being services, including stronger occupational health services,
using new information tools to assess performance,
improving NHS leadership and development,
implementing new governance, compliance and regulatory measures to oversee all the above.

While all these actions might help prevent ill-health and reduce absence, they are solutions with a long “lead times”.

In fact, acheiving major improvements on absence, delivering better productivity and significant financial savings needs no “magic” solutions. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: absence, Boorman, efficiency, nhs, occupational health, productivity, QIPP, sickness No Comments »

by Attractor

Line Management and HR Capacity in the Public Sector

March 14, 2010 in Corporate Services, Leading and Managing Results, Public Services, Shared Services and Outsourcing

Commentators suggest poor performance is more tolerated in the public sector than the private sector.

The prevalent view says the public sector exhibits significant shortcomings in performance management.

If this perception is accurate, it forms part of the context in which public sector human resources functions operate.

Where front-line managers lack capability and confidence organisations tend to look to the HR function to drive efforts to tackle poor performance. Even the most capable and dynamic HR practitioners however, cannot (should not), substitute for effective front-line managers.

With simultaneous demands for improving front-line performance and productivity, management skills are at a premium. With organisations trying to reduce back-office expenditure, how can line managers and HR teams respond effectively? Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: front-line services, HR, human resources, poor performance, productivity, QIPP, shared services, structure No Comments »

by Attractor

Benchmarking Goes Live

March 10, 2010 in Our Track Record

Attractor’s benchmarking solution was made available to our early client group this week.

Selected historic sample data from NHS organisations as well as benchmark information from other employment sectors in the UK and elsewhere will be available for the first time.

Client teams can now start to collate and enter data items on their own productivity and efficiency. This work will contribute to a growing database revealing, for the first time, how NHS organisations fare in relation to back-office productivity.

This new source of reliable business intelligence for NHS corporate teams will support efforts to improve services in relation to quality of outcomes and cost effectiveness. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: benchmarking, HR, human resources, payroll, productivity, QIPP No Comments »

by Attractor

QIPP for the NHS Back-Office

March 8, 2010 in Corporate Services, Leading and Managing Results

The NHS QIPP programme is likely to focus attention on front-line service provision.

This is where quality and innovation have direct impacts on patient care – which makes change high-profile and potentially controversial.

It is also where productivity gain has the biggest potential benefit for improving costs and affordability, protecting service provision and positive health outcomes.

But back-office functions need to play their part! While supporting front-line service change, back-office teams will also be looking to make efficiencies.

Corporate functions are now operating in an environment where it is important to prove value and provide measurable results. In coming years, corporate departments which are unable to provide evidence on their results will face serious challenges to their future existence.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: back office, benchmarking, efficiency, HR, human resources, payroll, productivity, QIPP No Comments »

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You are browsing the archive for productivity.

Are Poor Managers the Weak Link?

Localism, Reform, Innovation and Transformation

Shared Services – For and Against

Maximising Value from HR

Benchmarking and QIPP

NHS Savings – Absence Management

Line Management and HR Capacity in the Public Sector

Benchmarking Goes Live

QIPP for the NHS Back-Office

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