Jobs boom likely despite threat to existing workforce

The
public sector is set to create 250,000 more frontline jobs in the next few
years in health, education and the police.

The
focus will be on delivering stronger customer service by recruiting for
hands-on roles such as teaching assistants and community service officers at
the expense of cuts in administrative civil service posts.

Peter
Kane, director of local government programmes at the Office of Public Service
Reform, told HR professionals at the Public Sector Relocation Conference that
they need to acquire analytical planning and strategic skills if they are to
deliver changes to the workforce by 2008.

"It’s
about less one size fits all and more about meeting individual needs," he
said.  "We have to recruit a diverse
workforce to handle diverse expectations."

He
claimed the main reasons for people leaving the public sector were bureaucracy,
a lack of resources and workload. 

The
future, he said, was more about reforming the workforce with a strategic
approach to working with partners, leadership, recruitment, retention, reward,
customer outcomes and re-engineering skills.

Workforce planning: Tips for success

–
Accurate data – numbers, skills, potential

–
Understand future challenge to the organisation

–
Set sensible three- to five-year timescales

–
Be comprehensive and strategic

–
Get high level ownership – not just about HR

–
Co-ordinate HR processes – decide what sort of employer you are

–
Make your sector an attractive employment proposition

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–
Ensure workforce performance is good

 –
Be flexible