Government of Jersey named 2023 HR Team of the Year

The Government of Jersey scooped the coveted HR Team of the Year title at the 2023 Personnel Today Awards, sponsored by our headline sponsor PeopleScout.

The team secured their award for their impressive work on the government’s first ever workforce plan, which garnered the respect and support of the entire organisation. One judge said: “Congratulations Jersey, you nailed this. Big requirement, big strategy, big delivery. Impressive stuff”. We look at their winning entry and those of our other finalists.

WINNER

Government of Jersey

The Government of Jersey is the largest employer on the island of Jersey, with a workforce of 9,800.

HR oversight is provided by its organisation development team, whose work is structured into four complementary areas, each led by a business partner: organisational effectiveness and wellbeing, learning and skills, strategic workforce planning and intelligence, and talent programmes.

The team led the development of a people strategy, which was created with input from 400 colleagues from across the government. It also attends workshops with departments to hear first-hand what their issues, challenges and opportunities are. Analysis of people data allows it to design and deliver services that meet the requirements of the government, and by showing genuine interest in colleagues’ challenges the team has gained respect and has built rapport with other departments.

Over the past three years the OD team has created the government’s first-ever prioritised workforce plan, launched a DEI strategy and framework, established eight employee networks, developed a paid early careers internship programme, created an apprenticeships strategy, and has seen employee engagement soar. Its annual ‘Our Stars’ awards programme received 1,700 nominations this year, demonstrating how valuable it is to employees, and last year it introduced a long service awards programme to celebrate those who have dedicated many years to public service. The team is currently working on a new wellbeing offer which is set to be integrated into its people plan.

RUNNERS-UP

Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway’s HR team has a clear agenda to establish an environment where the organisation’s core values are known, connections are built and a sense of purpose is shared. This has been especially important in a year mired by industrial disputes; 34 strike days in 12 months impacted HR services, with bookings for medicals, recruitment processes and training all disrupted. Through patience, tenacity and flexibility, the team was able to reschedule over 400 days of colleague training and over 50 clinic days.

A people and transformation team has been created to ensure the right people and resources are in place to prepare for industry-wide change. It has ‘supercharged’ its communications with colleagues, and some of the team’s messages are among the most read in five years.

Other achievements include supporting women and ethnic minority groups with 14 programmes, delivering an inspiring leaders development programme which has exceeded its attendance target by 11%, designing new management development workshops covering topics including interview skills and investigations and disciplinary processes, improving processes for maternity and sickness absence, introducing a new HR chatbot that has dealt with hundreds of queries, processing thousands of job applications and conducting hundreds of assessments, and refreshing its training programmes.

Employee turnover has reduced by 5% and absenteeism decreased by 0.7%. Employee satisfaction surveys show staff are now more satisfied with their jobs, working environment and colleagues than a few years ago. Despite a year of disruption,  86% of trains planned to run on time at their destination, which GWR attributed to an engaged, informed, and motivated workforce.

HSBC UK

In March 2023 HSBC UK acquired Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK). It was an expedited, quick process, with little time or early engagement to work on the acquisition, and the HR team acted quickly to ensure it retained key SVB UK talent and protected the unique culture and brand of SVB UK. A working group from across the HR function was pulled together and split into 10 workstreams.

Within days of the acquisition, HSBC had to support SVB UK staff with salary payments as well as confirmed bonus payments. It also had to consider retention payments for critical roles and key talent, as other financial organisations were actively approaching SVB UK staff with incentives to join them.

Recognising that there are differences in the way that SVB UK and HSBC UK operate, the HR team has had to think strategically about the best ways to integrate SVB UK staff and the training they must undertake. The team overcame challenges relating to SVB UK colleagues in Nordic countries, as one of these jurisdictions is not one that HSBC deals with. There were also staff who transferred from the US and India who needed support with global mobility.

The HR team worked collaboratively and at pace to make the acquisition a success, having to reprioritise where necessary. HSBC UK said the project could not have been done without the passion, determination and resilience of its HR team.

Steer Automotive Group

Steer is a vehicle accident repair group with an ambitious plan to grow organically and through acquisition. Recognising it needed a cohesive people strategy if it wanted to make this a reality, it appointed an HR director, two HR business partners and a recruitment manager in December 2021, who became its first people team.

The entire team were new to the automotive sector and needed to learn about the industry and its unique challenges, as well as deliver core HR services. Process mapping informed the development and implementation of new people systems and processes, and they engaged with managers and colleagues to understand the day-to-day business and pinch-points. HRBPs spent 3-4 days per week visiting sites to get to know the business and colleagues, and coaching has helped the team support managers to change their thinking and adapt to new ways of working and attitudes to people leadership.

Since December 2021, the business has grown from 20 sites with 400 employees to 61 sites with
1500 colleagues, and the people team has grown to 17. The people team has introduced new digital HR systems, deployed an ATS which has reduced time to hire and recruitment costs, has standardised terms and conditions, and introduced a job and salary framework. Company sick pay and enhanced family leave have been introduced, and colleague voice tools and recognition schemes have been rolled out.

Attrition has reduced by 30% and engagement with employee voice tools has increased from 50% to 66% in seven months. An expansion of Steer’s apprenticeship programmes has reduced skills-related risks.

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