Stop treating people like widgets to become employer of choice

To
become an employer of choice, HR must stop treating people like ‘widgets’ and
manage three key areas in the public sector: image, employment contracts and an
organization’s culture, according to a leading industry figure.

Speaking
at the Public Sector People Management Expo, Alan Warner, corporate director of
people and property at Hertfordshire County Council, told delegates that the
impact of image begins the moment an advertisement is placed.

He
said that public sector ads and application forms were renowned for being
long-winded and over-complicated, which put off potential employees.

Warner,
whose team was last year’s overall winner at the Personnel Today Awards, said
the contract offered to staff needed to sell the organisation and its
surroundings.

“We
need to be selling ourselves as a nice place to work and not just make it about
a job,” he said.

This
could be done using devices such as CD-Roms for new recruits that
offer facts about the area such as schooling, shopping and transport, Warner
said.

Public
sector bodies also needed to assess their cultures by surveying staff, using
focus groups to assess the findings and then keep updating results as time
passes.

This
would avoid employees feeling like they were "treated like widgets, not
people", he said.

By Michael Millar

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