Our people priorities are helping us to deliver our ambition to be an employer of choice – an employer that we are all proud to work for and that values the contribution each one of us makes to the success of the organisation. As a reminder, those 5 priorities are:
- attract and retain the best people in the most effective way possible
- promote diversity and inclusion, enable responsive workforce plans and develop credible reward strategies
- engage, nurture and develop our people and our future potential
- enable organisational transformation and effective employee relations
- enable and ensure the wellbeing and safety of our people
Communication is key to understanding how we can make Derbyshire County Council a great place to work. And that's not just about telling you what's happening, it's about listening to your views and involving you in plans for the future. That's why we recently held engagement forums, both within departments and for the organisation as a whole, and I'd like to thank all of those who volunteered to take part. The issues that were discussed at these forums are now being developed into our organisation action plan which we'll be able to share with you soon.
I'm keen that we all understand how our individual roles fit within the wider organisation and how we all play a part in enabling change and delivering for Derbyshire. We have well-developed workforce plans for key areas and are considering our performance management and employee development approaches to ensure these support us to be a high performing organisation.
We know that effective leadership is vital in bringing about positive change and developing our culture of mutual trust. That's why we are currently putting together a leadership development programme to equip our leaders with the core skills needed to keep us moving forward, despite the challenges we face. This programme is expected to be up and running in the new year.
We're also acutely aware that no-one is immune from the cost of living pressures and I hope that you're all aware of the advice and information on cost of living. We're looking at ways we can improve the rewards and benefits available to employees and will shortly be launching our Derbyshire Deal which brings together all that we offer. We are also in the process of procuring a new employee benefits platform and are reviewing our wellbeing strategy to ensure we offer the support you need.
As you may know, a one year pay offer was made by the national employers in July 2022 to increase all pay points by £1,925, backdated to April 2022. The trade unions will be consulting with their members on this offer until October 2022.
I’ll continue to keep you updated on key activity taking place under our People Strategy over coming months.