EO issues advice on managing the workforce aspects of collaboration projects to achieve efficiencies on shared services

Councils need to change the way they have traditionally provided services and significant savings can be made by councils working together. But successful change management requires effective people management policies and practices, the flexibility to respond to fast-changing priorities and senior leadership commitment to secure integrate organisational-wide change.

The EO has issued new guidance for senior members and managers who are responsible for developing shared services in collaboration with other councils or partners. The guidance examines the people issues that need to be taken into account, such as the relocation of jobs, redundancies and HR capacity, and suggests how they might be approached.

The advice will help councils to avoid the biggest barriers to successful collaboration on services like Revenues, Benefits, ICT and HR – namely, people issues. If not successful navigated, these issues will lead to deadlock between the partners or lower than anticipated savings.

Mandy Wright, Associate Director of the EO says:
"Collaboration can create real opportunities: opportunities to generate efficiencies that can then be used to improve services in the areas that matter to citizens, and opportunities to look again at how corporate and transactional services can be redesigned to provide both better services and more flexible working patterns for employees.

But collaboration won’t work unless people issues are anticipated and addressed right from the start.  Having talked to the small number of local authorities who are already moving towards implementing shared services, the EO has found that the biggest barriers to successful collaboration on services like Revenues, Benefits, ICT and HR are people issues.

Many elected members and senior managers did not take issues such as the relocation of jobs, redundancies and HR capacity into account when evaluating different options, leading to deadlock between the partners or lower than anticipated savings."

Many elected members and senior managers did not take issues such as the relocation of jobs, redundancies and HR capacity into account when evaluating different options, leading to deadlock between the partners or lower than anticipated savings.

Shared corporate and transactional services: workforce implications

The Efficiency agenda has stimulated interest in the significant savings that can be made by councils working together, and with other providers, on services such as finance and HR.

Recent ODPM research shows that nearly two-thirds of local authorities are either involved in or are considering sharing “back office” services with other local authorities. Success in these ventures requires an integrated and well-planned approach to workforce issues if unexpected costs and unwanted political consequences are to be avoided.

To help you anticipate and deal with issues such as job losses, staff transfers and differences in organisational cultures before they threaten your project, the EO and 4ps have drawn on the experiences of local authorities to produce guidance on the workforce implications of shared services.

Download the full guidance:

Shared corporate and transactional services in local government: guidance for members and senior managers on workforce implications (PDF 256Kb)

EO= Employer's Organisation
ODPM = Office of the Deputy Prime Minister