Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

That Executive be provided with an overview of the proposed changes to the City of Lincoln Council’s Recruitment Policy and be requested to consider the content of the report and the approval of the revised policy.

Decision

1.    That the proposed changes to the City of Lincoln Council’s Recruitment Policy be approved for a 12 month period.

2.    That the outcomes from the scheme during the 12 month period be monitored by HR, prior to review at the end of its term.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reasons for the Decision

Following a review of recruitment processes, in November 2022, the Council commenced a recruitment trial whereby managers had the opportunity to advertise roles internally and externally at the same time without the need to seek approval (once the roles had been advertised to redeployment).

It was envisaged that this would enable the Council to reach out to a wider market for a larger pool of applicants to ensure we were getting the best candidate for the role.

Following this trial, a proposal was put to unions for a permanent change to the policy to allow managers the opportunity and autonomy to continue to advertise posts internally and externally at the same time (where they felt this was necessary).

Concerns raised by Trade Unions regarding the proposal were detailed within paragraph 5.4 of the officer’s report, also taken to JCC in January 2024 (Appendix B referred). These concerns were included for Executive consideration.

When looking back over information prior to the trial (approximately 2 years) 50% of vacancies were found to be filled internally with an average timescale for the small number of roles which went through the full advertising process being 82.4 days.

Following the initial trial period, figures showed that there had been 21 successful internal candidates and 32 successful external candidates. This suggested that around 60% of vacancies which were advertised and appointed to were filled externally and in terms of timescales the average time it took between advert to the offer stage was 56.4 days.

Having continued to offer managers the opportunity to advertise internally and externally at the same time since the trial, further figures had been gathered from August – December 2023, and figures showed that where an appointment had been made, around 65% of vacancies which were advertised and appointed to were filled externally and in terms of timescales the average time from advert to offer stage was 47 days.

It was felt that the opportunity to advertise roles internally and externally at the same time enabled vacant posts to be filled more quickly and relieved pressure on existing staff members.

It was agreed that the use of a review period in 12 months’ time for advertisement of roles internally and externally at the same time at managers’ discretion, would allow sufficient opportunity to measure the outcomes from this process to allay concerns raised by the Trade Unions.