Staff Recruitment and Retention

Background

The States of Jersey collectively employ around 14% of the Island’s working population (8,834 staff at 31 December 2023). These are a mixture of full-time and part-time staff on permanent and fixed-term contracts. They are supplemented by agency and locum staff and consultants where considered necessary. In 2023, the States of Jersey Group spent £593 million on staff costs which represented 34% of total Group expenditure.

Over the past five years staff numbers (both headcount and full-time equivalent staff numbers) have risen, although both have seen a slight decrease in 2024.  The reported percentage of working time lost to sickness has risen slightly and the turnover percentage has ranged between 7.1% and 9.2%.

More generally, there are challenges in the local labour market in Jersey. In the period 2020 to 2023, average earnings across all sectors have decreased in real terms by 4.6%.

The Government has a stated intention to curb the growth in public expenditure and the growth in public services headcount. In August 2024 the Government introduced a recruitment freeze and this is planned to continue during 2025.  The recruitment freeze has resulted in additional controls being put in place before recruitment to a vacant Government Grade 11 or above role can be undertaken.  It has also resulted in a degree of tactical restructuring of departments and services to eliminate posts from the overall structure.

One of the stated priorities of the States Employment Board (SEB) is ‘the delivery of the strategic workforce plan with a particular focus on the production of associated departmental workforce, resourcing and succession plans so that recruitment and retention of staff in critical frontline services are best managed’ (States Employment Board Annual Report 2023).

The States of Jersey are in the process of implementing and enhancing a new system – Talent Acquisition – to support recruitment. There is also a new job site on which vacancies are published.

Scope

The audit has evaluated the effectiveness of the States of Jersey’s recruitment, retention and development of capability required to undertake the States’ core activities.

The audit has reviewed States-wide arrangements and procedures as well as procedures used by a sample of departments and for a sample of professions. The sample of departments comprises:

• Children, Young People, Education and Skills
• Health and Community Services; and
• Infrastructure and Environment.

The audit complements but does not duplicate reviews undertaken or planned by other organisations such as the Jersey Care Commission and the Jersey Appointments Commission.

The following criteria were used during the audit to assess relative performance:

• Departments have undertaken requisite activities to identify and quantify the staff capability required to undertake the core activities necessary to meet departmental objectives.
• The States and individual departments have identified and implemented appropriate strategies, plans and processes to recruit, develop and retain staff.
• There are appropriate governance arrangements to review, approve and provide oversight of staff recruitment, development and retention.

Conclusions

The Government’s Strategic Workforce Plan and People Strategy was published in 2022 and was refreshed and updated at the end of 2024. Work is however ongoing to develop and finalise departmental strategies and plans that support the overall Budget (Government Plan).

A key barrier to developing and finalising strategic workforce plans in a number of core service delivery areas is the lack of strategies and vision for the operational delivery models for those services. Examples of core service areas that do not have an approved strategic vision and a planned future service delivery model include acute clinical services, adult social care and, at the time of my fieldwork, children’s services.  There is a tension between implementation of action plans and the documentation of strategies.  However none of the departmental workforce plans I reviewed as part of this audit were linked to service strategies and operational delivery plans.

In addition, none of the departmental plans reviewed had a documented action plan with key deliverables, responsibilities and timeframes, to give a route map for delivery. Finally, none of the departmental plans are supported by an education and training plan to ensure that there is a sufficient and strong pipeline for key professions and to fill the skills gaps identified.

The States have a number of policies in place relating to recruitment and the wider management of people. The main policy document on recruitment and retention was last updated in 2019 and is acknowledged by officers to be out of date. At the time of the C&AGs fieldwork officers were in the process of drafting a new policy as well as a new rewards and benefits policy.

Historically, Chief Officers have applied different interpretations of policies to different appointments and there has been limited consistency. This creates risk for the Government and has the potential for there to be a perception of unfairness in terms of employment and opportunity. Without clear agreed policies there is a risk that requirements will be interpreted differently with inconsistent and potentially costly outcomes.

The Government does not have a framework of modern recruitment processes in place to mitigate sufficiently the risk of ‘bad hires’. Neither does the Government collect and review sufficient information on the effectiveness and efficiency of its recruitment and retention processes.

The Government has Human Resources (HR) dashboards which report turnover, starters, leavers, sickness absence and some aspects of employee training. Management information systems are not developed sufficiently to ensure data accuracy, report on staff performance (not just completion of staff appraisals), measure training linked to development needs and skills shortages, or to monitor exit survey outcomes, diversity performance and job satisfaction.

The Government recognises the importance of good, strong leadership in delivering high quality services and the need for a skilled, motivated, healthy workforce. It has invested in a number of leadership programmes over the past few years.  It is essential for the Government to monitor the impact of this programme of investment.  Ways in which the impact can be monitored include through the Connected Performance HR system and through the ‘Be Heard’ survey.

Very few staff who have left Government employment are interviewed to ascertain the reasons for leaving. The Government is therefore developing recruitment and retention initiatives with a key piece of information missing.

A complex interaction of economic, demographic, social and political factors impacts on demand for, and supply of, public sector staff. This interaction is even more acute in an Island economy such as Jersey.

Some progress is being made to improve the arrangements for workforce planning, recruitment and retention, although it has been recognised by SEB that this is much slower than anticipated and needs to be progressed at pace. Service strategies and operational delivery plans need to be developed and finalised and linked clearly to workforce and education and training plans.

Key elements of routine and good practice that the C&AG would expect to see in place in respect of staff recruitment and retention are not evident across the States.