Council’s ‘must act’ to attract talented youth

24 April 2008

Local authority employers were this week urged to overhaul ‘stagnant’ management structures and a ‘bureaucratic’ culture to widen the appeal of careers in local government.

The New Local Government Network published research showing the need for action to increase the pool of people available to councils, given the looming loss of one-third of their workforce to retirement within the next decade.

The think-tank found that over the last two years, jobs in local government had declined in popularity among the country’s graduates, and most who could work in the sector would not want to stay for their whole careers.

Focus groups of potential recruits told researchers they thought council workers were ‘stuck in a rut and frustrated’, and ‘spending their lives focusing on minutiae, such as what type of seat is going to be at the bus stop’.

A system of pay and rewards which incentivised long service and not high performance, sometimes ‘bureaucratic’ leaderships and an ‘exclusivist’ approach to recruitment – not looking to the private sector – were disincentives.

The New Local Government Network urged the removal of barriers to junior managers progressing, including an overhaul of pay bands to retain the most talented and attract new people from the private sector. A middle management entry scheme was needed to widen the workforce pool. And a new public sector-wide graduate scheme was required.

Recruitment adverts should emphasise the impact councils can have on the environment and local neighbourhoods, said the report, rather than including defensive statements such as, ‘make no mistake, you won’t be in some back room, poring over figures.’ Brian Strutton, GMB national secretary, said: ‘We’ve been saying for some time that there was an impending recruitment crisis. Council leaders need to have decent pay rates to attract people.’

Sir Steve Bullock, chairman of Local Government Employers, said councils were giving careful consideration as to how terms and conditions and pay levels could be modernised to offer appropriate rewards for their workforces. ‘Our aim must be to make local government a career of choice for the brightest and the best in the future.’

Sue Stevens, Institution of Highways and Transportation, welcomed the proposal for a push to attract career changers from the private sector. She said: ‘You can bring in generic management skills, yes, and then top those skills up with the necessary technical know-how.’ There was ‘much more scope’ to emphasise the positive role that local authority transportation officers played, she added.

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Council’s ‘must act’ to attract talented youth

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