The roles

Salary: Up to £95,000 (pay award pending)

The Mayor’s Business Plan and Council priorities

The Mayor’s business plan: 2022 to 2026 has five outcomes:

1. The council balances its books, listens to residents and delivers good sustainable services
2. Croydon is a place of opportunity for business, earning and learning
3. Children and young people in Croydon have the chance to thrive, learn and fulfil their potential
4. Croydon is a cleaner, safer and healthier place, a borough we’re proud to call home
5. People can lead healthier and independent lives for longer

Croydon Council’s new ways of working

We will practice sound financial management, being honest about what we’ve spent and what we can afford.

We will focus on what we, uniquely, can do as the local authority as the democratically elected leaders of our borough. This means we will focus on our core services, and a small number of evidence-based outcomes that deliver our priorities. But we will also continue to use our democratic mandate to convene our partners around a common purpose and to make a clear case for a better deal for Croydon.

We will aim to become a much more transparent, open and honest council.

We will involve residents in our decision-making. But we will also need to be clear with residents about what we can do, and what we can’t. When we have to say no, we will do so with compassion and take the time to explain our decisions.

Responsibility for:

Job Purpose:

• As a key member of the HR and OD DMT, you will make a significant contribution to effective leadership to the HR and OD team.  You will be responsible for developing and delivering the 3-5 year forward plan aligned to the council’s transformation strategy across your functions and implementing the People and Cultural Transformation Strategy outcomes
• To provide strategic direction and leadership to the workforce team, driving high standards and continuous improvement to ensure that our services are aligned to the corporate vision and values and with a customer focused approach
• To work collaboratively with colleagues at every level of the council to develop the culture, behaviours and capabilities required to achieve the priorities and commitments in the council transformation plan

Reports to:

• Chief People Officer

Direct reports:

• Organisational and Learning Business Partners
• Policy and Equalities Lead
• Pay and Reward Lead

Responsible for:

• Wider teams including officers under each specialism

Corporate Accountabilities (all Heads of Service)

• To take a “one Council” approach to deliver more effective outcomes and at all times avoid a siloed, single division or service area approach
• To actively seek out and learn from external good practice and bring those new ideas and ways of working into service development and delivery
• To contribute and lead as required as a project owner on the delivery and implementation of specific corporate projects as required
• To actively role model the council’s priorities and ways of working and the council’s leadership framework and values
• To lead, manage and develop staff teams and ensure compliance with the council’s performance management system and all HR polices and procedures
• Be accountable for associated budget and have affordable plans in place to deliver the annual budget and Medium Term Financial Plan
• Provide assurance that the services are compliant and performance monitoring is part of the corporate rhythm, and exceptions have robust action plans
• To operate within the governance, financial and legal frameworks of the council at all times
• Ensure equalities is embedded into all aspects of professional and managerial roles, including service delivery and at all times carry out your duties with regard to the council policy
• Ensure by robust management that the services and staff you are responsible for adhere to the council’s Health and Safety Policy and operate within the safety management frameworks
• To ensure the effective management of data and security of information received and used within the division, to comply with the relevant legislation such as GDPR and the Freedom of Information Act, recognising that the council wishes to operate in the most open and transparent way
• Participate in cross organisational risk management and emergency planning activities as required

Service Accountabilities:

• To promote and shape the People and Cultural Transformation Strategy, Target Operating Model, Transformation Plan and Mayor’s business plan to mitigate people risks and position the council as an employer of choice, driving positive employee engagement and creating high performing teams
• To work with individual departmental leadership teams to understand their priorities and requirements and ensure that your team are able to respond accordingly to the business needs, delivering services such as organisational development and learning requirements, receiving feedback on policies and wellbeing activities and in understanding pay and reward priorities
• To lead the development of learning approaches as required by the council to support business priorities, ensuring oversight of commissioning and delivery of programmes
• To develop relationships with external providers such as Oracle, Learning Pool and other suppliers to ensure that the council can access and report on training and development opportunities provided for its staff, measuring the return on investment and the link to workforce planning
• To ensure all statutory returns are completed and published within the appropriate timescales
• To lead a team of people management experts to develop the required people capabilities and competencies to deliver a modern council, developing internal skills and ensuring the creation of a robust and broad skill set
• To work with colleagues to identify and determine the best models for service delivery, which deliver high quality outcomes and performance and a high-quality customer experience
• To ensure that policies, procedures and all people related information is up to date and streamlined offering accessible options for the workforce, aligning developments with those from Oracle and other technological advances as well as best practice
• To lead on the design, development and implementation of the People and Cultural Transformation strategy and priorities
• To oversee the development of equalities initiatives within the HR and OD function working in collaboration with the Policy and Performance teams to align priorities and deliverables
• To lead on cultural change across the council through a range of different methods including implementing action plans following staff surveys, enabling line managers to manage more effectively
• To develop and implement effective and innovative talent strategies to ensure that the workforce has the required skills and abilities to meet current and future business needs in line with council strategies and priority
• To develop and implement workforce engagement and communication strategies to ensure all employees have a positive working experience throughout the employee lifecycle to support the development of our employer brand
• To strategically lead on enabling the council to become a change agent through engaging, encouraging, coaching, supporting, developing and delivering appropriate interventions that are conducive to support a hybrid workforce identifying and resolving organisational development barriers to enable a positive organisational culture that is customer focused and performance is managed by outcomes
• To develop a pay and reward strategy for the council, ensuring best practice and benchmarking the council’s offer amongst other services.  Implementing the strategy to enable the council to be an employer of choice
• To work in partnership with the other Heads of Service within HR and OD to ensure a smooth and efficient service is provided, aligning service needs and requirements e.g. commissioning training and development, managing the employee lifecycle etc
• To develop innovative approaches to ensure learning outcomes are in place and measure KPIs to ensure statutory training is completed
• To provide strong professional and managerial leadership across the Workforce Team, including setting clear objectives and measures, allocating resources, assessing impact and ensuring that targets are monitored and underperformance/capability issues are addressed in order to significantly contribute to the delivery of the HR and OD Service
• To challenge and influence business decision-making and planning, leading on service plans for your area, to ensure all people implications are well managed
• To support team leads in the effective use of people management data and insight information to support the council’s delivery of its priorities
• To strategically lead people management projects taking a commercial, innovative, evidence-based approach that is fit for the future and minimises risk to the council, adhering to all relevant legislation and internal governance arrangements
• To manage contracts within your service area ensuring procurement and financial regulations are adhered to
• To have a key role in developing and coaching HR and OD colleagues and employees within the directorate to share best practice and expertise to lead  a performance led approach
• To represent the council at external events as a speaker, facilitator, presenter providing professional direction and expertise in the specialism
• To be responsible for the delegated budget lines within your business area and manage these as directed by the Chief People Officer and in line with the council’s scheme of delegations
• Maintain an awareness of current and emerging features of the council’s technology platform (Oracle) relevant to your role to ensure the system supports the council’s people related activities

The list of duties in the role profile should not be regarded as exclusive or exhaustive.  There will be other duties and requirements associated with your job and, in addition, as a term of your employment you may be required to undertake various other duties as may reasonably be required.

Your duties will be as set out in the above role profile but please note that the council reserves the right to update your role profile, from time to time, to reflect changes in, or to, your job.

You will be consulted about any proposed changes.

Key Partner Relationships:

Internal:

Members; Chief Officers; Directors; Heads of Service; other teams and senior directorate colleagues across the whole council; trade unions.

External:

Local, regional and national government bodies, agencies and NGOs; professional bodies; other local authorities; partner organisations; statutory bodies; members of the public and community groups; trade unions, Oracle, Learning Pool.

Qualifications:

• A professional or management qualification or educated to degree level or demonstrable equivalent experience
• Evidence of continuing professional development, leadership and personal development

Experience:

• Proven experience of strategic leadership and consistent as a senior leader operating at this level in a comparable environment
• Considerable experience leading organisational development, policies, pay and reward and learning teams
• Experience of developing relationships with external providers and managing contract arrangements to ensure best value for money
• Demonstrable excellence in team management and service delivery in relation to the provision of customer orientated services that achieve successful outcomes
• Experience of working in partnership with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders / bodies including statutory bodies and organisations
• Budget management skills and experience

Knowledge and Skills:

• High level of communication skills to persuade and engage audiences and form positive relationships at all levels (internally and externally)
• Demonstrable knowledge of Organisational Development, Learning and Development, Pay and Reward, Policy, equalities and wellbeing
• Ability to work in a collaborative way to transform service delivery including the ability to manage internal directorate relationships
• Evidence of being a strong corporate player who will lead, motivate and inspire their teams and build a high performing culture
• Ability to work effectively across a range of service disciplines and with a range of people
• Commitment to the council’s core values and objectives
• A thorough understanding of statutory and regulatory frameworks which guide local government
• Ability to manage large amounts of data and develop reports and information to support a data led organisation

Salary: Up to £55,000 (pay award pending)

Reports to: Head of Workforce Strategy

Responsible for: Learning & Organisational Development Commissioner (up to 3 FTEs) and L&OD Coordinator (1 FTE)

Role Purpose and Role Dimensions:

The postholder is responsible for ensuring that the council’s learning and organisation development (L&OD) function, strategies and activities enhance the capability of the workforce in line with meeting the needs of residents, visitors, local businesses, students and other key external partners.  They will lead the development of a corporate L&OD strategy for the council and the translation of this strategy into annual L&OD plans for the council’s directorates to drive organisational transformation through workforce development, organisational culture improvement and change management in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.

Commitment to Diversity:

The council has a strong commitment to achieving equality of opportunity in its services to the community and in the employment of people. It expects all employees to understand, comply with and promote its policies in their own work, undertake any appropriate training to help them to challenge prejudice or discrimination.

Key External Contacts:

• External partners operating with the council
• LGA
• External contractors and providers of OD and learning consultancy
• Suppliers, professional bodies

Key Internal Contacts:

• HR Leadership team
• All divisional heads of service
• Chief Executive and Executive Leadership Team
• Corporate leadership team
• Head of transformation and business analysts

Financial Dimensions:

The post holder will have oversight of the Corporate OD budget.

Key Areas for Decision Making:

• To continuously build and reform Croydon’s Learning and Organisational Development strategy in conjunction with the Head of Workforce Strategy
• To enable Croydon’s people to perform in their roles effectively and provide them with access to inspiring learning content whenever and wherever it’s needed
• To embed an enhanced learning culture by encouraging a view of learning that encompasses more than formal training; promoting a blended approach to learning including on-line materials; digital content; experiential learning, coaching and mentoring; face to face training and vocational learning
• To ensure all L&OD spend aligns to the L&D strategy and that the organisation achieves maximum value from investment
• To have the right people with the right skills in the right jobs
• Working with the organisation ensure the right cultural levers are enabled to support an inclusive workforce

Other Considerations:

The post holder is required to represent the Head of Workforce Strategy when required.

Key Accountabilities and Result Areas:

• To develop and deliver a corporate L&OD strategy ensuring innovation and continuous improvement. Lead the whole cycle in terms of research, diagnosis, delivery, and evaluation
• Designing the corporate L&OD strategy and plan, translating these into learning solutions (tailored to each of the council’s directorates) that meet the tactical and strategic goals of the council and ensuring alignment to the People and Cultural Transformation Strategy
• Designing and implementing interventions and strategies to ensure the council effectively learns from and engages with Croydon’s diverse workforce and communities
• Leading the conduct of council-wide L&OD needs assessments to identify L&OD interventions required for organisational transformation in the council
• Routinely reviewing the council’s L&OD strategy to ensure ‘fit for purpose’ and alignment with the organisation’s vision
• Developing high-level reports on the progress and impact of L&OD interventions across the council
• Regularly researching best practices in L&OD including benchmarking with other comparable organisations in order to ensure the council’s L&OD interventions are innovative and in line with best practices
• Acting as a change-agent and promoting the relevance and importance of L&OD activity and improved service delivery outcomes across the council, ensuring the council’s leadership understands, prioritises and places high value on L&OD activity
• Ensuring appropriate and consistent record-keeping in respect of all L&OD activity within the council for audit and assurance purposes, in line with best practice, GDPR and organisational requirements

To provide adequate team leadership to the L&OD team ensuring team members have the skills and motivation to deliver on the L&OD mandate:

• Providing oversight and guidance to the L&OD commissioners ensuring quality outputs in the delivery of L&OD interventions across the directorates and in the council as a whole
• Providing adequate capacity building and team leadership for the L&OD team ensuring all team members have the required skills and are motivated to execute their key responsibilities

To co-ordinate the corporate L&OD budgets ensuring value for money on all products and services:

• Managing and tracking the council’s L&OD and leadership budgets with a focus on value for money and to ensure that L&OD spending priorities ultimately provides positive benefits for the local community
• Monitoring and evaluating the effect of L&OD interventions across the council and generate useful insights to secure required annual corporate funding for learning and organisational development activities
• Overseeing initiation of L&OD contracts between the council and external consultants/ suppliers ensuring compliance with the council’s policies and achievement of best value for money in delivering L&OD outcomes

Salary: Up to £55,000 (pay award pending)

Reports to: Head of Workforce Strategy

Role Purpose and Role Dimensions:

This is a critical role that will develop, oversee, and manage the implementation of a Pay and Reward Strategy for the council, including developing new approaches to pay and reward supporting the People and Cultural Transformation Strategy.

Commitment to Diversity:

The council has a strong commitment to achieving equality of opportunity in its services to the community and in the employment of people. It expects all employees to understand, comply with and promote its policies in their own work, undertake any appropriate training to help them to challenge prejudice or discrimination.

Key External Contacts:

CIPD, other professional bodies, London Councils.

Key Internal Contacts:

Directorate Management Teams, Internal HR and OD colleagues, Trade Unions, Mediators, Network Groups, Guardians, CMT, Members.

Financial Dimensions:

None.

Key Areas for Decision Making:

Development of strategic policy, research and presenting information to CMT/Cabinet as required.

Other Considerations:

Ability to be flexible and attend meetings at a range of locations across the borough to support business delivery.

Key Accountabilities and Result Areas:

Development of strategies, processes and policies:

• To strategically lead on all total reward strategies and associated improvements and action plans, ensuring that processes and policies are in place which supports the workforce plans of the organisation as well as meets financial requirements
• To review, update and develop pay and reward policies as required
• To ensure pay policy statements are produced and published as required
• To strategically lead on a comprehensive review of all aspects of the employment contract including pay, terms and conditions and relevant policies to deliver a new approach which achieves parity with internal and external resource markets which supports our attraction and retention approach
• To be responsible for the development of pay and reward strategies being aligned with council terms and conditions and in accordance with legislation and best practice

Negotiations and Consultation with Trade Unions and Stakeholders:

To lead and support as appropriate on total reward negotiations with the recognised trade unions working in partnership with colleagues from Finance and Systems to ensure accurate data and reporting.

Job Evaluation:

To be the strategic lead for the council’s job evaluation process and to ensure that the job evaluation framework is fit for purpose, eliminates risk and provide a fair grading for all posts across the council.

Benefits Scheme:

To oversee the council’s recognition scheme e.g. employee benefits, overseeing the management of the supplier/portal ensuring that there is positive engagement in place.

To support the development of recognition schemes:

To work with the Chief People Officer, Head of Workforce and Internal Comms team in scheduling, managing and promoting the annual staff awards and the long service award programmes.

Develop Reports:

To develop reports as required for committees and internal meetings providing an overview on total reward across the council.

Total Reward Statements:

To work in collaboration with the pensions and payroll teams in developing a total reward statement approach on an annual basis for all employees.

Delivery plans:

To work in partnership with the Head of HR in the development of delivery plans for the service, challenging and influencing approaches to ensure robust business planning and decision making processes.