Job applicants hoping to bag a position with ABC Council are waiting up to four months to be told: “You’re hired!”
And by the time they are given the good news, very often they have secured jobs elsewhere, landing the council firmly back at square one.
Red tape has left the local authority jumping through hoops to try and fill vacancies.
Now there has been a call for an overhaul of the HR system in a bid to speed up the process and enable staff to be recruited.
One director admitted that no department in council is running at full staffing levels “at any time, at any stage”.
An area that has struggled is the recruitment of lifeguards, which has left classes at local pools having to be cancelled.
And it has been suggested that council explore “partnering with schools”, potentially offering training to encourage young people into the sector.
Meanwhile, while it has actively been promoting job fairs in recent times, ABC Council “didn’t bother showing up” to the events itself despite its staff shortages in all areas.
The whole issue of recruitment and the difficulties surrounding it were raised at this week’s sitting of council’s Community and Wellbeing Committee.
It was DUP Alderman Margaret Tinsley who said a review was very much needed.
While considering a report to committee on indoor leisure provision, she told the meeting: “The top operational issue is still the recruitment of staff and the ongoing issue that they are having in this department.
“It’s no surprise, because I’ve raised this on numerous occasions. So I’m just like a beaten drum, to be honest with you, that our HR process is just far too slow. We have a number of issues within the recruitment process, the signing-off of the process, and then, secondly, the appointment of the successful candidate.
“I’ve been informed we have a 16-step signing-off process required prior to actually going out for recruiting. And I do appreciate we’re a public body, and we need to ensure due process. However, when a post is being advertised for several positions—not just one position, but an ongoing position—and we’re not reaching our quota, I can’t understand why we’re having to go back to zero and having to re-recruit, and it’s not just an ongoing process. There is bound to be a way of speeding that up, and it’s not only in recreation, but in our waste management department as well. It’s also anything to do with a high turnover of positions.”
Describing the process as one which is “too slow and frustrating everyone”, Alderman Tinsley added: “I would propose that officers review our current HR procedure for the signing-off process prior to recruitment, to investigate areas for improvement to speed up the current cumbersome and very slow process. But not only that, I would further request officers review the signing-off process for repeat and high-turnover posts.
“It sounds very long-winded, what I’m asking, but it’s actually just asking to review our process for, number one, how we sign off jobs and positions, and, number two, how we then sign off repeat jobs that are constantly being re-advertised.”
The DUP representative also asked that they then look at the actual appointment process, stating: “There is certainly bound to be a way of speeding that up. It’s taking up to three to four months until we actually appoint someone.
“I have been speaking to departments and, actually, individuals who have contacted me who have applied for a job in our council, and after three and a half months they still haven’t got the post. They found another job, and then the other person, who was maybe a reserve candidate, had also found another job, and we were back at the end of the signing-off process to have to then start looking out for another three to four months down the line.
“Meanwhile, everyone is suffering, whether it’s the department, it’s the public, whatever, and all I’m looking for is for that to be reviewed.”
It was with a sense of disbelief that Alderman Tinsley highlighted the council’s participation — or more aptly lack of participation — in job fairs.
She explained: “We had a very successful Labour Market Partnership running the job fair, which was in conjunction with other agencies, and our council had an opportunity to showcase not only the availability and what we currently had available in terms of job opportunities, but secondly, showcase what this council — a career in this council — could actually stem to.
“And there was nobody turned up. Not one. Not one person out of all of the departments we have. All of those job fairs, not one, and we were the one that was asking everyone else to attend, and we didn’t bother showing up.”
The councillor said she had raised it with the deputy chief executive and was assured that “it will not happen again”.
“What I would like to happen is that the Labour Market Partnership department notify not only our HR but our Heads of Departments that whenever the dates are coming in for the next job fairs, they could use that opportunity to showcase and maybe put out any job opportunities,” said Alderman Tinsley.
Paul Tamati, Director of Development and Community and Wellbeing, said he would be sure to pass the proposals on to the relevant departments.
He added: “My understanding is they are looking at present at a more streamlined process and trying to speed that up.”
And in terms of job fairs, he said: “We’re going to work more collaboratively with our HR department to ensure that we do get representation at those.”
Alderman Ian Burns seconded the proposal to review HR processes in a bid to fill vacancies, admitting that the council “seem to be dragging our feet”.
The report on leisure provision highlighted a “pressure on lifeguard provision”, primarily in South Lake Leisure Centre. This, numerically, was 26 vacancies (44% of the team) at Craigavon, and in Banbridge Leisure Centre, four vacancies (24% of the team).
“Officers will not compromise on operating the services without the required provision, which over October and November has seen minor service disruption to our pool service,” the report stated.
Alderman Burns, meanwhile, said he had noticed that numbers had increased at local leisure centres and added: “Our membership has gone up, but so are the number of classes that aren’t being held because we haven’t got the staff, and it’s not fair on the customers who have paid their membership for the year and are being cut because there’s nobody there to take the classes.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Catherine Nelson asked if there was a “wee bit more of a story” behind it, questioning if it was “just the HR processes, or what else is it, particularly around the lifeguards?”
She said: “Obviously, that’s something that we want to really make sure that we’re never short of. We don’t want to be cancelling swim lessons when they’re hard enough to get, so is it possible, for example, that if it’s just people not applying, that we would maybe look to partnering with schools by way of offering jobs and training for our young people and encouraging them into it? I know it is going to have a high turnover then, but it’s just trying to understand the story behind it. Is it just HR, or is there more to it?”
The director admitted there was “probably a wee bit more to it” in terms of recruitment, describing the labour market as “challenging”.
Mr Tamati said all industries were “struggling to get workers”.
“I think there’s a combination of things we need to look at,” he added. “We mentioned the recruitment. We could potentially be more proactive around how we approach schools and how we work towards that as well, but probably we also need to look at it internally, at ourselves, and in terms of our demand for labour—and knowing that this picture probably isn’t going to improve significantly in a short space of time—how we do things in line with appropriate governance, etc., and industry standards.
“How can we improve and be a bit more efficient in terms of demand for labour and whether we need as much, because we can’t seem to reach capacity at any time, at any stage, in any directorate, if I’m being completely honest. And so for us, we need to probably think a wee bit more innovatively around how we do things going forward.”
