We Are Passionate About Our Communities and the Services We Deliver

Applicant Briefing Pack

Location Malton, North Yorkshire

Based at Ryedale House

Contents Section About Ryedale District 1 Applying and Completing the Application Form 2 Ryedale District Council Operating Model 3 PROUD Behavioural Framework 4 After the Closing Date 5 Appointment Details and STARR Interview Process 6 Employee Benefits 7

1 1. About Ryedale District

Ryedale lies between York and the heritage coastline of North Yorkshire. The North York Moors form the northern border of the District and the Yorkshire Wolds the southern limit. Ryedale is a diverse and beautiful area of spectacular scenery, bustling market towns, dale and hill farms and picturesque villages.

Ryedale takes its name from the River Rye which, together with the River Derwent, forms much of the geographical character of the District. Both rivers rise in the North Yorkshire Moors and join near Malton and Norton, eventually draining into the Humber.

Ryedale District Council provides services for some 52,900 residents, local businesses and the many visitors to the area. The District covers an area of 575 square miles (151,659 hectares) and is one of the seven Districts that make up North Yorkshire.

The District consists of 20 District Wards, 85 Parish and 5 Town Councils and 30 Parish Meetings. There are 30 democratically elected Councillors on Ryedale District Council who represent the diverse and wide geographic spread of the residents of the District.

2. Applying/Completing the Application Form

Your application form plays a vital role in the selection process. The information provided will determine whether or not you are shortlisted for assessment and acts as the technical interview part of the selection process. Applications are anonymously and individually assessed by the short listing panel. Consequently, it is important that you clearly evidence all the required criteria given in the job description, person specification and/or context statement. It is vital that you cover as much skill, experience, knowledge and technical know-how in detail. If you can, give examples of what you needed to do, how you did it and what the outcome was (whether this is positive or negative).

We cannot make any assumptions about you or your abilities. If you do not tell us, we do not know.

Before you begin to complete your application form:

 Read the advert, job description, job context/person specification  Read the application form carefully before you write anything. It may help to make some rough notes to organise your thoughts.  Please feel free to contact the named person on the advertisement for further information or clarification about the vacancy.  We do not accept CV's in place of or in support of applications for employment. You need to fully complete the application form. If you attach your CV to your application form it will disregarded and sections where you may state "please see CV" (or similar) will not be considered, which could mean you reduce your chance of being shortlisted for interview.

The Council selects using the STARR assessment process (see 'After The Closing Date') therefore your application form is your gateway into starting to be considered for appointment.

2 Once you are happy to submit your application form it should be emailed to [email protected]

We acknowledge receipt of all mail to this inbox by return of email.

In the unlikely event of needing to submit a hard copy application form this should be posted to the address on the back of the application form. Unfortunately we are not able to confirm receipt of posted application forms unless you telephone the Council on 01653 600666 or email [email protected]

3 4 4. Ryedale District Council PROUD Behavioural Framework

PASSION

We are passionate about our communities and the services we deliver

Negative behavioural indicators Positive behavioural indicators Indifferent or negative towards customer needs and Passionate about delivering solutions and services delivering a service to our community to meet customer needs Only does the bare minimum for customers; is Always wants to do right by others; goes over and dismissive of the needs of others beyond to help Is passive and uninterested in projects that fall Excited by the opportunity to get involved with new outside routine tasks and/or direct role projects and expanding his/her knowledge responsibilities Is frequently negative and pessimistic in attitude Makes a strong impression on others by consistently and/or at times inappropriately aggressive and displaying a positive and upbeat attitude; enthuses intimidating others Appears disengaged from the community; does not Speaks proudly of the community he/she serves, act in a way that supports Ryedale wanting to do what matters for Ryedale Conveys low levels of enthusiasm; acts unhelpful Consistently projects energy, drive and and obstructive determination; always taking a ‘can-‐do’ approach Represents the council with enthusiasm, passion Flat, monotone delivery when discussing the and conviction, demonstrated in both what they say council; fails to engage and excite audience and how they say it’. Seeks opportunities for innovation and positive Prefers to maintain status quo, avoids change and change to achieve continues improvement; stifles creativity proactively challenges the status quo Shows resistance and reluctant to adapt to new Agile and receptive to change; quickly adapts to ways of working; slow to adapt to new ways of new ways of working working Rarely questions the effectiveness or efficiency in Eager to implement positive change; actively which things are done seeking opportunities to make a difference Elevated Behaviours Unable to think out-‐side the box; fails to generate Pushes boundaries and traditional thinking by taking new ways of working a creative approach 5 Allows resistance to change to go unaddressed Tackles resistance to change by selling the benefits and/or enforces change before gaining buy-‐in from of change and creating a common purpose others

6 RESPECT

We value every individual, respecting people for who they are and for their unique knowledge, skills and experience recognising they are part of our strength

Negative behavioural indicators Positive behavioural indicators Frequently unparticipative and/or only shows Proactively engages in conversations, demonstrating concern for self-‐related issues (e.g. not engaging genuine interests in others during meetings) Does not carry out work as instructed by Shows respect for management decisions; listens to management; fails to comply with authority and acts according to their requests Shows resistance to being managed; ignores Receptive to being line-‐managed and co-‐operates managerial directives willingly Shows tactlessness in communications Demonstrates diplomacy within communications Undermines or is obstructive of decisions that Is constructive when challenging others’ ideas or he/she disapproves of decisions Is unfriendly and abrasive at times; shows Polite and professional at all times; comes across as frustrations or annoyance when approached by well-‐mannered and approachable others Appears disinterested and/or responds adversely to Actively seeks others ideas or opinions; aspires to others’ views when different from themselves learn from others’ experiences Shows disregard towards deadlines and Takes care to always follow through with agreed commitments made (e.g. late to attend meeting) commitments Responds negatively to feedback; becomes Seeks to understand criticism, sees feedback as an defensive and/or simply ignores constructive opportunity to learn and develop criticism Elevated behaviours Allows unacceptable performance/ behaviours of Confidently tackles issues of non-‐compliance with staff to continue without challenge or improvement authority; ensures all staff follow instructions Acts overly hierarchal and takes a distance from Acts as a role model, gets stuck in to help support others; fails to get hands-‐on even when needed team regardless of task at hand Offers no recognition of contributions by others; Empowers others by encouraging them to fails to value others’ inputs contribute to the best of their abilities

7 OPENNESS

We are open and honest in our relationships and in our communications

Negative behavioural indicators Positive behavioural indicators Pays little or no attention to what others say; speaks Listens and takes on-‐board what others have to say more than listens Keeps information to self and/or is selective about Openly shares relevant information with others to sharing information with others help support organisational goals Openly shares private and sensitive information Acts with integrity; keeps confidential and sensitive inappropriately with others information to self Is impersonal or avoids direct communication with Takes a personal approach to communicating with others (e.g. only uses emails or text to others; communicates directly, verbally or face-‐to-‐ communicate) face Fails to consider the impact of their approach/ style Show awareness of others’ ways of working and on others; adopts the same approach regardless of adapts style to suit situations others’ styles Appears to have ulterior motives when dealing with Communicates authentically with all colleagues others; is not forthcoming with the truth irrespective of position Becomes nervous or avoids openly expressing own Confidently and honestly expresses own opinions; opinions or debating issues, and/or debates issues open to debate issues in a non-‐confrontational in an obstructive manner manner Elevated behaviours Perceives challenge from others as criticism and Champions openness in communication through shuts it down if possible own approach Encourages direct and constructive challenge from Discourages involvement of others in own peers and staff; actively recognises their department’s planning or decision-‐making contributions Provides unconstructive and overly negative Provides negative/ developmental feedback when feedback; unwilling to provide feedback to help necessary, in an encouraging and constructive others learn manner

8 UNITY

We will work as one organisation

Negative behavioural indicators Positive behavioural indicators Is reluctant to work outside own area; does not Realises the importance of and strongly advocates recognise the need to involve others the value of cross-‐functional working Works in silo and does not interact with others to Works collaboratively with others across the solve issues organisation Fails to recognise the wider impact of actions on the Considers the impact of actions on other areas and organisation creates an inclusive approach to change Spends little or no time engaging with others, Proactively builds and maintains effective prefers to work in isolation relationships across the wider organisation Shows little interest in the wider context outside Understands how own role links with and impacts their immediate area others across the organisation Keeps expertise to self, unwilling to support areas Shares resources and knowledge to help other areas outside own area of the organisation Elevated behaviours Fails to take advantage of networks or relationships Uses networks and relationships with others in with others; seeks little support from colleagues order to meet objectives with other expertise Takes actions without accounting for the bigger Actively seeks to understand priorities and direction picture and future direction of the organisation of other areas of the organisation Focuses only on own work at the expense of the Balances the needs of own area with that of other wider organisational priorities functions across the organisation

9 DECISIVE

We are willing to make brave decisions, to take on big challenges and see them through

Negative behavioural indicators Positive behavioural indicators Shies away from making decisions and leaves it to Willing and confident to make decisions; can explain others to make decisions the rationale behind their decision making Procrastinates by trying to find the ‘perfect’ Thinks on his/her feet to quickly identify a suitable solution; delays finding a workable solution solution Overcomplicates issues; fails to use relevant Applies common sense, logical thinking and relevant information to support their thinking information when seeking a solution Makes decisions based on little or no evidence; Makes decisions based on evidence; adopts a tackles problems subjectively and in an methodical and objective approach to problem unstructured manner solving Applies the same solution to different situations Considers a range of options (old and new) before without considering the effectiveness of the making a decision; always seeks the most effective solution solution Only interested in parts of the solution; leaves it to Sees their solutions through to completion others to follow through Slow to reprioritise; struggles to complete multiple Responds quickly to changing priorities/ unexpected tasks issues Elevated behaviours Shows little commercial awareness when making Applies commercial reasoning and makes cost decisions effective decisions Fixated on their own solution even when better Willing to change their position / recommendation options are presented in light of further information Takes excessive risks or avoids risks; fails to manage Makes decisions based on risk management, rather risks when making decisions than risk avoidance Puts off or avoids making difficult or unpopular Stands by unpopular decisions to achieve the decisions; blames bureaucracy for their lack of desired outcome decision making Takes responsibility for decisions/ Defers responsibility for decisions they have made recommendations they have made

5. After The Closing Date

Due to the high number of applications that are normally received if you do not hear from Ryedale District Council within 14 days of the closing date please assume you have not been successful in being invited for interview. However, we hope that this does not deter you from applying for future vacancies with the Council.

It is also not possible to offer feedback to applicants who are not invited for interview. This also supports an open, fair and transparent process whilst eliminating the risk of any perception that an individual may have been given an unfair advantage, should they apply in the future.

There may be times when interview dates are set in the advertisement due to commitments the interview panel may have. For that reason it may not be possible to make alternative arrangements for an individual’s personal circumstance.

10 6. Appointment Details and STARR Interview Process

Ryedale District Council appoints using the STARR (Situation or Task; Action; Result; Review) format. This enables the gathering of all relevant information from the candidate in relation to the PROUD Behavioural framework. This selection process is in two parts of approx one hour each, following on from one another with a break in-between. It is designed to assess candidates against all the PROUD behaviours needed to be successful at the Council. Candidates invited for interview should allow themselves up to 2½ hours to enable them to participate fully. Once offered the position and all clearances have been completed satisfactorily, as a local government employer, you will be employed under NJC Terms and Conditions. We are able to offer a comprehensive reward package consisting of competitive pay, generous annual leave in addition to time for 8 public and bank holidays per annual leave year, employee assistance programme and more. The annual leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and allocated as follows:

Grade 0 to 5 years + 5 years Grades G to L 23 28 Grade F 25 28 Grade C to E 27 30 Leadership Team 30 33

7. Employee Benefits

Everyone Active Offers Discounts are available for Ryedale staff at the two swimming pools in Malton and Pickering (swimming only). From time to time, other health practitioners may offer services at Ryedale House, such as massage, yoga and pilates.

Free Car Parking Free car parking is available on site for all employees.

Home Working If it is appropriate to the duties of the post and subject to agreement, working at home for some of the time may be supported.

Canteen Facilities Light lunches and snacks are available at Ryedale House on a subsidised basis.

Health Care Scheme There are several not-for-profit health schemes administered by the Council for all employees, offering significant benefits on various forms of medical treatment.

Childcare Vouchers The Council uses Computershare Voucher Services to provide childcare vouchers for all staff paying National Insurance who pay for childcare. These vouchers provide a significant discount on almost all childcare costs up to the age of 16.

Ryedale Counselling Service 11 Ryedale Council provides a free counselling service to all its employees. It is run through Ryedale Community Counselling and is completely confidential to use.

Occupational Health Services An Occupational Health Adviser attends Ryedale House on a monthly basis to advise on absence management and other health issues.

Family Friendly Leave There are a number of policies at Ryedale District Council designed to help families balance work and domestic commitments.

Learning and Development Staff at all levels are encouraged to learn and develop. This is facilitated through a variety of means such as mentoring programmes, development centres, secondments and internal and external training courses. Longer term professional training courses are also encouraged.

Equal Opportunities Ryedale District Council is committed to achieving fairness and equality in employment. The aim of our policy is to ensure that no employee, or potential employee, receives less favourable treatment or is disadvantaged on the grounds of disability, race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin, sex, marital status, age, sexual orientation, religious belief or any other unjustifiable cause not specified.

Local Government Pension Scheme The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is a statutory scheme for local authority employees, operated under regulations issued by the Central Government Department, Communities and Local Government. The Scheme is administered on a local basis and North Yorkshire County Council is responsible for the Scheme within the geographical areas of North Yorkshire and the City of York.

From 1 April 2014 this is now a career average/CARE (Career Average Revalued Earnings) scheme.

RDC employees are automatically enrolled into the LGPS, one of the few remaining defined-benefit pensions schemes in the UK. There are many benefits to the LGPS, which include: o On average RDC pays over twice as much as staff towards each pension; o You get tax relief on all your contributions; o You can take a tax free lump sum payment on retirement; o Each year you will build up a pension based on your pay and inflation increases will be added to ensure that your pension keeps up; o Protection should you have to retire early due to ill health; o Life cover of 3 times your pay from the first day you join the scheme; o Dependants benefits payable if you die so your pension does not die with you; and o There are no hidden costs, you pay a % of your salary.

Recognised Union The Council recognises the trade union UNISON which represents staff, and offers local and national benefits to members.