Workforce Planning Topic Group

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

WORKFORCE PLANNING TOPIC GROUP

THURSDAY20thMARCH 2008 AT10A.M.

SUBJECT:WORKFORCE PLANNING - AGE

Report of the Corporate Director (People and Property)

Author: Carole Grimwood, Assistant HR Director. Tel: 01992 556667

Executive Member: -David Lloyd

Purpose of report

To provide a broad base of management information and to highlight emerging issues to enable the panel to investigate:

-workforce planning in respect of the age profile of HCC’s workforce

-the employment of young people

-succession planning

Teachers and staff directly employed by schools are excluded.

Summary

When compared with the economically active population of Hertfordshire the County Council has a relatively old workforce.
The County Council’s age profile is similar to that of other large local authorities in the south east.
The HCC age profile has remained relatively stable over the last ten years and if there is no change to our recruitment and retention activity then the profile will not be subject to major change.
However the planned increase in the schools leaving age and the removal of the compulsory retirement age are likely to lead to a further ageing of the workforce profile though the extent of any change cannot be predicted at this point.
The age profile across HCC departments shows that there are differences relating to specific services and professions.
Where the age profile is adversely affecting shortage skill groups – namely engineers - there is a need to take action to ensure that recruitment, retention and succession planning activities are put into place.
There is cause for concern about the age profile of senior managers within HCC and the need to take a proactive approach to succession planning.
In common with other local authorities and other areas of the public sector the council does not attract and retain sufficient young people. In this regard the workforce does not always reflect the community that we serve and there is therefore a need to improve performance in this area.
Any work to improve performance in employing young people needs to be tempered with a realism about the numbers of young people in the employment market, the trend –predicted to increase – for young people to change jobs and careers more frequently and the perceptions that young people have at a national level about public sector employment.
Age legislation and removal of the retirement age will bring more older workers into the organisation. This will bring benefits in retaining experience and knowledge and ensuring that our workforce reflects the community we serve. It will also bring challenges including those relating to motivation where earlier retirements had been anticipated, the need to re-skill and cope with change and the potential for increased sickness absence costs.

Conclusion

Given these findings the key issues are:

i) Succession planning for senior mangers and engineers

ii) Attracting and retaining young people

iii) Responding to the challenges of older workers including flexible retirement options. It should however be noted that this will require early policy change and will be the subject of a report to the Policy and Resources Panel.

Do the panel endorse the approach taken so far?

Are there any particular areas the panel wish to research, investigate or scrutinise further?

4. Background

This report includes:-

HCC Age Profile – What is it telling us?

Basic data
Age profile for service departments
Age profiles for shortage skill groups
Age profile for senior managers
Employment of young people
Employing older workers and flexible retirement
Benchmark data

What are we currently doing to manage this?

Recruitment and Retention initiatives

What will the age profile look like in 2012 & 2016?

5. Overview of the size and shape of the existing workforce

Key data for the year to December 2007.

Headcount 33,213 with 10,693 non schools.

82% of the workforce is female.
Over 60% of employees work part time.
85% of the workforce have permanent contracts.
3.68% of non schools staff are aged under 25.
21.92%of non schools staff are aged over 55.
2.6% of employees declare a disability – a slight increase.
4.8% of the workforce are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Voluntary turnover for HCC overall has changed very little over the last year and now stands at 12.0%. This is relatively low and especially so within the context of major change programmes. The largest areas of turnover are in catering and caretaking, known high turnover areas, and in admin and support grades. The latter will be affected by the major office moves and support service transformations.

6. HCC Age Profile

6.1 Benchmarking against the economically active population in Hertfordshire

In comparison to the economically active (Census data 2001) we have a higher proportion of non schools employees between the ages of 40 and 69. However we have lower proportions in all other age ranges.

6.2 Benchmarking to other Local Authorities

The age profile in Hertfordshire is similar to other local authorities in the South of

England.

Council / Headcount / Under 20 / 20-29 / 30-39 / 40-49 / 50-59 / 60 & Above
Hertfordshire / 10807 / 0.53% / 10.31% / 20.94% / 31.01% / 27.65% / 9.06%
Oxfordshire / 7501 / 1.39% / 11.76% / 20.94% / 30.00% / 28.54% / 7.37%
Difference / 3306 / -0.86% / -1.45% / 0.00% / 1.01% / -0.89% / 1.69%
Council / Headcount / 16 - 24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44 / 45 - 54 / 55 - 64 / 65 & over
Hertfordshire / 10807 / 3.67% / 15.70% / 27.32% / 30.81% / 19.86% / 2.12%
Buckinghamshire / 4400 / 5.86% / 16.70% / 22.80% / 31.25% / 21.95% / 1.43%
Difference / 6407 / -2.19% / -1.00% / 4.52% / -0.44% / -2.09% / 0.69%
Council / Headcount / 15-25 / 26-36 / 37-48 / 49-59 / 60-70 / 71-81
Hertfordshire / 10807 / 3.67% / 15.70% / 43.41% / 27.65% / 8.52% / 0.52%
Hampshire / 13390 / 5.62% / 18.64% / 32.68% / 31.78% / 10.53% / 0.69%
Difference / 2583 / -1.95% / -2.93% / 10.72% / -4.13% / -2.01% / -0.18%

The local authorities contacted were monitoring their age profile by different age bandings. None of those contacted were undertaking any workforce planning relating to age.

6.3 Age Profile by Department

The age profile across HCC departments shows that there are differences relating to specific services and professions. Overall however all are highlighting broadly similar concerns.

6.3.1 Adult Care Services

Nearly 9% of staff are between 60 and 64
1.8% are 65 and over
3.7% under 25

6.3.2 Corporate Services

Between 40 and 64, higher percentage than the economically active
5.8% under 25

6.3.4 CSF Non Schools

1.6% are 65 or above
3.9% are under 25
Much higher proportion of staff between 45 and 64 than the Herts economically active
All other age ranges are lower than the Herts economically active

6.3.5 CSF Libraries

8.8% of staff under 30
22% of the workforce aged 55-59
8.8% between 60 and 64
Above economically active between 45 to 64

6.3.6 Environment

13% between 60 and 64
8.5% over 65
County Transport Services (CTS) and Road Safety have a big impact (16% of these staff are 65 or over and over a third are 60 or over)
Over 60% of CTS are over the age of 55, 44% over the age of 60

6.3.7 Hertfordshire Business Services

No one under 20
Big drop in the age group 30-34
Sharp increase for ages 55 to 64 (33% of employees)

6.3.8 Hertfordshire Catering

No one under the age of 20, 2.8% under 30
65% between 35 and 49

6.3.9 Statutory Services

Particularly high peak in staff between the ages of 55 and 59 (28%)
3.8% under 30
Higher than economically active between 45 and 69
Based on small numbers

6.3.10 Fire and Rescue

18.77% under 30
Higher proportion than economically active between 25 and 29 and 35 to 49
Big drop in staff at 50 and 55 – 2.94% above 60

6.4 Shortage Skills

6.4.1 CSF Area Team Social Workers

CSF social workers have a lower age profile when compared to CSF and HCCNonSchools.
18% are under 30, 62% of CSF social workers are under the age of 44. From 45 years of age onwards the figures drop.
Only 4.4% of CSF social workers are over the age of 60 – a drop of 5% when compared to those between the ages of 55 and 59.

There does not appear to be a significant issue relating to an ageing workforce in terms of the employment of child care social workers. We are attracting younger people than is the norm across HCC. This may however be an area where we need to look at options for retaining older workers.

6.4.2 Planners

There are no planners aged 65 or over

10% are 55 or over
16.3% planners are under 30

Skill shortage issues in this area again do not appear to be age related. It is however an area where the attraction of young talent into the sector will bring medium to long term benefits.

We have embarked on the first steps by developing a jointly funded recruitment strategy with East Herts Council to recruit and retain 2 planning graduates to work across the two sites to allow a greater breath of experience from both a County and local level. This scheme is set to commence from the 1st April 2008.

6.4.3Engineers

There are a small proportion of engineers aged 65 or over
7.3% are between 60 and 64
25% are 55 or over
13.4% are under 30

There appear to be significant issues relating to age with this group of staff. This is an area where there are national skill shortages and where we are anticipating increasing difficulty as a result of the need for civil engineers linked to development for London 2012. From April 2008 we are running a countywide campaign and another graduate recruitment campaign to recruit engineers.

6.5 Senior Managers

The chart above shows headcount rather than percentages
There are no staff under 35 or over 65 employed at principal management (PM) grades
The highest percentage of PM graded staff are aged 50–54 at 28.47%
A third of all PM graded staff are within 5 years of retirement
This is within a context of an average HCC retirement age of 61.5Years

Only one other authority contacted was able to provide benchmark data

Council / Headcount / 16 - 24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44 / 45 - 54 / 55 - 64 / 65 & over
Hertfordshire / 144 / 0.00% / 0.00% / 22.22% / 50.69% / 27.08% / 0.00%
Buckinghamshire / 34 / 0.00% / 0.00% / 29.41% / 52.94% / 17.65% / 0.00%
Difference / 110 / 0.00% / 0.00% / -7.19% / -2.25% / 9.43% / 0.00%

Senior Managers = Heads of Service and above.

Buckinghamshire have a higher percentage of senior managers in age ranges 45 - 54 at 52.94% and 35 - 44 at 29.41%.
At the same time they have fewer managers in the 55-64 year age range
Both councils show that their senior managers are all aged between 35 and 64.

7. Future Predictions

What will the non schools age profile look like in 2012 & 2016?

7.1 HCC Non Schools workforce projection

The County Council’s age profile has not changed significantly over the last ten years.

Based on the HCC age profile over the last four years we can predict our age

profile in 2012 and 2016. This assumes current patterns of recruitment and retention

Factors such as the removal of the compulsory retirement age and the planned increase in school leaving age to 18 will have an impact on this. It is not clear at this stage what the extent of the impact might be but the expectation is that it will in overall terms lead to a further ageing of the workforce.

The predictions at this point show that overall a similar pattern will be maintained with some notable variations. We are predicting an increase in the workforce aged 25-29 and this maybe due to attracting those wanting to work locally. There is also an increasing trend for a decline in those aged between 30 and 44 which currently represents the highest percentage of leavers - this is however also the age group where we have a high percentage of employees.

7.2 Shortage Skill Age Profile Projections

7.2.1 CSF Area Social Worker Projections

There is currently a significant drop in qualified social workers aged 45 and above. This maybe due to the‘burn out’ factor and can often be the point when they may change to other jobs within the organisation such as becoming adult social workers or using their qualification in a different way. If current trends continue and we build in the effect of higher numbers of social work graduates who are now undertaking training we can expect:

No social workers under 20 or over 65
An increase in social workers in their 20s
A decrease in the proportion of social workers in their 30s
More social workers over 50
Planner Projections

Assuming that current trends continue it is predicted that

There will continue to be no planners under 20 or over 65
There will be an increase in planners between 20-24
There will be a decrease in the number of planners between 25-39
The percentage of planners over 50 will rise

7.2.3Engineer Projections

Based on current patterns of recruitment and retention over the period to 2016 we

would expect:

An increase in engineers between 20-34 and over the age of 55.
Adecrease in the percentage of engineers between 35-44 and 50-54.

7.3Senior Manager Projections

Based on current recruitment and retention trends the age profile for this group of staff will continue to become older.

Age range 50 - 54 accounted for the highest percentage of PMC grades between December 2004 and December 2007.
However this changes over the next 8 years when the age range 55 - 59 will account for the highest percentage of PMC grades.
This is undoubtedly as a result of those in the age range 50 - 54 moving into the next age range.
With the current trend, age range 30 - 34 will not be represented. Also with the current trend employees at PMC grade are unlikely to work beyond 65.
The age range 45 - 59 accounts consistently for at least 70% of the PMC grades but this percentage is dropping.
The age range 35 - 44 accounts consistently for over 20% of the PMC grades but this percentage is increasing through the years.

8. Employment of Young People

Only 4.75% of staff are 25 and under
3.77% are within the age range 22 to 25 and 0.87% between 19 and 21

Staff aged between 16 to 18:

There are no staff in this age category employed in, Environment, HBS, Herts Catering and Statutory Services
Libraries employ the highest number; this reflects 2% of their workforce.
Staff within this age range are employed primarily as counter assistants in Libraries and trainee fire-fighters at 18

Staff aged between 19 to 21:

There is a slight increase within this age range with Departments employing between 0.57% up to 1.9% of their staff, however perhaps not surprisingly there are no employees within CTS, School Crossing Patrol (SCP), HBS and Herts Catering of this age.
There are no staff within this group employed at M1 and above.

Staff aged between 22 to 25:

Fire and Rescue Uniformed have employed 7.11% of their staff within this age range whilst Statutory Services have no employees. Other Departments are employing between 0.49% (Herts Catering) and 5.91% (Environment excluding CTS and SCP).
Fewer than 0.05% of staff aged 25 and under are employed at M1 – M2 and of these 20% are aged 24 and 80% are aged 25.

8.1 Roles for young people

Employees aged under 30 years are more likely to be employed in the following

roles (year to Dec 2007) :- These account for 58% of all staff in this age group.

Administrator245.2%
Child Care Worker275.9%
Instrumental Vocal Teacher6714.6%
Music Teacher214.6%
Professional Assistant449.6%
Part Time Youth Worker5010.9%
Social Worker316.8%
Total458

8.2 Destinations of School Leavers in 2007

The number of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is at a record low in the county. At the end of November, the Hertfordshire NEET rate, as calculated by the Department of Children, Schools and Families, was recorded as 3.9%, which compares with the 4.2% rate recorded 12 months earlier.

Almost 60% of school leavers surveyed go on to school 6th form.
28.7 % go onto further education.
88.4% of school leavers surveyed remain in education.
Only 6% go into employment.

8.3 Recruitment & Retention Initiatives for young people

8.3.1 Career and Graduate Fairs

During 2007 HertsHR attended Careers and Graduate Fairs at various Colleges and Universities. The Graduate Fairs that attended include the University of Hertfordshire event and a limited number of large specialist events linked to key recruitment areas. The number of local schools based careers fairs has reduced over recent years.

8.3.2 Modern Apprenticeship Schemes

Modern Apprenticeships are targeted at 16 -18 year old school leavers who are seeking to achieve a NVQ level 3 (3 A level equivalent) vocational qualification from a work experience base.
The ACS Modern Apprenticeship programme was developed within HCC to ensure we recruit and develop high quality and well-motivated young people, who will work towards becoming qualified care workers.
The pilot programme was launched in September 2005 and offered placements to 10 young people aged between 17 -19, who should complete their training within 12 – 18 months.
The scheme ensures the apprentices receive practical on-the-job training by rotating placements between several supported living and day units for ACS and departments in Corporate Services as appropriate. In addition, the apprentices attend NorthHertsCollege on a day release basis, where external training is provided.
On successful completion of the programme the apprentices with ACS achieved the BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Health & Social Care, a key skills certificate, and NVQ Level 2 in Health & Social Care & the ECDL. 3 Modern Apprentices in Corporate Services have achieved NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration and are completing NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration; the other 3 are working towards NVQ Level 2.
The qualifications and job experience within ACS provided apprentices with a wide range of opportunities to progress within the social care sector in roles such as community care worker, day care worker, social worker and occupational therapist. 4 of the ACS apprentices remain within HCC, 3 employed as day service support workers in ACS and 1 as a professional assistant with CSF.
The Corporate Services scheme which has a Business Administration core has run for approximately two years and currently offers placements to 6 young people aged 16 upwards

8.3.3 ACS Care Ambassador Scheme

Like the ACS Modern Apprenticeship this scheme was run by ACS as in 2005 and 2006 to encourage young people to consider a future of working in Care.

An outcome of both the Modern Apprenticeship and Care Ambassador Schemes is that ACS are considering using traineeships in the future as supported roots to employment in all aspects of social care.