People and Culture Strategy 2024 to 2028

Like many other large public sector organisations, we operate in an increasingly complex environment where the needs of our communities have changed significantly and continue to evolve. In order to meet these changing requirements, we must support our employees to embrace the changes and develop their skills and knowledge to ensure that we can target our resources to those areas of greatest need. This is recognised through the development and delivery of an ongoing cultural change programme which seeks to develop the culture in line with the changing demands and expectations of the Council.

Leadership

A key aspect of our Transformation and Change work has been the delivery of a Senior Leadership Review. This review embedded our vision and set the cultural foundations for how we will engage and operate with and for our communities in future. All of this was achieved by extensive engagement with employees and communities during 2022 to 2023 to build relations, make connections and create a sense of what we can do together. This new operating model is designed around 4 pillars:

• Leadership culture and behaviour
• Leadership engagement across the Council, with partners and communities
• Leadership and management competence and performance
• Leadership structures and capacity across the whole organisation

The new model has driven change across the organisation and resulted in reshaping and restructuring our resources with the establishment of new portfolios to meet our corporate plan priorities and objectives. As well as establishing a new executive and senior leadership structure a Leadership Competency Model has been developed which, along with our Values and Behaviours, will further enhance our performance focus providing clarity of expectations and support available.

We are now undertaking the next phase of the Leadership Review programme which will embed these expectations among our wider leadership team. The newly appointed Strategic Leads will play a critical role in driving and delivering change both within their area of responsibility and collaboratively across the Council.

Engagement and inclusion

Enabling everyone to have a voice is fundamental to working together and ensuring that this is embedded in how we work will support equality of opportunity for all our employees.

All new employees are invited to in-person induction events led by the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council. These in-person events were reintroduced in 2023 and demonstrate the commitment from senior leaders to welcome new employees and share from the outset our vision and what it is to be a public servant in Perth and Kinross Council. These events set the cultural tone and have a focus on sharing and understanding our values and behaviours. The accompanying "connection marketplace" sets the benchmark for new staff to make connections and engage with colleagues to give a greater sense of who we are as a Council, why we exist and what we can do collectively for those we serve.

The strengthening of our engagement offer through more structured one-to-one conversations, focused workshops and events such as the What Matters to You programme delivered in HSCP, and the involvement of trade unions and employees in our employee survey working group ensures that we continue to provide opportunities for our employees to comment on and influence how we work. The 2024 employee survey (live from 15 April to 31 May 2024) will produce action plans at team and organisation level which, in line with previous practice, will be followed up using "You Said, We Did" updates. This continuous engagement is enhanced by the implementation of recognition events allowing management to acknowledge the contribution of teams and individuals who are exemplars of our values and commitment to excellent service.

We will work with our trade union partners to engage openly and constructively regarding the challenges we face in the management and development of our workforce and encourage ongoing dialogue to ensure their voice is heard as part of that process.

As an employer, we continue to drive forward the Fair Work agenda to ensure that fairness and equity is at the heart of all the Council's employment practices. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity across our workforce and to actively support individuals and groups within our employees. We work to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation or any other prohibited conduct, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations. Equality training forms a part of our induction process ensuring that our employees are aware from the start of their employment journey of the culture we are developing and the support that is available. Other activities include unconscious bias training as a compulsory element of our recruitment process, advice and support for reasonable adjustments to processes and working arrangements and the availability of our Staff Networks which provide peer support and advice.

Ownership

Our employees are first and foremost public servants and offering everyone a fulfilling working experience is essential in our efforts to make the most of the skills of our employees and in the development of the services most needed by our communities. Our "Think Yes" approach to individual and team responsibility allows everyone to take initiative and be accountable for not only their own service but also the services and perception of the Council overall.

Growth

Having the right skills and knowledge among our employees will be directed by our understanding and planning of the required services. Our Leadership for All programme ensures ongoing development and training opportunities for managers and leaders at all levels across the organisation. Our move in 2023 to a longer-term financial planning framework allows our managers and employees to understand how the demands and constraints on our services will change. Our learning and development activity will support the opportunity this gives employees to prepare and adapt to planned changes. This will be delivered by enhanced personal and career development tools and changing ways of working including the use of hybrid and revised patterns of attendance, all of which are designed to optimise fulfilment and increase flexibility in our workforce.

Innovation

Having open minds and an innovative approach to opportunities and working arrangements will generate the best possible outcomes for all organisations and our communities. Our model of delivery continues to evolve and this requires a culture which embraces partnership and collaborative working and the creation and adoption of innovative approaches to service delivery.

We have many rich and productive external working relationships in the area including with our own Arm's Length External Organisations (ALEOs), Tayside Contracts and organisations such as the Perth and Kinross Association of Voluntary Service (PKAVS) which produce many opportunities for innovative thinking in service design and delivery.

Supporting this our Digital Strategy outlines the need for bold digital leadership that upholds 'One Council' values. Our forward looking digital work allowed a swift response to the challenges of the pandemic and we have continued to build on this with a pro-active and forward thinking Digital Skills team ensuring that our employees have access to learning and tools to allow them to maximise the benefits of the technology we have available and a development team who work with services to develop in-house responses to the need for streamlining, digitising and automating processes - our MyPKC Portal provides an efficient platform for many of the tasks employees and managers routinely undertake.