Personalisation and its implications for work and

employment in the voluntary sector

Dr Ian Cunningham and Professor Dennis Nickson, Strathclyde University

with Workforce Unit Staff

Research AimsTo Assess:• workforce functions, skills & behaviours

• changes to HR policies and job functions

• likely impact on terms and conditions

• what learning is effective for personalised services.

Structure of Presentation

• Emerging Issues

• Outline of research method

• Three approaches to personalisation

• From policy to practice – findings from our study

• Recommendations

• Questions and Discussion

Emerging challenges & issues

• Link with public expenditure cuts

• Preparedness of local authority purchasers

• Risk management/enablement

• Appropriateness to all groups using services

Personalisation and its impact on the workforce

• Recruitment and selection

• Changing workforce skills

• Terms and conditions of employment

• Worker morale and commitment

The Research Model

• Collaboration with the University of Strathclyde

• Cost effective

• Combines academic expertise with sector knowledge

The ResearchPhase 1 Policy maker interviews (x4)

Phase 2 Case studies (x3)

Interviews with managers, employees and people who use services (x31)

Findings: The policymaker perspective

• Enthusiasm for personalisation, but concerns regarding:– The links with public expenditure cuts

– The culture and practice of commissioning

• Significant changes and concerns for voluntary organisations– Move to ‘just in time care’

– Potential benefits to the workforce accompanied by some re-skilling

– Resourcing for training and development

– Employee engagement with change

– Terms and conditions of employment and job security

Findings: organisational approaches to personalisation

• Oakwood – A step ahead of the pack

• Cedar – A logical and gradual evolution in practice

• Chestnut – A tentative return to the past

Voluntary sector employment and personalisation

• Accepting the vision of personalisation?

• Problems with commissioning culture and practice

• Link with cost cutting acknowledged

• Recruitment and selection

• Changes to working hours

• Employee skills and training

Voluntary sector employment and personalisation

• Performance management

• Job insecurity

• Health and safety concerns

• Pay and conditions and worker morale

The perspective of people using services

• Satisfaction with services and choices

• Concerns– No evidence of understanding of budgets or their role– Lack of choice over who assisted them– Continuity in providing services– Does this signal any significant change?– Resource limitations

Recommendations

• Policy responses– Place the needs of people using services at the heart

transformation– Joint training and workshops between commissioners

and voluntary sector– Policy makers, employers and trade unions jointly

lobby government to protect resources devoted to training in skills for personalisation

– Refocus and develop new training programmes in personalisation

Recommendations• Organisational responses

– Share success stories in personalisation– Funds to develop marketing of personalised

services to individuals and local authorities– Further involvement of people using services

in recruitment of workers– Tailor performance management systems to

take account of external factors influencing success of personalisation.

Recommendations• Organisational responses

– Conduct training audits to assess skill gaps– Changes to working hours to be undertaken in

conjunction with employee representatives– Joint management/worker consultation on

changes to redeployment and redundancy policies

– Continual organisational learning relating to health and safety implications of personalisation

Questions

Discussion focusing on employment issues