People strategy

Introduction from our Chief Executive

Our workforce is 4,500 strong, our largest financial entity and our employees are critical to the outcomes for Lincolnshire residents.

We want Lincolnshire to be celebrated as the best place to live, work, support families and visit.

Above all, we want the workforce, 'our people', to be motivated, healthy and values-driven to enable the best services to be delivered.

Our people strategy, therefore, supports the delivery of our corporate plan.  The corporate plan contains the vision and ambitions for Lincolnshire. To achieve these ambitions, we will need to make a step change in our culture to foster a working environment that:

  • supports individuals and teams to feel empowered
  • improves services through distributed leadership
  • ensures that everyone owns, understands and embodies the council's vision and values
  • supports an open and compassionate approach to people management
  • supports staff engagement and smarter working
  • facilitates learning and development
  • and that we work in partnership with our stakeholders across Greater Lincolnshire.

In looking to the future, we must recruit, retain and develop skilled and talented individuals.  This will be from inside and outside Lincolnshire and across generations, enabling future delivery of our services. We must also embrace the diversity of all our workforce and residents.

This people strategy will create a more progressive and forward-thinking council that supports our ambition of being an employer of choice.

Debbie Barnes OBE
Chief Executive

Our people strategy will focus on nine areas.  These areas of focus are interconnected and underpinned by an annual plan.  There is an expectation that by 2024 we will have a workforce that demonstrates the following:

Culture, leadership and values

  • We will uphold a new values-based culture and lead through positive behaviours; holding people to account.
  • We will ensure that council talent is nurtured and managed through effective programmes to ensure we have the right leaders.
  • We will trust our employees, creating conditions for them to thrive in their working environments.

Attracting and retaining talent

  • We will ensure we attract the right talent where values and behaviours are as important as competency.
  • We will support our leaders to ensure they have the right tools to improve recruitment and retention, including tailored employment offers.
  • We will ensure our HR processes will be efficient, effective and meet safer recruitment standards.
  • For the benefit of our communities, we will increase our numbers and investment in:
    • apprenticeships (or equivalent)
    • work placements
    • early career initiatives

Equality, diversity and inclusion

  • We will have a comprehensive understanding of the needs and expectations of the people who work in the council through:
    • engagement
    • communication
    • support
    • appropriate interventions, including action against discrimination
  • We will ensure that all our people:
    • have the right opportunities to develop and progress
    • understand the benefits of diversity and these are realised across the organisation
  • Our workforce will be reflective of the working-age population we serve.

Engagement and communication

  • We will ensure that our people and trade unions are involved in shaping council developments and transformation.  They will receive regular communication on performance and activities.

Workforce transformation and innovation

  • We will implement annual workforce planning that meets the needs of the council.
  • We will identify opportunities for the implementation of new models of service delivery.
  • We will embrace digital solutions that:
    • provide information that is meaningful and contemporary
    • facilitate different ways of working

Health and well-being

  • We will provide supportive and preventive health interventions to improve employee work outcomes.
  • We will improve processes for managing our employees' health to ensure we are more responsive.

People management

  • We will have a supportive and restorative approach to performance management; learning lessons and avoiding blame. We take strong action against poor practices that harm service users, customers, partner organisations and colleagues.

Learning and development

  • We will target timely, valued learning and development at the right people.  We will ensure better systems and an annual organisational training needs analysis.

Reward and recognition

  • We will provide an improved council offer through new flexible employee benefits.
  • Through transparent processes, we will ensure leaders and their employees receive recognition for good performance.

The strategy has been developed with input from a range of stakeholders and considers:

  • our corporate ambitions
  • operational requirements
  • internal and external factors
  • market forces

A detailed people strategy delivery plan sits alongside this strategy.  It sets out our priorities, milestones and success measures.

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