5 Staffing issues
27. We recommended last year that the ODPM take immediate
steps to reinforce the message that bullying and intimidation
were unacceptable.[31]
This followed staff survey results revealing that 10% of staff
felt they had been bullied, while 8% had experienced discrimination
(with a substantial proportion of those being black and black
British staff). Some 6% had reported harassment. The ODPM's response
said that the Department did not tolerate bullying or discrimination
and took the subjects seriously.[32]
28. In its first memorandum to this inquiry, the
DCLG outlined action taken as a result of our recommendation:
82% of team leaders and senior managers had participated in a
"mandatory" coaching programme, while 92% had taken
part in a "mandatory" programme on dignity and respect.
Substantial numbers of participants had felt able to commit to
"changing inappropriate behaviour".[33]
The Permanent Secretary told us that anti-bullying courses were
now included in the departmental induction process for new staff.[34]
29. We questioned why, if the courses for relevant
existing staff were mandatory, not all staff had taken part in
them. The next round of "dignity and respect" courses
were to be run in January 2007 and the next coaching skills workshops
from February. The Department is currently targeting those members
of staff who have not taken part: in its second memorandum, the
Department told us: "The Board have made clear that all senior
staff are expected to attend and action will be taken where staff
have not signed up".[35]
30. We note that the courses are aimed at senior
staff and that responses gained on changed behaviour therefore
reflect the feelings of those senior staff rather than the staff
whom changed behaviour might affect.[36]
Whether the courses are having the desired impact remains to be
seen and may be best judged when the Department runs new staff
surveys. It intends to hold quarterly samples of 30% of staff
throughout 2007, giving all staff at least one opportunity to
contribute.[37] We
recognise the efforts made in response to our recommendation that
the Department should take further steps to eradicate bullying,
harassment or discrimination of staff. We note that all senior
staff are expected to participate in "dignity and respect"
courses and that action is expected to be taken against any who
do not. We expect to receive details of feedback from less senior
staff on the impact of these programmes through the quarterly
staff surveys to be conducted throughout 2007.
31. We also recommended a year ago that senior personnel
should be more "visible" and "actively communicating"
the Department's goals to staff.[38]
The ODPM said that it would track progress on those issues through
the new Permanent Secretary's intranet forum established when
a new-look intranet was launched in April 2005, and through departmental
staff surveys.[39]
32. The Permanent Secretary said that, both on his
arrival in the ODPM and following the machinery of government
changes that created the DCLG, he and a number of senior colleagues
participated in a number of meetings in and floor visits at the
Department's offices both in and out of London. Events were built
around particular subjects such as the new equalities remit. Changes
were also made to the system of performance management, including
the setting of a prime objective for managers to lead, manage
and improve the quality of staff.[40]
On the staffing side, wider use has been made of electronic communications
to canvass staff views, including webchats with senior managers
and intranet polling forums on particular issues.[41]
Issues covered have included how staff based outside London can
participate within the Department, the provision of diversity
data and ways of celebrating departmental successes.[42]
The new intranet has also been used to give staff daily news about
internal and external business and the online forum has also provided
a means for staff to put questions to senior managers.[43]
The Permanent Secretary did, however, point out that while these
electronic communications were "lively" and provoking
conversations, staff most valued "face to face stuff"
and the "chance to see face to face their board and to engage
with them".[44]
We welcome the efforts of
senior staff in the Department to make themselves more visible
and to open two-way channels of communication with staff, including
those beyond the London headquarters. We will watch with interest
staff survey results relating to the efforts made towards improved
communication and visibility.
33. The Cabinet Office conducted a survey in 2006
of all Senior Civil Service (SCS) staff, including those at DCLG,
which it published on 15 February 2007. It should be borne in
mind that this survey is not comparable with the survey of staff
at all levels conducted in 2005 and that the Department intends
to survey all staff during 2007. Some 123 SCS staff at DCLG responded
(88%), one of the higher response rates across Whitehall. While
the results are complex and often mixed, two fairly clear messages
may be identified, at least as regards how staff feel about working
for DCLG. First, most senior staff in the Department gain considerable
personal satisfaction from their jobs, feeling that they know
what they are doing and why and that their work objectives are
challenging and worth while. Secondly, and less positively, most
senior civil service staff feel that they and the Department are
poorly managed.
34. Among the positive points for DCLG, respondents
felt committed to seeing the Department succeed (96%), understood
how their work contributes to the Department's objectives (95%),
believed they had challenging work objectives (95%) and were willing
to put in effort beyond what was expected (87%). In particular,
88% of respondents had a "feeling of personal accomplishment"
from their work, a figure some 27 percentage points higher than
central Government external benchmark norms identified by the
consultants who organised the survey (ORC International).
35. Among the negatives, however, only 11% felt poor
performance was effectively dealt with and only 27% were satisfied
with the approach to performance management. Just 20% thought
the Department's top managers modelled a culture of effective
teamwork. Perhaps most alarmingly, 28% felt it was "safe
to speak up and challenge the way things are done in the Department",
a figure that compares extremely poorly with the 60% civil service
average. DCLG also lags far behind external benchmark figures
for work/life balance, with only 41% of respondents feeling that
they were able to strike the right balance.
36. Another point of clear concern to DCLG's management
board must be the finding that only 38% of respondents had confidence
in the leaders in their Department, a figure that compares with
57% for the Civil Service as a whole, and which is, notably, also
lower than the 49% the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister achieved
on this measure in a similar survey in 2004. It is worrying that
confidence in the management team is so low and apparently falling.
The Permanent Secretary has recognised that the survey results
"confirm our view that we have to do more to build an effective
leadership team".[45]
31 HC (2005-06) 559, para 41 Back
32
HC (2005-06) 1072, p 8 Back
33
Ev 35 Back
34
Q44 Back
35
Ev 100 Back
36
QQ48-49 Back
37
Ev 100 Back
38
HC (2005-06) 559, para 38 Back
39
HC (2005-06) 1072, p 8 Back
40
Q40 Back
41
Q41 Back
42
Ev 100 Back
43
DCLG Annual Report 2006, pp 30-31 Back
44
QQ41-42 Back
45
DCLG Website - www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1506240 Back
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