The test will assess HR directors in the context of performance targets and customer expectations
05 September 2008
Councils will be able to quality test their most senior HR professionals following the launch of an online self-assessment tool that sets out a model person specification for the job.
A national standard of skills and qualities expected of HR directors in local government has been drawn up by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), PPMA and the Institute for Employment Studies.
The test assesses how capable HR directors are in the context of performance targets and customer expectations within local government.
It will also judge their ability to develop line managers, work effectively with chief executives and councillors, and develop metrics that demonstrate efficient HR policies. And it will check their capacity to develop “personal resilience”.
The scheme will be piloted in October and formally launched in April 2009. Although optional, it will be targeted at every senior HR professional in all 410 local authorities in England and Wales, and possibly those in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“HR is a support service and the public does not vote for it,” said Kelly Sandiford, programme manager for the People Management and Organisational Development team at the IDeA. “HR needs to be low cost and high value and needs to continually assess its own performance and the contribution it makes to the council and community.”
The specification can be used by organisations looking to recruit HR staff and to develop existing staff. Candidates that complete the test will have a number of training opportunities available to them. These include a job shadowing scheme and cross mentoring scheme with private sector firms. Microsoft, Vodafone and Xerox have provisionally agreed to partner local authorities in the scheme.
“Local government HR professionals generally lack internal status and significance,” added Sandiford. “Those successful HR professionals understand that what they do has a major contribution to the services the authority delivers.”