Case study: Leeds City Council

The challenge: becoming the best place to work when times are tough

When living costs surge, councils nationwide feel the pressure from all directions. We need them to do far more with much less. The Council’s Chief HR Officer, Andy Dodman, knows that delivering the best employee experience is vital. And, when high pay and pension packages are just not possible, every part of this experience matters: a warm welcome at recruitment, great management and leadership, exciting  development opportunities and flexible career paths.

Emma Browes, one of the Council’s Business Change Leads, appreciates the value of sharing good practice with other councils. So, halfway through the implementation of its people strategy, she and the HR team decided to work through the CIPD’s People
Impact Tool survey process. Commissioned by the Local Government Association, this partnership with the CIPD set out to support collaboration between councils keen to use an evidence-based approach to inform their business decisions.

The solution: connecting the team’s work to the HR profession’s standards

The People Impact Tool delivers the solid evidence that senior people leaders need. The summary report provides data on an HR team’s current people expertise, business impact and future readiness. Easy to use and quick for internal stakeholders to complete, organisations can get the best return by scheduling the
tool within existing survey cycles and workloads.

Anonymous feedback comments support understanding and action planning. And, with the opportunity to discuss the results in detail, organisations can quickly review their people strategy, refocus their investment and navigate their response to the challenges they see ahead.

Underpinned by the standards set in the CIPD’s Profession Map, the tool measured the capabilities of Leeds City Council’s HR team against the core knowledge, behaviours and specialist expertise required of the people profession. And it gathered feedback from 39 leaders, 40 managers and 18 employees on the team’s impact and readiness for the future.

The outcome: confidence in a team that’s delivering the best employee experience

Timely use of the People Impact Tool gave Leeds City Council the evidence that its HR team are on track. At the midpoint of its people strategy, taking the opportunity to check in across the team and the wider organisation meant that HR could continue to deliver on helping the Council become the best place to work.