HR Shared Services Programme -...

NHS Scotland HR SHARED SERVICES- COMPELLING CASE FOR CHANGE

1

NHS Scotland

HR Shared Services

Compelling Case for Change (CCfC)


2

Purpose of this document

This document provides a Compelling Case for Change (CCfC), in support of the HR Shared

Service project for the NHS in Scotland which has been identified within the wider public

sector reform, 2020 Vision and Once for Scotland agendas.

The main purpose of this document is to establish the need for investment; to appraise the

main options for service delivery; and to provide management with a recommended or

preferred way forward for further analysis.

The CCfC will consider all aspects of the HR functions within the 22 regional and special

Health Boards across Scotland. This paper includes material drawn from previous business

cases and associated material developed over the last 2 years of the HRSS project and the

three subsidiary papers (attached at Annex 1-3) prepared by the individual workstreams

that are considering provision of recruitment, employee services and the employment and

management of medical and other trainees.


3

HR SHARED SERVICES- COMPELLING CASE FOR CHANGE

PURPOSE

This paper sets out the compelling case for change to move from the existing Board based models,

including regional and special Health Boards to a shared service model. The document incorporates

input from each of the three workstreams.

Shared Services is one of a number of workstreams that support the Efficiency and Productivity

Framework across the NHS in Scotland. Considerable work has taken place within Financial Shared

Services and there are further opportunities which will be progressed over the next few years. The

Director General of the NHS in Scotland, along with the Chairs and Chief Executives, has committed

to supporting a wider review of organisational “support” services, common to all Heath Boards,

where there is other potential to adopt a shared services approach and a process mapping exercise

in 2011 identified Human Resources (HR) as a second wave Shared Services work programme.

The underpinning ethos of the Shared Services agenda is:

Simplify: processes and procedures are as “lean” as possible minimising inappropriate waste

Standardise: variation between Health Board areas and individual users is removed

Share: where there are benefits in doing so processes are delivered from a single (or limited number of) location(s).

It is recognised that within HR there is already collaboration at Regional level, around workforce

planning in particular, along with other HR initiatives. Indeed there is also some progress in adopting

a form of “shared services” with local authorities. In 2012, the implementation of a National Single

Instance HR IT system (eESS) commenced, enabling, amongst other functionality, the sharing of

information, links to other workforce related IT systems and consistency across all Health Boards of

HR transactional processes.

Within NHSScotland there has traditionally been a strong focus on employee relations, or

transactional activities, which can be characterised by HR working reactively and tactically, albeit

professionally and to a high standard. The future model of HR will require more emphasis on

understanding and optimising the unique value HR brings to the organisation, requiring HR to

develop skill sets that will result in an improved approach to recognising and anticipating the factors

which will have a strategic impact on Boards; be clearer on the potential impacts these will have;

and play a greater part in shaping and implementing the resulting organisational changes

(transformational activity). HR teams at Board level would have greater opportunity to fulfil this role

within a future shared services model. The new model will ensure that administrative and support

activities will be provided consistently, efficiently and effectively with a potential to achieve

economies of scale. The new model will also ensure that specialist HR activity can be raised within

the pyramid of activity described below to ensure that HR specialists have a greater influence on the

strategic and value added issues facing NHSScotland Boards.


4

In October 2011 a Programme Board was established to oversee the initiation and implementation

of an approach to HR Shared Services. The programme has been established with the high level

objectives of ensuring that the appropriate development of HR Shared Services:

Improves the quality and efficiency of HR services delivered to customers

Improves the governance of HR and workforce related services and activities

Improves the resilience and sustainability of HR services

Delivers redesigned HR service processes which are effective, efficient and productive, and

Ensures the maximisation of business systems integration opportunities (e.g. eESS, e-payroll etc)

The programme was split into three workstreams:

Recruitment

Employee Services

Medical and other Trainees

The programme will deliver HR services to NHS Scotland through a variety of channels including

employee self service, a first response shared service function and a highly professional retained HR

function across the Health Boards.

Clearly there will have to be an implementation plan to enable the deployment of eESS and the

transfer of responsibilities into a shared service.

The diagram below shows pictorially the desired outcome from a transformational change to shared

services for HR:


5

The areas shown in green in the bottom two segments of the triangle would comprise the shared

services element of the future HR model , including provision for employee self service and a

manager’s portal to access data or provide first call response to HR issues. The top two segments

remain with the retained HR teams within the Boards and represent the value added work to be

done.

The centre segment will be handled by either staff in the shared service element or by retained HR

staff depending on the nature and complexity of the issue.

Successful delivery of the strategy is predicated on the successful deployment of an ERP system

across NHS Scotland to enable easy access to all data, etc. Currently, there is a separate programme

deploying such a technology- eESS. Seventeen Boards have already migrated their data in to eESS

although the full functionality has not yet been rolled out. Lothian and Glasgow are in the process of

migrating their data into eESS. Three Boards, Lothian, Lanarkshire and NSS, have agreed to pilot the

end-to-end system including the functionality required to support shared services operations.

Clearly there will have to be an implementation plan to optimise the deployment of eESS and the

transfer of responsibilities into a shared service.

The table below sets out the business scope and key service requirements based on minimum,

intermediate and maximum outcomes.

Minimum Intermediate Maximum

Potential business

scope

Medical and other

Trainees and

Recruitment served

by a simplified,

standardised share

service

Minimum scope plus

employee services

served by a

simplified,

standardised shared

service

All HR functions served by a

shared service

Key service

requirements

I-rec fully

implemented

Simplified

processes for

trainees with

lead employer

ERP system

implemented to

enable shared

service approach

Strong SLA’s in

place between

the shared

service centre

and the Boards

ERP system fully

implemented including

employee self service

and managers’ portal.

All modules in place and

delivering the required

access and outputs

The primary purpose of the compelling case for change is to set out the strategic rationale behind

moving to this new model through a transformational change to how HR services are delivered to a

new model based on simplified, standardised processes shared across NHS Scotland.

The objectives of this paper include:


6

facilitate strategic and collaborative planning and the setting of associated budgets for each

of the workstreams;

identify and cost key components of the strategy and enable the workstreams;

provide the strategic context for subsequent investments in a wider application of the

model; and

facilitate the speedy production of subsequent business cases for subsequent investment.

STRATEGIC CASE

Organisation overview

Each of the 22 Health Boards have an HR function that delivers HR services to all stakeholders of the

Board, from job applicants through to those who are about to retire. The capability of each of the HR

functions varies widely depending on the size of the Board and the element of overall funding for

the Board made available to the relevant HR Director.

The Customer Insights exercise

In November 2013 the programme board agreed that it would be beneficial to understand what

customers of HR felt about the current HR services they receive and where a move to shared

services might add value or detriment existing quality. The exercise comprised 3 elements of

engagement; 1-to-1 interviews with both the CEO and the HRD at the 10 Boards; 2 focus groups at

each Board – 1 involving HR teams and 1 involving a cross section of operational customers and staff

side representatives; an e-survey targeting a broader group of HR staff and operational customers.

This totalled 20 1-to-1 sessions, 84 people in focus groups and 355 completed e-surveys. A further

110 staff in NHS GG&C had contributed opinions to the review.

The initial question all participants were asked was whether they thought that the model of HR

services currently in place would serve the organisation going forward or whether it needed to

change. 95% of those from the 1-to-1s and focus groups agreed that there was a need to change;

with 81% of those in the e-survey also agreeing the need to change.

The detail in the table below represents summarised outcomes from the feedback gained during this

exercise and consideration of the feedback by HRDs.

What is valued

Face to face contact; professional, efficient, timely services

HR “doing it” for managers as much as is possible

Relationships, support, advice, expertise is valued by customers

Efficiency and performance is valued by CEOs

Transactional and visible activities – but the other activities which aren’t necessarily seen or get measured don’t seem to be


7

Local knowledge

What needs to change

Enhanced customer focus

Consistency across the 22 Boards

Clarity of role, brand then the marketing of HR

Articulation of the workforce vision

Enhanced recruitment expertise and process

Support for managers to fulfil their core role around people

Working in a more values-based way as HR

Capability around change management

Be more aligned to 2020 service vision.

HRDs working together as a group around the requirement for transformation

Increased and enhanced use of technology

Greater process efficiency; timeliness of response; consistency of advice

Simplified, accessible policies

The HRDs perspective

The HRDs participated in a workshop early in May 2014, following the methodology used with the

focus groups in Customer Insights, to consider their perspective of HR services in relation to “keep-

lose-create-avoid” for the future. The outcomes are detailed below.

Keep

Consistency Existing HR expertise Focusing on patients Keep and enhance interactive desk top communications (avoid excessive travel) Local organisational knowledge and history On-line learning (and need more) Partnership working Six steps Talented staff The Chief Executives’ confidence in HR

Lose

22 versions PIN policy Cumbersome admin processes Duplication and inconsistency IT systems which do not deliver and are not valued (and KSF) Negative attitudes and fear of change Parent/child relationship Parochialism Processes that add no value

Create Avoid

HR excellence, professional systems and processes Accessibility and flexibility Standardisation and collaboration

22 x everything and silo thinking Complicated, inaccessible, non-friendly systems and bureaucracy Dependency culture


8

Healthy “can do” innovative culture – living the values Compelling vision Consistent and user-friendly policies Customer focused culture Empowered managers with the skills for people management Fully functioning single instance robust IT system + web enabled accessibility (phone and tablet etc) “Balance Scorecard” performance metrics Greater efficiency and performance culture

Focusing on negative behaviours Focusing on transactional matters Inconsistency in local application of policy Over measurement Silo thinking

Strategy and programme investment aims

There are a number of key drivers from change arising from internal and external pressures:

2020 Vision- provides the strategic narrative and context for taking forward the

implementation of the Quality Strategy, and the required actions to improve efficiency and

achieve financial sustainability.

Demographic Challenge of ageing population requiring more health care for longer

Public Sector Reform creating a clearer, simpler and more effective public sector for the

people of Scotland.

Once for Scotland- the principle that one person or organisation takes ownership and

ensures that services are empowered and delivered with minimal cross public sector

interventions

Budget Pressures- funding pressures have been constant for many years and exacerbated by

the recent recession and the rising cost of treatments

Customer feedback from some aspects of the service has been less than positive, particularly

around the journey of young doctors, dentists and other trainees wishing to train and work

in Scotland.

Technological Advances- HR teams have been slow to adopt new technologies, probably

driven by the expense and the need to maintain as much funding for the front line rather

than investing in back office functions

Scalable Technology- many technologies are better suited to larger HR departments which

mean that smaller Health Boards are unable to afford the investment.

Need for resilience in and sustainability of service- particularly in smaller Boards with smaller

HR teams where there is little cover and HR professionals tend to be generalists rather than

specialists

Continued Drive towards Consistency and Standardisation- both within the Boards and

across the Boards. There are examples of cross-Scotland systems. However, there are

further opportunities to develop consistency and standardisation.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Policy/2020-Vision/Strategic-Narrative

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Policy/2020-Vision/Quality-Strategy


9

Encourage Ownership/Accountability and Responsibility for actions and advice given

Existing arrangements

Each Health Board has its own HR team supporting employees, managers, applicants to recruitment

advertisements and the organisations in which they work. Each team of HR professionals is different

dependent on the size of the Board. In some Boards, this means that HR professionals can specialise

in certain aspects of the service. In others it means that they have to be generalists. Whilst the

overall service provision may be the same, clearly those that are specialists can provide a much

deeper insight into issues.

The scope of HR services can be best shown in the table below:

HR Processes

Medical and Other Trainees

Recruitment Employee Services

Training, Development and Education

Attendance Management Workforce management, exit and retiral

Workforce Planning and Redesign

Occupational Health, Employee Welfare and Safety

Organisation Development

Payroll admin, delivery and expenses

Equality and Diversity Internal Communications

Competency management Rewards, Compensation and Benefits

Pensions admin

Discipline and Grievance Employee Assistance Talent management, succession planning


10

The model below depicts to some extent the organisational “levels” of the current HR operating

model:

“General” HR Workforce Planning and

Development

Leadership Development

and L&D

National – Strategy

Workforce 20/20 Vision

Integration

Overall direction

Educational Strategy

National – Policy

Pay and T&Cs

Policy development

Partnership development

Workforce policy (e.g.

nos. in

training/education;

educational standards)

National – Workforce

Governance &

Engagement

Senior/exceptional advice and

guidance

Workforce information

monitoring

Leadership framework

(NES)

Regional

Workforce Planning and

Redesign (aligned to

regional service planning)

Some regional L&D and

leadership development

activity

Board

All HR/Workforce related

activity

Employee engagement

Board workforce agenda

Partnership

Policy Implementation

SG standards monitoring

Health and Social Care

integration agenda

Recruitment

Health and Safety

Occupational Health Service

(but not all Boards)

Workforce Planning and

Redesign

L&D and OD provision

Service Redesign (in some

Boards)

Site

All operational HR support Workforce Planning and

Redesign at team/service

level

Operational L&D


11

In Scope Workstreams – existing arrangements

Recruitment - Anyone applying for a generic job in the NHS in Scotland has to apply to each of

Health Boards individually rather than to one overall recruitment team. For applicants, this is

extremely time consuming and wasteful. For the recruitment teams, this is also quite wasteful as the

same candidate may be interviewed a number of times by different recruitment teams, before

successfully securing a position.

Medical and other trainees-In contrast to generic recruitment, NHS Scotland has been able to

organise itself such that NHS Scotland is one region within the UK to which applicants can apply.

There is no reason why this approach could not be applied to other generic applications. Conversely,

once recruited into NHS Scotland, the medical and other trainees undergo a very difficult journey

through their various rotations. One of the major issues is the lack of a single employer which means

that many rotations involve off-boarding from their previous placement, which is likely to be an

employing Board, and then on boarding into their new placement employing Board. This involves

redoing their medical and background checks, generic induction, etc. There are 3,000 rotations every

year with trainees rotating up to four times per year. This is completely wasteful activity, both for

the Boards and for the trainees.

The third workstream would be to standardise the approach to HR case work and standardise the

data and processes across Scotland. A key aspect of this workstream is determining the cut off

between case work that can be handled competently by the shared service provider and case work

that needs to be handed over to the retained HR professionals in the Boards.

Business needs

A number of issues have been identified across Scotland, although not all of the issues are universal

as some HR teams are already working towards solutions.

There is a need for further standardisation and consistency in approach as well as a sharing

of resources

HR issues are often complex and span across organisations

There is a great deal of duplication in a number of processes and workstreams

Some teams, particularly the smaller teams struggle with resilience and sustainability.

Customer feedback with regard to the quality of service provision is not as good as it could be. The

drive therefore is to improve quality, while reducing costs and recycling savings back into the Boards.

Benefits, risks, dependencies and constraints

Satisfying the potential scope for this investment will deliver the following high-level strategic and

operational benefits. By investment objectives these are as follows:

HR Professionals focussed on added value tasks

Consistent, timely delivery of HR services

Customer focused service using simplified, standardised processes

Flexible, responsive and interactive HR resource

Consistently accurate


12

Knowledgeable about local and national issues

Communication and sharing of knowledge

Learning and challenging environment

Visible – ‘One NHSS’

Clear expectations – SLAs/KPIs

Cross business friendly

Governance, ICQ,

Capabilities/competencies set for HR professionals

Workflowed to facilitate the end to end processes

Decisions to recruit and appoint retained locally

The main ‘dis-benefits’ are as follows (if applicable):

Staff may be remote from the cases they are likely to be dealing with

Complexity of infrastructure within the Boards

Performance and delivery of shared services under SLA would need stronger management

The benefits of the programme would be measured in terms of the following four quartiles of a

benefits scorecard:

Quality

This is the quality of the HR service as

perceived by customers of the service and

the value that is added by HR services in

NHSS.

Service Delivery

This is the performance of the HR service

for example time to process a transaction,

consistency of advice and equality of

access to specialist services.

Cost

This covers any benefits which reduce the

cost of service in terms of productivity

savings, efficiency savings, cash releasing,

cost avoidance or releasing productive

time)

People

This is benefits relating to the workforce

employed within HR and patients/public

where appropriate.

ECONOMIC CASE

Critical success factors

The critical success factors for the delivery of a shared service approach to HR are as follows:

HRSS and eESS Programmes are aligned and co produce outputs

Successful implementation of eESS and its various modules


13

Standardised way of working for each of the processes and modules within eESS

All HR processes critically reviewed and where there are opportunities to simplify, these are

taken and deployed throughout Scotland

Appropriate deployment of technology to support the implementation of eESS including

telephony and document management

High quality training to support a solution based approach to eESS

Strong commitment from the Boards and HR leadership teams.

Preferred way forward

The preferred way forward is for each of the workstreams to reach conclusions regarding their

recommendations for a delivery model based on clearly defined and agreed process maps. Once this

has been done the most appropriate management and governance model for the service or element

thereof can be established. The preferred way forward for each workstream is described in the

attached change cases.

COMMERCIAL CASE

Commercial strategy

There is no intention to let the operation of a shared service to a third party. Any solution will

involve existing staff based in locations that already house HR resources, although there may be a

requirement for more extensive flexible working arrangements by staff undertaking the roles

perceived to be of added value.

Procurement/Selection strategy

It is clear that there may need to be a selection process in certain workstreams as there may be

multiple individual NHS Boards or Board consortiums who may wish to provide services on behalf of

NHSScotland. These processes cannot as yet be defined however it should be recognised that further

discussion on these processes will be required. The workstreams will deliver agreed process maps

clearly identifying how the current process will be standardised and simplified to deliver a cost

effective Once for Scotland approach. It is envisaged that there will be a need for further IT solutions

and OD programmes and these may require a procurement process.

FINANCIAL CASE

Affordability

The financial case has yet to be fully assessed. However, it is clear that there are savings that can be

delivered from moving to a shared service model for HR, including:

Reduced duplication of effort across Scotland from more generic recruitment of staff using a

similar approach to that used in recruiting specialist medical trainees- i.e. one region

specialising in recruiting each of the non-medical disciplines


14

Better use of technology for recruitment- e.g. use of social media and i-REC

The development of a service centre and case management model for transactional

activities may facilitate a possible reduction in the requirement for HR staff across NHS

Scotland

A single employment contract for medical trainees will reduce the costs of administering the

contracts, including:

o Contract administration

o Repeated off boarding between rotations

o Repeated extended inductions between rotations

o Duplications in occupational health and PVG checks between rotations

o Lost time in Boards, including trainee’s time repeating induction processes

Savings are summarised in the table below, these savings are in addition to any local systems savings

delivered by the eESS programme.


15

Programme Costs

In order to deliver the shared services programme, the individual workstreams have identified the

core resources and associated costs that will be required. In addition a co-ordinating programme

function will be required to provide proper programme management, project and administration

support and ensure that workstreams remain aligned and on-track with each other and broader

initiative including eESS. The Programme function would include a Lead, Programme Support Officer,

Analyst and Administrator. The workstream, programme and non-staff costs are shown in the table

below.

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

Current Programme Management Arrangements

The Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) is John Burns, Chief Executive of NHS Ayrshire and Arran.

Each of the three workstreams is led by a HR Director, each with its own Steering group as well as a

sub-group set up by the HR Directors to ensure that outcomes from the programme are shared with

HR Directors and that the HR Directors have a forum through which they can input to the

programme.

The workstream leads are:

HR Transformation - Cost & Benefits Summary

£'000s Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5

Costs

Programme 242 242 242 242 242

WS-Rec 95 95

WS-MaOT 148 148 148

WS-ES 265 265 265 265 265

750 750 655 507 507

Savings

WS-Rec 212.5 425 850 850

WS-MaOT 562.5 1125 2250 2250

WS-ES 1750 3500 7000

0 775 3300 6600 10100

NET -750 25 2645 6093 9593

Assumptions:

Programme Board and other reference/governance group costs are excluded

Local board resource costs are excluded

WS-Rec benefits based on mid-point of estimates phased 25%,50%,100%

WS-MoAT benefits based on single employer saving 50% of cost of recruit value

on 3000 rotations per annum phased 25%,50%,100%

WS-ES benefits based on efficiency ratio estimates phased 25%,50%,100%

Natural wastage and co-ordinated workforce management will satisfy headcount

reductions over 3-5 years.


16

Recruitment:- Ian Reid, HR Director NHS Glasgow

Medical and other Trainees:- Kenneth Small HR Director Lanarkshire

Employee Services:- Jacqui Jones, HR Director NHS Shared Services

HR Sub group- Caroline Sharp, HR Director Dumfries and Galloway.

Proposed Future Programme Management Arrangements

To ensure integrity in the approach to the delivery of the workstreams described in the attached

cases for change, it is envisaged that a robust programme co-ordination function is put in place

together with a programme board which is representative and able to provide sound challenge and

decisions to the programme.

In order to ensure that the deployment of HRSS is closely linked to the implementation of eESS it is

further envisaged that Programme Boards are strongly aligned if not shared and that the ultimate

governance through EPB and the coalition are utilised to ensure HRSS maximises the opportunity

that the eESS platform provides.

A potential Management and Governance structure is shown below:

Programme Board

Programme

Lead

WSL

Recruitment

SME

Recruitment

WSL

MoAT

SME

Medical Staffing

SME

Training/Statutory

WSL

Emp Svcs

SME

Policies & Process

SME

OD/Training

Programme Support

Analytical

Support

Admin Supprt

HRDs

HDMGChief Execs

EPB

Once for Scotland?

stakeholder groupsstakeholder

groupsWorkstreamstakeholder

groups

stakeholder groupsstakeholder

groupseESS Workflow Groups

eESSUser

Group


17

Programme milestones

The diagram below shows the outline the main milestones for the programme in the years ahead.

1st

Quarter

2015/16

3rd

Quarter

2015/16

2nd

Quarter

2015/16

4th

Quarter

2015/16

3rd

Quarter

2016/17

2nd

Quarter

2016/17

4th

Quarter

2016/17

1st

Quarter

2016/17

4th

Quarter

2014/15

eESS

iRec Pilots

HR Transition

Case for Change

Medical and other Trainees

Recruitment- simplify and standardise Recruitment- implement shared services

Employee Services simplify and standardise Employee Services- implement shared services

Mobilise and prepare SSC

Roll out eESS Funtionality

iRec Roll out


18

Annex 1

HR Shared Services Programme:

Strategic Business Case Recruitment Services


19

Purpose/Objectives

The programme applies to the recruitment services function of all NHS Scotland Health Boards. The

purpose of a recruitment service is to attract staff to organisations, conduct an efficient and

effective recruitment process which is safe in terms of compliance with extant legislation and

guidance, is demonstrably fair and transparent, and ensures that the best applicants are selected for

the available posts. These business needs will remain unchanged by implementation of a shared

service. The objective in changing the configuration of the service from individual provision by 22

Boards to a shared service is to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness with which it is delivered

in meeting the needs of hiring organisations (and within that the managers who are using the

service) as well as both internal and external applicants.

The recruitment work stream element of shared services encompasses NHS recruitment services

within territorial and special Health Boards across Scotland. It will aim to move from the existing

model in which recruitment is broadly carried out by 22 Scottish Boards on an individual basis, to a

more collaborative model based on a strong NHS Scotland brand and delivered from either one or a

small number of centres. Underpinned by appropriate technology and standardised and simplified

processes and procedures the shared service approach will also facilitate sharing of expertise and

promote both efficiency of operation and effectiveness of outcome in recruitment across NHS

Scotland.

Business Case

Shared Services is one of a number of work streams that support the Efficiency and Productivity

Framework across the NHS in Scotland. The Director General of the NHS in Scotland, along with the

Chairs and Chief Executives have committed to support a review of NHS “support” services, common

to all Health boards, where there is potential to adopt a shared service approach. Following on from

the work already under way in Finance, Human Resources was identified as a second wave Shared

Services work programme.

The underpinning ethos of the Shared Services Programme agenda is:

Simplify: processes and procedures are as “lean” as possible, minimising inappropriate

waste

Standardise: variation between health boards and individual users is removed

Share: where there are benefits in doing so processes are delivered from a single (or

limited number of) locations

The HR Programme’s high level objectives are to ensure that the appropriate development of HR

Shared Service:




20


Delivers re-designed service processes which are effective, efficient, and productive

Ensures the maximisation of business systems integration opportunities

There are three work streams; Employee Relations, Medical and Other Trainees and Recruitment. In

relation to the recruitment work stream the programme aims aligns with the 2020 Vision in seeking

to ensure that NHS Scotland has the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right

time, enabling safe, effective, and person centred care.

In relation to all three work streams, the engagement and discussion which aims to move towards

the above objectives will need to take account of potentially rapid changes to the overall landscape

associated with health and social care integration.

The current position – Recruitment - provision of services and models of delivery.

In relation to the recruitment element of the overall Shared Services Programme the existing

situation is that while there is some developing collaboration between Scottish Health Boards,

particularly in relation to medical recruitment, this is still a function that is carried out by Boards on

an individual basis. The purpose of the programme is to create a shared service which will be

configured in such a way as to achieve the high level objectives alluded to above.

Recruitment services are delivered in all 22 Scottish Health Boards, with the delivery model varying

across Scotland. Larger Health Boards will tend to have dedicated recruitment sections, with staff

having this as their sole function. In other cases staff will carry recruitment as one of a number of

other functions. As one would expect there are significant variances in the levels of recruitment

activity carried out by different Boards and this will be reflected both in the numbers of staff

carrying out the function and in the way that function is organized and managed.


Potential benefits are based on recruitment being managed and/or carried out either in one national

centre or three regional centres.

Potential for financial savings from more efficient and effective use of staff resources

Standardisation and simplification of recruitment service processes across NHS Scotland

Maximised usage of business systems integration opportunities ( eESS, e-payroll)

Opportunities for linkage with other shared services work e.g. Financial Shared Services)

Opportunity for radical process re-engineering

Development of common recruitment metrics across Scotland with benchmarking possible

against both other public and private sector organisations

Improved resilience and sustainability of services


21

Step change in the level of expertise available to many local Boards in recruiting highly

skilled and qualified staff

A consequential increase in effectiveness in terms of attracting and recruiting staff in

stressed medical specialties and other staff groups

The strengthening of NHS Scotland as a national and global brand in recruitment terms

Potential for improving NHS Scotland’s recruitment outcomes at UK, EU, and international

levels

Potential risks:

Potential risks, many of which were identified in the Project Initiation document included:

Resistance from HR community means that efficiency savings are not identified or

implemented

Individual NHS Boards do not buy in to the approved model of service delivery, thus

affecting the ability of the programme to implement new pan Scotland ways of working

Although agreeing a service delivery model. Boards are unable to reach agreement on the

financial and staffing arrangements associated with the model

Partnership is not engaged locally and/or nationally, affecting buy in to the design and

implementation of new models of recruitment shared services

HR customers, particularly managers feel that moving management of recruitment service

out with local boards will result in both a loss of control and a diminution of the service they

receive

HR Staff at Board level de-motivated though fear of change resulting from recruitment

shared services resulting in staff becoming disenfranchised or leaving

Inadequate baseline information on activity, staffing and costs does not allow proper

analysis of options for change or evaluation of change, once effected

Underpinning technology (eESS/I Rec) not ready for implementation

Underpinning technology implemented in a way that results in a loss of IT systems

functionality for some Boards, with associated reputational and operational risks amongst

customers (both within recruitment teams and amongst managers and applicants using the

system)

Insufficient working between work streams means that opportunities for shared working

and learning are not identified.



22

Prior to implementation a series of common recruitment related metrics will be developed in

conjunction with recruitment leads across Scotland. Potential examples include performance

measures such as time to hire and finance measures such as cost to hire. These metrics will form a

baseline against which a future shared service can be compared to the existing arrangements.

Option Appraisal

Shared Services Recruitment has been through an options appraisal process with five options initially

identified being whittled down to two.

The five options initially under consideration were:

Option 1 - One shared services Organisation across Scotland

Option 2 - Work stream specific shared services

Option 3 - Regional Shared services organisations

Option 4 - Shared Serviced located in existing boards

Option 5 - Maintain the status quo

Two workshops were held on 31st January and 28th February 2014 with stakeholders including HR

professionals, operational HR customers, and staff side representatives in attendance. Options 1 and

3 were favoured. At its meeting on 17 September 2014 the Shared Services Programme Board

decided that the other options should be discarded and that options 1 and 3 should be evaluated.

This evaluation is currently under way.


Recommendations on the preferred way forward will be formulated by the National Shared Services

Programme Board based on the evaluation alluded to above.

Economic Case

Work undertaken on potential financial savings associated with shared services recruitment

indicated that savings on direct staffing costs (including on costs) of between £0.49m and £1.71m

may be achievable. These estimated savings do not include potential savings on other costs such as

Corporate or HR overheads. Nor do they include estimated of potential savings on other non-wage

costs, such as advertising or Disclosure checks. Further detailed analysis is planned on potential

savings in these other areas.

The estimated savings did not take account of savings that could potentially be realised by

improvements that shared services could make in other areas of spending. For example, in 2012/13

MHDS Scotland spent £51.3m on locum doctors. While these costs are far more related to

implementation of the Working Time Directive and the necessity to meet Scottish Government

targets than recruitment per se it is at least arguable that a more efficient and effective recruitment

service across NHS Scotland as a whole could play a part in reducing spend in this area.


23

In addition, the analysis undertaken has not looked at potential additional costs associated with the

various options. For example a regional or national model will either be virtual in nature or will

involve co-location in one or three centres. A virtual model may not incur any additional costs. It

may however limit the potential for both financial savings and improvements in the service.

Co-location, unless existing NHS facilities can be utilised, will result in recurring or non recurring

costs (or both). The financial analysis will be extended to factor this (and any other potential costs)

into consideration of the way forward. The primary potential objection to a co-located service is the

potential loss of local presence in boards on recruitment and the perception that there could be a

loss of local control over recruitment when service provision is moved to a regional or national basis

Resources Required to Deliver Workstream Outputs

The resource required to take recruitment Shared Services forward into implementation will be 2

WTE, one Workstream Lead at Head of Recruitment level (approx. Band 8A) and one Subject Matter

Expert at approx. Band 5/6. Annual cost £95k

Programme management arrangements

Programme Management arrangements will be taken forward by the Recruitment Workstream Lead

supported by a Workstream SME as identified above. The Workstream Lead will report to the HRSS

Programme Lead who will be accountable to the HRSS Programme Board. The Programme Lead will

liaise closely with the key stakeholders who will include the Heads of Recruitment and eESS

Recruitment Workflow group. The costs of this oversight & governance are included in the overall

Case for Change.


March/April 2015 – Programme Board considers output from eESS/I-Rec pilots and

recommendations on recruitment shared service models and decide whether to proceed to shared

service in recruitment and if so what service model is to be adopted.

March to July 2015 – 3 Month Test of Change Pilot involving 2 NHS Boards

August 2015 – Programme Board asked to approve preferred shared service model for recruitment

in NHSScotland

September 2015 – September 2016 - Preferred shared service option developed towards full

implementation

October 2016 – Recruitment Shared services implemented


24

Annex 2

HR Shared Services Programme

Strategic Business Case- Medical and Other Trainees Workstream


25

Purpose/Objectives

The purpose of this document is to provide a recommendation regarding how Medical and other

Trainees and Health Boards can best be served during the journey through the training programme.

The scope of this workstream is:-

Medical- Foundations Trainees, Core Trainees, Speciality Registrars, GPStRs, Fixed term & Locum

Appointments for training only (not service), Hospital Dental Trainees.

In addition there are a wider range of trainee groups that are recruited into NHS Scotland :-

Pharmacy, Management Training Scheme , Dental SHO Training, Psychology that are managed by

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) under a national shared service. It was agreed these trainee

groups are out of scope. Trainee dentists (apart from Hospital Dental Trainees) are employed by

Dental Practices for the duration of their training. GP Trainees are employed by NES for the period

for the GP Practice component of their training. Trainees therefore rotate employment across

Territorial Boards and NES (GPStRs) for the duration of their training.

This paper is concerned with the Trainees within scope as defined above where feedback from the

trainees indicates that many endure a poor experience during the course of their training due to

duplication in processes arising from having no one single employer. As a result, the trainees are

asked to undertake personal background and occupational health checks each time they are rotated

between different health boards, each of which is a separate employer.

From the Scottish NHS perspective this inefficient as medical staffing teams duplicate work

previously done at recruitment and time is wasted redoing the generic elements of induction. There

are also concerns that issues arising through the doctors in difficulty processes are not being fully

recorded and that these issues continuing undetected longer than they should.

The key recommendation from this report is that a single employer is appointed for the trainees

during the entire period of their training. Trainees in difficulty, misconduct or performance issues are

also more likely to be identified due to records being with a single employer which does not happen

effectively under current arrangements. A number of options are available to implement this

recommendation including:

• One NHS Body for Scotland

• Use one of the existing Health Boards to act as single employer

• Use a number of existing regional health boards as an interim measure. There are circa

800 ‘inter –regional’ rotations annually which represent 25% of the annual rotations in

NHS Scotland. This would provide an interim step towards one single employer for

Scotland.

Within the medical education system in Scotland there is an inherent dichotomy between those

providing qualitative control on training and those whose needs are to ensure that medical facilities

are suitably staffed. Whilst for the majority of the time there is no conflict, there are always these

competing objectives which brings suspicion and mistrust into the need to resolve the fundamental

issue which is to improve the journey for the trainees.


26

Currently the process can breakdown leaving both the Trainees and the Medical Managers,

frustrated with the process.

The Medical Trainee’s process integrates with and transcends other HR processes and indeed goes

beyond the overall scope of HR and into clinical governance. Within the placement Boards, the HR

work currently tends to be done within the specialist Medical Staffing teams rather than being

included within the general HR workload, although this varies depending on the size and structure of

the HR teams.

Medical Trainees are a unique grouping with the health service in Scotland with responsibility,

management and governance split between their current employer (one of the NHS Boards) and

NHS Education Scotland (NES). Their employment rotates across territorial boards/NES as their

education training programme requires a range of experiences. NES are responsible for the

management of their education throughout the lifetime of the trainee journey. NES are also

responsible for the trainee progression for a number of groups in NHS Scotland.


27

BUSINESS CASE

Organisation overview

The table below attempts to show how responsibility is split across the various aspects of HR

activity:

Area of HR Comments

Recruitment NHSS part of UK wide recruitment. Co-ordinated by NES with assessment centres for various specialities run by individual Boards, including NES.

Training, Development and Education Managed by NES and overseen by locally based TPDs, etc. (including NES). ,

Workforce Planning and Redesign Scottish Government

Payroll admin, delivery and expenses Payroll administered locally with trainee pay bill funded by NES.

Progression management Managed by NES and , overseen by locally based TPDs

Doctors in Difficulty Managed locally by clinical lead/HR with advice to and input from NES/Deanery as required

Medical Revalidation NES/Responsible Officer

Discipline and Grievance Managed locally, and in partnership with NES where the trainee’s progression is impacted

Attendance Management Managed locally and in partnership with NES where trainee’s progression is impacted

Occupational Health, Employee Welfare and Safety

Managed locally, overseen by NES

Equality and Diversity NES/Employing Board & Trainee

Rewards, Compensation and Benefits National agreements in place

Employee Assistance Delivered locally

Workforce management and exit NES manage exit and rotations

Organisation Development N/A

Internal Communications NES and current employer

Pensions admin N/A

Talent management, succession planning Scottish Government and NES

The trainees’ employment and training records are recorded and managed through separate

systems. Boards will use local HR systems/eESS to manage employment records and systems used

within NES to manage the trainees are also different from those used by the other health Boards.


28

Specific software, TURAS (formerly Pinnacle & owned by NES) Pinnacle, is used to manage

progression through the training programme. In addition there are separate systems i.e. SOAR

(Scottish On-Line Appraisal Resource), e-Portfolio, etc. which manage, record and provide

professional development resources against training requirements, as well as a separate system for

recording progress against training requirements.

There are approximately 3,000 inter- Board rotations, including circa 780 ‘inter-region’ transfers,

each year requiring medical trainees to complete similar paperwork, undergo on-boarding and off-

boarding activities and to undertake PVG and occupational health checks often multiple times, albeit

for different employees. If this wasteful activity could be eliminated, then HR resources could focus

on added value activities and trainees would enjoy a much more stream lined training journey.

The structure of training programmes is shown in the table below.

Strategy and programme investment aims

The strategy aims to address the key issues for all the stakeholder groups by addressing issues of

compliance with the Staff Governance Standard, trainee performance/conduct and eliminating or

reducing to a minimum the wasted effort currently endured by the trainee doctors and HR teams

alike. Regularly on-boarding and off- boarding of trainees as they rotate through their training

involves some activities that are unavoidable. However, much wasted work is expended on issues

that can easily be resolved by a single employer. Changing employer regularly involves PVG checks,

occupational health checks and transfers between payrolls with the entire incumbent set up. These

can all be eliminated by the introduction of a single employer.


29


In the course of their education and training programme, trainees can rotate between NHS Boards

several times - up to 4 times in the course of their training (can be more for some speciality

programmes). Rotation is necessary for a rounded educational experience however the existing

arrangements of multiple employers is an attraction and retention issue and can put Scottish

trainees and the service at a competitive disadvantage.

The current arrangement inhibits trainees from achieving some of their personal ambitions for

example it presents challenges in obtaining a mortgage. It also imposes unnecessary administration

burdens when they need to focus on their education and training

There are also significant duplicate costs to NHS Scotland and to trainees as result of the multiple

employer arrangement - for example issuing contracts of employment, on-boarding, induction, and

repeating mandatory training for each rotation.

Current arrangements inhibit the effective application of Staff Governance standards for trainees

which is a statutory requirement and a key objective of Everyone Matters (2020 Workforce Vision) –

there is no comprehensive ‘end to end’ staff record for trainees and there is currently inconsistent

application of policy for trainees across Scotland.

Business needs

There is a clear business need to remove all the duplication of cost and effort in the system both

from an employers’ and a trainees’ perspective. This can best be done by having a single employer in

Scotland. There are, however, a number of issues that will need to be addressed.

There is a need to anticipate the changing regulatory requirements, agenda and future

developments e.g. the impact of the Shape of training review (Greenaway) with the potential for

different rotational arrangements and the Health & Social Care Integration agenda.

Potential scope and service requirements

The Medical Staffing and Trainees workstream covers the provision of workforce planning and

development, management and delivery of recruitment, training rotations and employment practice

for the trainees identified as being in scope.


The key benefits of a single employer model include:

Improved Trainee Performance Management with Trainees in difficulty or with performance

and conduct issues are more likely to be identified due to records all being with a single

employer in support of enhanced patient care


30

Scotland is a more attractive training destination and attracts better quality candidates

Trainees are able to develop a relationship with a single employer and a single set of policies

and procedures

Trainees are issued with long term contracts which enables them easier access to mortgages,

etc.

Trainees gain enhanced and consistent rights to benefits in line with NHS Scotland policies

Economies of scale - single Lead employer enables a single point of contact and enables

resilience and sustainability within the HR Medical Workforce Team

Continuous management and support built on the existing experienced professionals

One set of pre-employment checks including PVG and occupation health checks improves the

employee experience

Cost reduction through one time PVG and occupational health checks as well as saving time

and effort within the HR Medical Workforce Team

Streamlining the governance and clinical governance arrangements

Improving consistency

Maintains and strengthens the employment relationship between employer and trainee

Clear lines of communication and joint responsibility for Doctors in Training

Improved trainee employment experience

End to end employment and training records, management and progression are aligned

Transparency for the trainee

Reduce competition between Boards for the best candidates.

Overview of good / poor practice to enable identification and development of best practice

Centralised management information for employment records through eESS that will address a

number of current issues regarding visibility of employment data to relevant parties. ‘One

Version of the Truth’

There are issues that will need to be addressed:

The approach is predicated on data being available across all health boards and data sharing

agreements would need to be in place as well as interfaces with rostering and sickness absence

recording software. It had been hoped that eESS would make this available. However, with

some Boards not implementing until quarter 4 2015, arrangements will have to be put in place

using existing software.

All policies relating to Doctors in Training will need to be standardised and consistently applied

across NHS Scotland supported by a National Policy Development Group (Partnership). This

Group will be established using the knowledge, skills and experience currently available within

NHSS.

SLA's will need to be negotiated in advance of implementing the new way of working

Any organisation taking on management of the 5,750 trainees will need to have infrastructure

in place to support the HR issues that will still accompany the trainees on their journey, albeit

that many of these will be dealt with as part of the wider HR shared services project

Scheme of Delegation / Accountability will need to be clarified and resolved

Stakeholder engagement and consultation is essential if ownership and implementation is to be

a success


31

A phased implementation plan would be needed to test out the processes

Maintenance of existing funding from NES to Lead employers for core contracts and OOH /

Banding payments from local boards to lead employer

Need to gain clarity on determining with PVG the process for enabling a single clearance and

the Occupational Health Service passport that will need to be agreed across Boards / NES

Need to seek advice from CLO regarding legal implications of the employment and employment

liabilities with regard to the trainee doctors working in the health Boards whist not employees

of that Board

Excess travel and relocation issues on payroll will need to be addressed

ECONOMIC CASE


The critical success factors for the programme include:

Enhanced patient care and quality assurance of all trainee issues across Scotland

Improved, streamlined journey for the medical trainees

Continuity of employment for medical trainees

Single PVG and occupational health check at start of contract

Single contract for medical trainees in Scotland

Safe working for medical facilities

Improved processes and support for trainee doctors in difficulty

Availability of eESS and ability to share information easily around those who need to know

Ability to attract the appropriate medical staff and trainees

Improved retention rates of qualified trainees

Reduced cost of administration of processes

Consistency of Policy application

Improved Customer (trainee) satisfaction ratings

Reduced number of unnecessary handovers for staff between NHS Boards (reduction in

duplication and waste in processes)

A more effective and efficient end to end process with an overall reduction in the cost to

manage the Medical trainees process

Main options

Two main options are being considered:

A single employer model - with a proposal to be operated by NES

A regional model operated by 3 (or perhaps 4) regions based on consistent systems, processes

and procedures.


32


Once the high level ‘To Be’ end to end process has been agreed and signed off, an exercise will take

place to identify the organisation(s) best qualified to deliver the required outcomes for the trainees

The preferred way forward is set out below:

Agree high level end to end process maps

Set up group to select preferred option

Set up project team to progress preferred option

o Develop lower level end to end process maps

o Identify areas for standardisation and progress

o Identify areas for simplification

o Identify and create new standard processes, procedures and documentation

o Identify staffing requirements for preferred option and recruit to new structure,

including medical staffing and payroll.

o Identify tasks to be transferred to the shared service centre

Once the new systems and processes have been set up, then a phase 2 project would be set

up to explore how to integrate the needs of this workstream into the workflows of the other

workstreams:

o Recruitment, pre-employment checks, contracting and LATS processes could map to

recruitment

o Doctors in difficulty could map to Employee Services

It would make sense for a pilot project to be run based on a trainee intake or a specialist group of

trainees to enable the issues raised above to be addressed from a supervision, legal and practical

perspective.

Affordability

The removal of duplication in the current system together with economies of scale will deliver

significant savings against both people and other costs. Ceasing repeated PVG and occupational

health checks, contracting with new employers, regular on-boarding and off-boarding between

rotations and repeated extended induction processes will save time and expense for both the

employers and the trainees, allowing the trainees to concentrate more on their training rather than

non-added value administrative tasks. Once we are clear on the direction of travel, based on

consideration of the various options, work can be done to quantify the scale of economies arising

from changes in process and what additional costs will need to be incurred. This will enable the

workstream to determine the economies of scale


Programme Management arrangements will be taken forward by the Workstream Lead supported

by 2 Workstream Subject Matter Experts. The Workstream Lead will report to the HRSS Programme

Lead who will be accountable to the HRSS Programme Board. The Programme Lead will liaise closely

with the key stakeholders. The costs of this oversight & governance are included in the overall Case

for Change.


33


The end to end process maps are all but agreed and will be finalised shortly. This will enable a group

to be set up to assess the merits of the two options set out at 4.2 above. This group will consist of

representatives from the following groups of stakeholders:

Medical Directors

DfMEs

Heads of Medical staffing

Senior and junior members of the BMA

HR Directors

Once the most suitable option has been identified, a project team should be set up to deliver the

selected option. This will involve simplifying and standardising processes and procedures and then

determining which elements are transactional and can be transferred to the shared service centre.

Staff will have to be trained on the new processes and may have to relocate to centres of excellence.

Whichever option is selected, a pilot project should be progressed using either a new intake or a

discrete subgroup from an intake with a view to identifying an eliminating any inefficiencies and/or

remaining anomalies in the Trainees journey, including all relevant stakeholders.

Recommendations

The Medical and Other Trainees Workstream makes the following recommendations:

To establish a Project Management Team, as described in the resources section of this

document, that will establish at an early stage the scope and cost of transferring the

transactional elements to the shared service centre and other required infrastructure

The Project Management Team will describe at an early stage the scope and size of potential

efficiencies arising from eliminating waste through standardising and simplifying processes and

procedures.

An early Test of Change should be explored to ensure that the proposed developments are

workable. This could be done either using an entire calendar intake or a subset group from a

particular discipline.

Early engagement with the wider medical staffing and training community within NHS Scotland

to scope out requirements to improve the trainee journey.

Active communication with Partnership colleagues to ensure Stakeholder Engagement


34

Annex 3

HR Shared Services Programme:

Strategic Business Case Employee Services


35

Purpose/Objectives

This programme applies to the Employee Services function of all 22 NHS Scotland Health Boards.

The purpose/objectives of Employee Services workstream are:-

To provide the delivery of information to leaders within the organisation which is consistent,

accurate and timely and which will allow managers of people to make informed decisions;

To develop a system that will ensure the effective management of case work;

To develop a system that will provide consistent management of HR data and the provision

of Management Information.

Ensure that there is a close link to eESS functionality in particular around manager self –

service and to examples of on-line guidance already provided in some boards in Scotland.

The scope also includes trained medical and dental staff, but excludes Recruitment and all

issues to do with Recruitment and the employment of Medical Trainees.

Employee Services is likely to be a mixed economy because of the complexity of activities

Business Case

Shared Services is one of a number of work streams that support the Efficiency and Productivity

Framework across the NHS in Scotland. The Director General of the NHS in Scotland, along with the

Chairs and Chief Executives have committed to support a review of NHS “support” services, common

to all Health boards, where there is potential to adopt a shared service approach. Following on from

the work already under way in Finance, Human Resources was identified as a second wave Shared

Services work programme.

The underpinning ethos of the Shared Services Programme agenda is:

Simplify: processes and procedures are as “lean” as possible, minimising inappropriate

waste

Standardise: variation between health boards and individual users is removed

Share: where there are benefits in doing so processes are delivered from a single (or limited

number of) locations

The HR Programme’s high level objectives are to ensure that the appropriate development of HR

Shared Service:




Delivers re-designed service processes which are effective, efficient, and productive

Ensures the maximisation of business systems integration opportunities

There are three work streams; Employee Services, Medical and Dental, and Recruitment.


36


The services and activities within the Employee Services workstream involve transactional work that

falls out with the self service module in eESS; the management of HR Data and the provision of

Management Information from that HR Data and case work on all issues to do with workforce

policies.

The current position - HR functions or departments - provision of services and models of delivery.

HR services are delivered within an HR function or department by all 22 NHS Scotland Health Boards.

Each HR function or department is structured entirely differently and each uses a different model of

delivery. At least one NHS Scotland Health Board has moved towards a model of delivery which is

aligned more to the Ulrich model and another has commenced that journey. Each HR function or

department will deliver a wide range of HR services, for example:-

HR Transactional Services - which is an administrative service making changes to employee

records and processing change requests. Some boards may have an element of self service

which will allow employees and managers to make limited changes to records, others will

not. It is anticipated that any self service provision which currently exists is very limited.

The new national workforce system eESS has a significant self service element for the

employee and line manager.

HR Advisory Services - the provision of this type of service, the model of delivery and what is

defined within this service this will vary significantly across boards. It is likely that this will

range from basic HR advice for example on where to find workforce policies or the content

of workforce policies; basic terms and conditions issues and how to action processes to

more complex HR advice and case management. In some HR functions or departments it

could also include advice on Employee Relations, job evaluation, recruitment, redeployment

or contractual issues. Most boards will have separate recruitment teams within the HR

function and this is also like to include a team dedicated to medical recruitment.

Other specialist HR services - these will vary across boards. These services could include job

evaluation, Employee Relations, Occupational Health and Safety, Payroll (in a limited

number of Boards) organisational development, learning and development and a whole

range of other more specialist HR services.

The size of HR functions or departments will also vary significantly across boards depending on the

size of the total workforce and the budget available and how much each board wants to invest in the

provision of internal services.


37

In summary, the current provision of HR services will have some consistency across the HR functions

or departments within all NHS Boards. However, the models of delivery of HR services and the size

and sophistication of the functions will vary significantly with very limited consistency.

The current position - responsibilities and accountabilities of line managers for workforce.

It is highly likely that this will vary significantly across all 22 NHS Boards, although all boards will

recognise that it is the responsibility of line managers to manage people. However, what activities

line managers are required to undertake will vary significantly. At one extreme, the HR function will

suspend employees, undertake recruitment, take notes at meetings, carry out management

investigations, write up management investigations and generally act as a high level PA to line

managers undertaking activities dictated by line managers. At the other extreme the line manager

will be expected to undertake all activities related to the management of people with the HR

function providing advice, guidance, options and risks and the line manager making the decisions.


The benefits realised by the use of shared HR services potentially include the following:

• Avoiding duplication of effort and reducing costs. The benefits from economies of scale and the elimination of duplicated effort can streamline and simplify services to reduce costs. There is also the potential to exploit common buying power from shared services.

• Use of Self Service and Workflow

• Improving quality of service to customers. The use of more efficient and streamlined processes can deliver greater consistency, and more timely and accurate information and advice to the service centre’s customers. This will require a fundamental re-engineering of HR processes. Simply pulling processes together in a central hub in itself will not deliver a more streamlined, customer-driven service. With the increasing requirements for organisations to fully understand measure and manage their human capital, such improvements in information availability, quality and timeliness would be welcome.

• Greater HR focus on strategy - the benefits of greater structural flexibility, improving organisational learning, and line managers taking on full responsibility for people management, has the potential to free up HR from the more day-to-day routine enquiries. This presents the opportunity to re-position the contribution of HR as a business-driven function, focused on its strategic role in facilitating and supporting organisational change.

• Shared know-how - This may include sharing best practice in business and HR processes, pooling knowledge about what works across different parts of the organisation and different geographical regions and sharing knowledge about trends across organisations.

Potential risks:

Resistance from the HR community could result in Boards not agreeing to and using agreed

processes for Workforce Policy or HR workflow and processes– once for Scotland – which


38

means that efficient and streamlined processes are not implemented which results in the

loss of consistency and the provision of timely and accurate information.

Individual NHS Boards do not buy in to the agreed model of service delivery, thus affecting

the ability of the programme to implement new pan Scotland ways of working

Although agreeing a service delivery model. Boards are unable to reach agreement on the

financial and staffing arrangements associated with the model

Trade Unions are not engaged locally and/or nationally, affecting buy in to the design and

implementation of what will be very different ways of working, both for HR staff and Line

Managers,

HR customers, particularly manager’s view the moving of HR services, particularly HR Case

Management out with local boards will result in both a loss of control and a reduction in the

service they receive.

HR Staff at Board level become de-motivated though fear of change resulting in staff

becoming disenfranchised or leaving.

Inadequate baseline information on activity, staffing and costs does not allow proper

analysis of options for change or evaluation of change, once implemented.

Underpinning technology (eESS) not ready for implementation and/or not rolled out

successfully across all NHS Boards.

Underpinning technology, such as telephony, an HR Portal and Case Management Tool

either not available or not implemented across all Boards.

Insufficient working between work streams means that opportunities for shared working

and learning are not identified.


HR metrics and performance management. From the data gathering exercise it has been highlighted

that there is little consistency in HR metrics produced across Scotland. There are no national

standards which focus on the value and effectiveness of HR service delivery. A set of national

metrics, should be agreed in collaboration with our customers which can be consistently applied for

accountable performance.

Process efficiency. The base line data indicates an opportunity to identify the amount of time spent

on administrative activities then agree process redesign to minimise an no value add through both

eESS and HR Shared Services.


39

Option Appraisal

Working within an Employee Services Shared Service will require a major cultural change

programme and shift across all HR functions and across Line Management in all NHS Boards if it is to

be implemented successfully. Working in a Shared Service environment, particularly for Employee

Services, will require a completely different way of working from that which exists in most Boards

now. It will also require a highly consistent way of working. For example on the provision of first

line advice; on the workflows and processes within HR and on escalation processes.

For Line Managers there is also likely to be a shift in ways of accessing HR services and advice and

support. For some this will require further learning and development, and for others support in the

new ways of working.

To be successful the Employee Services workstream will require the development of a vision which is

clearly articulated, a concentrated effort and development programme to achieve these new ways

of working along with a clear implementation plan and governance arrangements.

Moving towards HR Shared Services – Employee Services - General

As the Employee Services workstream is complex and does not necessarily contain discreet elements

of work – such as the Recruitment workstream, important work is required to be carried out before

moving to any HR Shared Service and this has already started as outlined in some detail below.

There is a need to define the end to end processes, which are discrete although they may cross

functional boundaries. However some basic principles need to be agreed up front, such as:-

Clarify the role, responsibilities and accountabilities of the HR shared service centre for Employee Services.

• The Employee Services workstream recommend, from the work undertaken and also from feedback at the options appraisal workshops that the first step would be to agree that HR Shared Services for Employee Services has two phases. The first phase is for basic administration of HR processes – those that cannot be delivered through self service.

• The second phase of HR Shared Services for Employee Services would be the move to extending the provision to Case Management and Advisory services.

Agree performance indicators to ensure the services are being delivered effectively by using, for example, service level agreements and a performance management framework. There is a recognition that service levels need to be set for all parties, not just the shared service and HR elements, as the whole process needs to deliver to ensure timely successful outcomes.

Specify the scale of capital and the nature of the resources required to get the right technology and organisational infrastructure in place.

Moving towards HR Shared Services – Employee Services- Detailed work of the Employee Services

Workstream

Following the options appraisal workshops, the Employee Services workstream was asked to discuss

and consider:-


40

• Are there areas of the Employee Services workstream which could be combined with the

Recruitment worksteam?

• What work could be undertaken now which will make the transition towards HR Shared

Services easier in the future?

• What are the enablers or pathfinders for the Employee Services workstream?

A workshop was held for members of the Employee Services worksteam on 18 June 2014 to

consider these questions and provide a response, which is set out below.

• Are there areas of the Employee Services Workstream which could be combined with the

Recruitment Workstream?

Redeployment. This involves more of a case management approach, rather than a pure

transactional. The Employee Services Workstream recommends that this is combined into

the Recruitment Workstream. However, because this is complex and challenging area with

many sensitivities and complex processes it is recommended that redeployment fall into a

much later phase of the Recruitment Workstream.

Secondment. Arrangements for secondments both in and out are much more closely

aligned with the Recruitment Workstream.

Immigration. Monitoring and audit at the recruitment stage.

PVG checks at recruitment

Fixed-term contracts. The review and administration of Fixed Term contracts.

Elements from the pre- and post- employment PIN: issuing of contract of employment and

Variation of Contract.

• Recommendations for Worksteam Activity

• Case management. Scope out how Case Management will work in practice and what

tools (not technology) and development are needed to assist the transition to a case

management way of working.

• Identify what would required to support the case management system

• Process Maps for all HR/Workforce policies and Business processes should be mapped

across NHS Scotland and then pulled together into an agreed process map for each policy –

Once for Scotland.

• Scope and map out Business and Workflow (HR) processes. This will include processes

for logging telephone calls and case management. This will be important so that (i) Line

Managers understand how to process changes and (ii) HR staff have internal processes

for work and activity.


41

• From the work undertaken to scope out and map the HR workflow processes scope

out the tasks within each of the services of the “to be model.”

• Systems and technology. This includes telephony, call logging and case

management systems and a portal for managers. Work needs to commence on this

now to enable a transition across from current ways of working to what will be a

completely new and different way of working.

• Management Information. Creation of a single methodology for collating of

Management Information and the development of Management Information

Dashboards.

• eESS. Identify and set out the full functionality of the eESS system and the processes

within and required by the eESS system. This will enable the workstream to identify

in more detail elements that will need to be included in the Employee Services

Workstream.

• Skills audit: Carry out a skills audit (by band) of HR staff across NHS Scotland Boards. (work is

already being done around this in NHS Lothian and NHS National Services Scotland). Add to risk

register that this will highlight differences across Boards.

• Learning and Development. Develop a programme for HR staff now, based on the best

practice from other HR shared services. For example:

- Coaching conversations

- Broader awareness of how an HR Shared Service works.

- Internal consultancy skills

- How to provide line managers with options and risks – rather than telling them what to do.

- Moving to early dispute resolution

- Change management

• Scoping, design, and costing of this learning and development programme should start as

soon as possible. The programme should be modular and if at all possible certified and accredited.

The target audience is from HR Advisor level to senior level staff, in the first instance.

• Line Managers. Develop a Learning and Development for Line Managers, particularly for

those organisations where Line Managers have a heavy dependence on HR, on People Management,

and application and use of Workforce Policy. This programme will also need to be extended to

include how to access the HR Portal, accessing HR advice and support and the use of eESS.

Enablers and Pathfinder Projects for the Employee Services workstream

• Process Maps for all HR/Workforce policies and Business processes should

be mapped across NHS Scotland and then pulled together into an agreed process


42

map for each policy – Once for Scotland. This could be described as process

alignment – as opposed to trying to align PIN Policy which could come at a later

stage.

• Tests of change. Identifying potential tests of change and running work through

these in a collaborative way now will enable important lessons to be learned for the

future roll out of other services.

• HR Job Descriptions. Rationalise job descriptions in HR functions now. Agree to go

down the route of generic job descriptions for every NHS Board and set a target date

for every Board to do this. It is anticipated that this would also facilitate Boards

sharing job descriptions.

• HR Person Specifications. Develop and agree generic person specifications to match the generic job

descriptions with the same target date for every Board to do this as for HR job descriptions.

• HR KSF Profiles. Develop generic KSF profiles to match the job descriptions and

person specifications with the same target timescales for job descriptions and

person specifications.

• Performance Management. Implement the Performance Management module of

eESS – OPM (Operational Performance Management system) as a replacement of

KSF.

Pathfinder projects:-

• Job evaluation – running the evaluation and grading of posts once for Scotland could

be a test of change for collaboration and partnership working – both at a

management and trade union level. Agenda for change Job evaluation has a very

clearly defined process which was agreed at a national level and this should facilitate

a move to once for Scotland.

• Some Boards already have versions of on-line policy guidance and support for

managers, with two Boards having specifically developed or procured interactive

real-time on-line manager portals. The model of HR in these Boards has integrated

first line advice, support, call logging and case management into a single point of

contact with agreed response times and other quality indicators against which

customers can measure the value of these core processes. These models replicate

locally what could be done through shared services nationally and should be the

subject of tests of change through the shared services programme. Customer

feedback through the customer insights exercise has specifically mentioned these

new on-line portals as a great resource and many comments have encouraged HR to

look to maximize other such technologies to support managers.


43


A number of workshops and engagement events have been undertaken to assess the way forward

for the Employee Services Workstream. Qualitative data from the discussions at the workshops

indicated a strong preference for the Employee Services workstream to be taken forward in two

phases – Transactional elements of HR which are not included in self-service in eESS followed by HR

Advisory and Case Management elements of HR.

The Employee Services workstream have progressed work on this basis and have developed a

timeline which segregates the work into four years as described below in Project Milestones.

Economic Case

A financial modelling or baselining exercise was undertaken across all 22 NHS Boards to identify the

“as is” cost comparison for each workstream. The Employee Services workstream “As Is Baseline

Data” is:-

WTE = 330

Pay Costs = £9,872,000

On Costs = £2,270,560

Corporate overhead allocation = £2,643,716

HR department overhead = £1,198,758

Legal costs = £922,293

Total = £15,985,034

On costs have been calculated at 23% of the pay costs – Employers NI and superannuation

contributions.

Corporate overhead has been estimated as a cost per WTE based on NSS overhead costs. The

corporate overhead is made up of costs for facilities, IT, Finance and HR support.

It is envisaged that the successful delivery of the workstream outputs will provide significant

efficiencies in productivity within the HR community in the long term. There is a suggestion that

streamlined Employee Services will enable the shift of ratio of HR personnel to number of Employees

from the current baseline of 1:125 to a ratio in the region of 1:250. The in-scope services represent

approximately 50% of the HR cost base and thus such an improvement in the efficiency ratio would

indicate potential recurring savings in the order of £7million including on-costs. It should be noted


44

that full implementation of systems, operating methods and a planned approach to workforce

rationalisation over time would be required to deliver such value.


Resource will be required to take forward and implement Employee Services Shared Services.

There are significant resources required to deliver the workstream outputs over the next 4 years

these include

Programme Management arrangements will be taken forward by the Workstream Lead

supported by 2 Workstream Senior Subject Matter Experts covering Policy & Process and

Organisational Development. Three further training SME’s will also be required to support

the skills development of Managers and HR specialists within the Boards. The Workstream

Lead will report to the HRSS Programme Lead who will be accountable to the HRSS

Programme Board. The Programme Lead will liaise closely with the key stakeholders who

will include the Heads of Recruitment and eESS Recruitment Workflow group. The costs of

this oversight & governance are included in the overall Case for Change.

Procurement of Management Information and Case Management systems that are

currently out with the eESS project

Procurement of an enhanced telephony system along with an HR Portal (which provides on

line policy guidance and support for managers)

The cost of these resources will require to be explored however the salary cost of the project team

who will deliver the outputs of this workstream can be estimated at approximately £265,000 per

annum

Programme management arrangements

SRO for Employee Shared Services workstream is Jacqui Jones, Director of HR and Workforce

Development for NHS National Services Scotland. There is one stakeholder group associated with

the Employee Services workstream. The eESS workflow Group, which has been in operation for

some time, and currently reports to the national EESS Implementation Programme Board, has

worked on standardised processes and documentation. The group will also monitor the three eESS

pilots on NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire, and NHS National Services Scotland. It is proposed that the

eESS and Employee Services workstream are aligned to ensure co-production of outputs as it is clear

that both workstreams are interdependent


Segmentation of the Employee Services workstream:


45

Task Label Year 1 2015/16

Year 2 2016/17

Year 3 2017/18

Year 4 2018/19

Development Programme

Scoping, design and costing of development programme for line managers to transition to the new ways of working. To be rolled out across all NHS Boards.

Scoping, design, costing of modular, certified, accredited Development Programme for HR staff. Define Career Pathways for transition to new structures.

Implement Development Programme Develop & define evaluation approach

Review Development Programme; amend as required

Skills Audit Skills audit of HR staff across NHS Scotland Skills audit of HR staff across NHS Scotland

Processes HR and Business Processes Analysis, mapping current state and agree once for Scotland Develop LEAN approach for NHSS HR

Scope and map HR workflow processes Scope out tasks from processes and workflow Develop and agree single methodology for collating Management Information & Workforce Dashboards

Review & validate HR process “fit for purpose” and alignment to business needs and national systems to inform any developments.

Systems Scope, design, costing of:

Case Management

Call logging

Telephony

Manager Portal

Identify and set out the full functionality of eESS

Implement: Telephony Manager Portal Call Logging Case Management

Review and validate performance and use of : Telephony Call Logging

Review & develop to meet customer needs

1. Manager Portal 2. Case Management

Business Cases

Development of Business Cases for Development Programme and Systems


46


Year 2 2016/17

Year 3 2017/18

Year 4 2018/19

Enablers / Pathfinders

Identify and initiate enablers / pathfinders (e.g. job evaluation collaborative). Identify tests of change and take forward. e.g. the 2 Boards where first line advice, support, call logging and case management have been integrated into a single point of contact.

Implement enablers / pathfinders; initiate others Best Practice Group Knowledge Hub & Networks

Review enablers / pathfinders Best Practice Group Knowledge Hub & Networks

Design Authority

Reference to Design Authority

Identify resources

Allocation of resources

Scope, plan activities to be project managed

Job descriptions

Targeted reduction in number of job descriptions + KSF outlines + person specifications. Move to generic.

Further targeted reduction of job descriptions + KSF outlines + person specifications

Further targeted reduction of job descriptions + KSF outlines + person specifications

OPM Scope and plan for OPM rollout

NHSS Resources

Identify existing resources across NHSS regarding Design / LEAN + scope availability for business process redesign

Resource pool for LEAN Champions in place.

Future state Identify future state / models of delivery (what we need) on basis of HR and business process analysis and HR workflow; define resource requirements; undertake skills audit for future Programme management required as this is a critical piece of work


47


Year 2 2016/17

Year 3 2017/18

Year 4 2018/19

Employee Services Shared Service Activity

Determine Employee Services Shared Service model – Transactional and Advisory – Regional or National

Develop and put in place plans for move to transactional Employee Services Shared Service

Establishment of transactional Employee Services shared service activity Scope and design extension of service; review how case management might be encompassed

Develop implementation plans for extension of Employee Services Case Management and Advisory as a Shared Service

Policy framework

Start unifying policy framework


48

Recommendations

The Employee Services Workstream makes the following recommendations:

To establish a Project Management Team as described above

The Project Management Team will establish at an early stage the scope and cost of OD

interventions and procurement of support systems

The Project Management Team will describe at an early stage the scope and size of

potential efficiencies in moving from a baseline of 1:125 to a projected 1:250 HR to

Employee ratio

An early Test of Change should be explored to ensure that the proposed developments

are workable

Early engagement with the wider OD community within NHSScotland to scope out

requirements for skills development

Active communication with Partnership colleagues to ensure Stakeholder Engagement

Secure support on the 4 year timescale of this workstream

HR Shared Services Programme -...

Documents

Transcript of HR Shared Services Programme -...