Our Workforce Strategy 2022–2027 (PDF 1.91Mb) is linked to our Strategic Plan and Medium Term Financial Strategy as part of our five year Strategic Framework.
Our Workforce Strategy sets out how our workforce will support the delivery of the Council’s future ambitions within the financial resources available to us.
It builds on the work carried out through our previous Workforce Plan 2019–22 (PDF 862Kb) and short term focused Action Plan implemented for 2021–2022, as part of our recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and will support our workforce to deliver services to all our communities now and in the future.
The Strategic Plan sets out our priorities over the next five years.
The Medium Term Financial Strategy aligns to the Strategic Plan and sets out the finite financial resources available to support and facilitate the delivery and achievement of these priorities.
Financial constraints
When considering our Workforce Strategy we took account of the financial constraints placed on us, along with other internal and external drivers shaping Council services.
We have also considered legislative and political drivers, namely the impact of the National Care Service, Scottish Government Spending Review and Education reform.
Employee wellbeing
We focused on the wellbeing of our workforce and recognise our responsibility as an employer to provide avenues of support both preventative and reactive to contribute positively to the physical and mental health of employees.
We also focused a number of workforce challenges including how we recruit, retain and develop our employees to ensure we remain an employer of choice.
Working together
In East Ayrshire Council, we benefit from the dedication, skills, values and diversity of a workforce that is focused on working together to achieve the aims of the Council’s Strategic Plan and overarching Community Plan.
The timing of this Workforce Strategy reflects a period of significant external pressure where we are exiting over two years of a global pandemic and entering a period of economic uncertainty.
People strategy
Our People Strategy which covered the period from 2017 to 2022, was intrinsically linked to our workforce and its development. This will now be incorporated within our Workforce Strategy with our workforce and their development at the heart of our approach.
Key actions
To deliver our Workforce Strategy, we have developed key actions linked to the following themes of the Council’s Strategic Plan:
- building a fairer economy
- tackling poverty
- financial sustainability and resilience
To ensure our Employment Framework tools support the remodelling of Council services, some of the future areas of work within the Strategic Plan themes will be:
- continued investment in developing young people and future skills
- focussed work around equalities
- fair and equal pay
- a further review of People and Culture policies
- employee benefits
In order to achieve our Workforce Strategy, we need to consider how we invest in the development of our workforce, and therefore a range of employee development tools will also be considered under the themes of the Strategy.
The next steps will be for Council services to develop their workforce projections for the years ahead and this will assist the formulation of our Workforce Strategy Action Plan.
Workforce strategy report
A report on the Workforce Strategy was presented as part of the Council Strategic Framework 2022-2027 (PDF 6.4Mb) and was agreed by Council at its meeting on 27 October 2022.
Updates on the workforce strategy
Progress against the Workforce Strategy be monitored and reviewed regularly at the Workforce Planning Board, via our East Ayrshire Performs monitoring process and through regular updates to Council Management Team and Cabinet.
Comments and suggestions
Get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions on the Council Strategic Framework and its strategies:
Comments and suggestions