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SUPPORTING STATEMENT for Colin Gaskin
Develop HCC’s workforce planning process, enabling the production of annual plans to ensure that
the council builds organisational capacity and capability
I have been involved in a number of projects that supported Hertfordshire County Council’s (HCC) workforce planning
such as the annual Performance & Resources report which updates members on the council’s current workforce,
shortage skill areas and priorities that the council will need to meet to ensure efficient services continue to be provided to
the Hertfordshire community. My many years experience with staff survey action planning has given me a broad view of
the various activities both corporate and departmental that happen across HCC in regard to organisational capacity and
capability. I was responsible for the Children’s and Adult Qualified Social Workers reporting which is one of HCC’s key
shortage areas and fundamental to providing services to the local community. This allows me to understand the initiatives
and issues faced in recruiting and retaining these key roles.
For specific workforce related projects I have been asked to provide data and my expertise to recommend actions to
reduce high sickness, turnover and disengagement. The Workforce Information & Planning (WIP) team and I regularly
review and enhance WIP processes in line with business requirements e.g. implementing thresholds within target setting
to help HCC monitor how it is performing across its key demographics.
At Redbridge Council, as a System Analyst, I became a member of a Personnel focus group that investigated the
processes in place and advised how to improve performance, together with creating procedures to implement these
improvements. I developed Human Resources (HR) processes and in liaison with colleagues, implemented them. This
required an understanding and ability to interpret the needs of the department and the organisation, actions required to
achieve those needs, and clear communication. This has helped me to understand how my work within HR links back to
corporate objectives and the impact HR processes have for the organisation.
Maximise the use of HR information and intelligence to ensure that we identify trends and forecast
emerging issues to support the development of a proactive HR service.
I developed and implemented the council’s Monthly HR key data reports which we still use extensively to report the
key demographics across our departments. I now have responsibility of ensuring this data is correctly entered, uploaded
and checked onto our Business Objects reporting tool. This allows the data to be shown more graphically in departmental
dashboards, enabling a more user friendly environment and a more visual way of representing the data to highlight trends
and concerns. I use the internet and intranet as key sources for information and intelligence to feed into our reporting.
I ensure my WIP reports are presented in a user-friendly format for the end user with effective commentary to support
the data. Where relevant I will link data intelligence to business challenges and requirements and identify any concerning
trends e.g. I provided extensive analysis of turnover, absence and engagement for the worst 10 engaged areas from the
staff survey for a whistle blowing exercise. I also try to forecast that at particular times in the year the business requires
additional resources which may cause higher temp spend or high turnover, etc.
I use the departmental Business Objects dashboards to monitor trends and provide monthly commentary to HR
Business Partners (BP’s) and Workforce Strategy colleagues to feed into their respective HR 4 way meetings. I also
provide commentary for the relevant dashboards when required and the quarterly Senior Management Board (SMB)
monitor and risk register to provide useful intelligence for the business. When gathering intelligence I will challenge any
discrepancies or concerning trends and confirm what is being put in place to address the concerns.
Deliver statutory, corporate and service HR information requirements.
I have delivered a number of statutory reports such as the annual HCC workforce profile and the Fire & Rescue
Communities for Local Government and Race Relations Act reports. Last year I had responsibility to provide the annual
Schools Workforce Census. I have been involved with a number of inspections and provided and co-ordinated a number
of FOI’s. Regarding corporate and service HR data I have for many years produced data and commentary for the monthly
HR key data, monthly equalities, vacancies, sickness, the quarterly SMB monitor and more recently the risk register in
regard to HR risks and any reports / requests that required more intelligence e.g. benchmarking and good practice.
Implement HR benchmarking processes to ensure that the council’s performance can be monitored
and measured.
My work in the South East regional benchmarking network which meets bi-annually has helped HCC share best
practice from our neighbours and fed into our workforce planning. I am responsible for responding to or co-ordinating any
benchmarking queries. I have represented Hertfordshire at many of these meetings and feedback on any findings. I also
use data from different sources both public / private sector such as LG Inform, CiPD, HR Xpert, CiPFA, CBI and LGA
surveys so HCC has comparators of what good performance may look like. This benchmarking data feeds into WIP
reporting when required or when a customer specifically asks for us to look into something.
Working closely with colleagues in the Business Information and Intelligence team and other
stakeholders to ensure that HR SAP and other information systems are developed to meet our
information needs and that the reporting tools and products are developed and fully exploited.
I have used the SAP system for over 8 years with extensive experience of using the various reporting tools through
ECC6 and Business Warehouse (BW). I have worked with many colleagues within the Business Information and
Intelligence team to ensure our SAP reporting tools are fit for purpose. I was involved in the development of our monthly
BW reports which the WIP team uses extensively. I am currently working with this team regarding the re-vamp of the
equalities dashboards.

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I recently worked with HR Services to develop a SAP report to capture information on PMDS objective setting. I
worked with a CS senior manager to confirm the department’s equalities reporting needs and how it could be reflected on
the department’s equalities dashboard.
I am also involved with the SAP testing to ensure WIP reporting is still functional after any major SAP upgrade/update.
I previously met regularly with the Master Data Team to ensure the SAP organisational structure is up to date and keep
them abreast of future changes.
Co-ordinate and deliver the staff survey for HCC and relevant partners, whilst working with
stakeholders to ensure that results are communicated and actioned.
I manage provision of the staff survey for HCC and its partner company Hertfordshire Catering Limited ensuring the
questions are agreed, the survey designed, distributed and communicated effectively acros s the relevant organisation
and report findings to relevant stakeholders to support action planning. I develop and maintain a project plan to ensure
everything stays on track. I also co-ordinate our staff survey champions across the departments keeping them motivated
& engaged. I work with HR BP’s, HR Learning Partners, Communications and key departmental stakeholders to ensure
the survey is successful.
Regular updates are provided to key stakeholders and I work with hard to reach groups to ensure effective distribution
of surveys and messages. I was also responsible for provision of a “pulse” sample survey for HCC which was well
received. I have dealt with prioritising high volumes of work through the analysis and reporting of the staff survey results
across many levels of the organisation e.g. HR Senior Management Team, Senior Management Board, performance
leads group, departmental boards, staff survey champions, employee reps and employee support groups.
I organised a Staff Survey HR Workshop to share good practice and engage our key stakeholders. I lead a staff
survey steering group which meets monthly to discuss progress and input to the project which has helped me to influence
others. My experience leading this group and briefing different stakeholders has developed my confidence and
communication skills both written and verbal in presenting to different audiences and levels of management.
This project has given me experience managing and monitoring a budget, raising purchase orders, providing quotes
for work with our partner companies, managing the contract and negotiating costs and requirements with our external
survey provider ORC International and tendering for the staff survey contract.
Provide an internal consultancy and advisory service to senior managers and HR business partners
and other colleagues on workforce planning and information.
I managed the construction, implementation, integrity and rollout of the Management Information (MI) Hub which
facilitated self service of key workforce data and reports. I took part in the HR workshops run by WIP to introduce the MI
Hub in December 14 and January 15. I have briefed HR SMT and HR BP managers on specific corporate projects e.g.
staff survey, target setting, PMDS reporting and other WIP related projects.
I influence and support the HR Review and Enabling The Worker projects where I can giving advice on the data and
intelligence the WIP team can provide. We are constantly asked to provide advice on our data, analyse trends to see if
there are patterns and underlying reasons causing them and make suggestions how we could improve the situation. I
liaise with customers verbally or face to face to clarify and suggest the best way to respond to their requests.
Effectively manage staff in the Workforce Information and Planning team.
In my 8 years at HCC I have trained and managed at least four HR assistants within the WIP team and progressed
one through the career scheme. I currently manage one HR assistant and have weekly discussions to evaluate &
prioritise her current workload, highlight any development needs and provide opportunities to develop her skills. I
supported my assistant in the project planning and rollout of the MI Hub project which broadened their knowledge of our
reporting and gave them an overall view of the reports we produce. This has boosted their confidence and skills and
raised their profile in the HR community.
I maintain a good working relationship with everyone I work with and have co-ordinated a number of projects within the
team. In Jane’s absence I have stood in for her when required at meetings or where a WIP presence is required. We
meet up as a team weekly but generally keep one another updated through day to day conversations. I have made a
number of suggestion to help improve the processes used by the team and how we can manage our resources effectively
especially during high volumes of work.
Ensure that all activities promote the Council's equalities and diversity agenda.
I have been trained on equality, diversity and impact assessments and the responsibility each employee has to ensure
that all our working processes and procedures do not discriminate against or disadvantage any group of individuals. This
has broadened my thinking on all equality issues and our working processes. I keep up to date with equalities issues via
ENEI newsletters, feedback at team briefings, team updates via e-mail. I am aware of the government initiatives to ensure
that a local Council’s workforce should be representative of the community it serves and provide equality of opportunities
for employment.
This reinforces the importance of effective Workforce Monitoring in recruitment, training and staff turnover. Monitoring
the workforce highlights the groups under represented and enables the Council to explore issues, identify contributory
factors and formulate solutions to redress the balance. I produce monthly equalities data, represent the WIP team at
monthly HR Diversity meetings and I am responsible for population, upload and commentary in the equalities dashboard
for Diversity Board. I now also attend the Wellbeing group which looks at employee wellbeing.
Person Specification
Worked as a HR Officer in Herts HR over 8 years in the WIP team. Before this I spent 2 years as a HR Advisor in
Hackney Council. I have a NVQ Level 3 in Management and a CiPD Certificate in Personnel Practice covering equalities,

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health & safety, training, development and organisational cultures. I was an associate member of (CIPD) and still keep
abreast of case law to keep up to date with HR issues such as absence monitoring, equalities and workforce monitoring.
I have over 18 years’ experience using Microsoft Office products such as Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. I
have analysed, designed and implemented various management reports on multiple formats using these products for
customers both internal and external to HCC. Also worked with a number of payroll systems e.g. Northgate and SAP.