Workforce Development Lead (Community Housing)

Job title:

Workforce Development Lead (Community Housing)

Company

Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames

Job description

About the BoroughThis special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else – it is where the first kings of England were crowned.Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston’s riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer.Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink.Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other.We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand.Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK.About the Role
The post holder will support the delivery of Community Housing’s Temporary Accommodation Improvement programme taking a lead role in ensuring that staff are equipped with the skills and technical knowledge to be successful in their roles. A key focus will be to design and implement a workforce development plan, which will enable the service to build their own talent pool from entry level and provide a structured career path with professional competencies within Kingston’s Housing Service.About UsSupporting the Corporate Head of Community Housing to design, manage and deliver workforce development initiatives to support employees to deliver Community Housing objectives and desired behaviours.Supporting the implementation of the Council’s People Strategy for Community Housing that supports the delivery of the Council’s Vision, Values and objectives.The post holder will lead on the development of a tailored Workforce Development strategy for Community Housing, its implementation, and integration to support the current and future business needs. Work collaboratively with stakeholders at all levels to help determine the best approach to meeting workforce development requirements and help to shape and influence the development of plans and activities that enable the delivery of the desired change.Develop a ‘grow our own’ strategy, redesign roles to attract entry level officers, get feedback from candidates who decline offers, benchmark salaries. Routinely conduct exit interviews and feed back intelligence. Produce periodic analysis of sickness absence and ensure staff have ongoing access to health and wellbeing support. Influence and develop a range of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion interventions. Lead on the delivery of Wellbeing initiatives.Oversee and continuously review the range of career development and ‘grow our own’ activities, ensuring necessary marketing, promotion, recruitment and assessment, guidance to managers and support for deployment as required by the schemes and being the key point of contact for partner organisations on the evolution of these schemes.

• Fast track development programmes for high potential employees
• Graduate recruitment and development activities (including the National Graduate Development Programme for the LGA).
• Recruitment and development of apprenticeships.
• Early careers initiatives.

About You

• Detailed understanding of Organisational Development and successful track record in the delivery of organisational change and learning and development projects, initiatives and interventions.
• Experience of working with teams with complex business issues to diagnose and analyse development needs to identify appropriate solutions and design innovative and creative interventions to support them to improve performance.
• A good knowledge of talent and succession planning, with an experience and understanding of the initiatives to ‘grow our own talent’ (i.e.. Apprenticeships; Work Experience; Professional Schemes e.g.Graduate programmes).
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to engage, work collaboratively and build trust with colleagues, management, elected members, trade unions, employee groups; external stakeholders/partners and providers.
• Able to analyse problems and interpret data and other information to inform decisions on OD related issues.

Our Offer To YouAs an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. We operate hybrid working, a flexible working model which allows staff to work from a variety of locations and staff are not required to work within the office 5 days a week. It enables staff to achieve a work life balance whilst still meeting the needs of the organisation.Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

Application ProcessPlease apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please ensure you refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application.The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.We are committed to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) so all personal information that can identify job applicants e.g. name, title etc is completely anonymised during the shortlisting process. Our hiring managers review applications based on the knowledge, skills and experience demonstrated in your application, and how well these match the job profile. Our HR Shared Service with Sutton Council was recently recognised nationally for having the ‘Best Inclusion and Diversity Programme’ at the PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards 2023, something that we’re incredibly proud of.Hiring managers are encouraged to ensure that their interview panel is diverse, and representative of a range of protected characteristics, to help remove unconscious bias and ensure candidates are treated fairly during the selection process. Some characteristics may not be obvious, but our panels are diverse wherever possible. We have a number of measures in place to inform and support our approach, including mandatory EDI and unconscious bias training for all staff, safer recruitment training for diverse panel members, engaging with our staff networks and encouraging allyship. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.Additional InformationWe are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough. Our aim is to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and staff feel a sense of belonging. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and disabled candidates, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role.We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the for right to work guidance.Job Profile

Expected salary

Location

Kingston upon Thames

Job date

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 06:27:15 GMT

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