MD3207 Job Families Programme

1.1.    This decision relates to a consultation held with GLA staff between 17 October 2022 and 9 December 2022 in which several changes were proposed to the GLA’s pay and reward structures. 

1.2.    As an outcome of negotiation with UNISON, and in light of feedback received directly from staff, the GLA agreed in March 2023 to embark on the development of a Job Families framework for the GLA at a much earlier stage than had been previously proposed. 

1.3.    The Job Families framework will benefit all staff with:

•    consistent job descriptions
•    clarity on skills and other requirements needed in each role 
•    clarity on potential career pathways at the GLA
•    confidence in accurate and equitable grading decisions.

1.4.    How the GLA approaches pay, reward and recognition is key to how the GLA attracts, retains and engages employees of the GLA. The GLA needs to: recruit diverse people with the skills and experience necessary to deliver for Londoners; motivate staff to perform at their best; support wellbeing; and be fair and transparent in how the value of everyone’s work is recognised.

1.5.    The GLA has a public duty to use resources cost-efficiently; and the pay and reward structure must be affordable. However, this programme is not about cutting staffing costs or reducing the pay bill; it is about ensuring that the GLA has the right systems in place to secure and retain the diverse workforce needed to deliver for London, whilst being in control of overall costs. 

Procurement approach

1.6.    Both procurements related to this work were direct awards under the following framework agreements and are in line with the requirements as detailed within the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code, which entailed developing a clear Statement of Requirements and applying the direct award criteria within the relevant framework agreement to determine that the consultant has submitted the most economically advantageous solution and the GLA can therefore award the relevant call off contract.

1.7.    Korn Ferry was procured via a Crown Commercial Services approved framework – RM6187 (Consultancy).

1.8.    Health HR Consultancy was procured via the Methods framework – RM6187/RM6277 Non-Clinical Staffing (Crown Commercial Services).

Basis for direct award 

1.9.    There are few providers in the market with the relevant skills and experience to lead a complex pay and grading change programme like this, especially in the public sector. Whilst the GLA was able to draw from a framework to procure Korn Ferry to lead this work, it chose this way after conducting Early Market Engagement with two providers with relevant experience to pitch for this work. This was done to ensure the right provider was appointed for such an important project and value for money achieved.

1.10.    Korn Ferry have also demonstrated the required experience of successfully implementing job families projects in a number of organisations with comparable complexity. They have the appropriate resource to deliver against the timelines required and set out a methodology which gave sufficient reassurance of the rigour and detail needed to make changes of this nature. The GLA also uses Korn Ferry’s job evaluation methodology, which underpins our current and proposed grades and will be used to allocate roles within the new grading structures, as well as using Korn Ferry’s pay benchmarking tools. This would have made bringing another provider in more challenging and could have resulted in the need for further work and/or undoing of existing structures, at additional cost.

1.11.    Since contracting with Korn Ferry to complete this work, it became clear that further detailed activity was needed to build an understanding of each role within the GLA. This is to ensure that the new Job Families framework and how roles are allocated within it is correct and can be robustly explained. This additional work increased the value of the contract with Korn Ferry.

1.12.    In accordance with section 18.8 of Mayoral Decision Making in the GLA, although this expenditure is funded from a non-programme budget, a Mayoral Decision form has been prepared on the grounds that the scale of the procurement being undertaken from a call-off framework has significant financial implications for the GLA. This Mayoral Decision provides transparency on this cost.
 

2.1.    Job families are:

•    a means of grouping and describing types of jobs that are doing similar work, requiring broadly similar skills and competencies, at different levels in the organisation
•    cross-departmental and operate across functional boundaries
•    a way to describe the organisation’s common career pathways; and capture the intuitive career levels that all employees recognise within the organisation
•    a framework for sensible and meaningful role profiles, applicable to nearly everyone, that are output-focused – describing work and the differences between roles
•    a mechanism for underpinning a more flexible, output-based culture and language for jobs
•    a more fluid approach to work that is flexible around an organisational structure, and therefore more helpful at times of change and/or reallocation of resources
•    a resource that allows better oversight of roles at an organisational level.

2.2.    Job families and role profiles:

•    consider the number of levels of that work type, and the key differentiating factors 
•    are a single grade structure that is consistent across the whole organisation, which is divided up into several families by work levels
•    determine the level of work by the needs of the organisation, factoring in the capability of, and contribution required by, the individual
•    describe the organisation’s common career pathways, and capture the intuitive career levels that all employees know of within the organisation
•    do not necessarily wholly correlate to functions, departments, operating units or locations
•    may not just reflect current levels and progression patterns – they might be designed for the future organisation
•    may not represent all groups at each work level or grade
•    cover circa 90 per cent of the core activities that all roles have in common, and do not cover 100 per cent of every job
•    do not involve lots of individual job descriptions
•    link to consistent, robust evaluation and effective pay management
•    provide more defensible means of evaluating roles.
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the GLA must have “due regard” of the need to:

•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation
•    advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2.    Specific equalities actions undertaken include the following:

•    Speaking with each GLA staff network to discuss identified positive and potential negative impacts of the programme for groups protected under the Equality Act 2010; as well as those identified as experiencing, or at risk of, socio-economic disadvantage.
•    Conducting, as part of the Job Families programme, a Culture and Equalities Impact Assessment, based on framework design. This was initially carried out as part of the pilot group’s work with the Tyndall Centre at the University of Manchester. A second Culture and Equalities Impact Assessment will be carried out at the end of the mapping phase, and before we place posts into the new broader pay bands to identify any equalities/inequalities at that second stage of the programme. This assessment made the following findings:

a.    Positive impacts were identified where role profiles continue to be designed for the role and not the person. This ensures that the role could apply to anyone who matches the specifications; gives clarity on skills and other requirements needed to progress, as well as career pathways; enables wider pay bands, with clear descriptors for each band; and addresses inconsistencies before we place posts into the new broader pay bands.
b.    The same mitigations were identified across all protected characteristics. Areas identified were discussed across all other People Function Centres of Excellence teams to ensure progressive change continues throughout all organisational projects. 

3.3.    The Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2022-25) sets out how the Mayor will help to address the inequalities, barriers and discrimination experienced by groups protected by the Equality Act 2010. The Job Families programme aligns with this strategy in several respects in particular to:

•    Objective 2, which supports an inclusive culture, underpinned by best practice; and ensuring its consistent implementation
•    Objective 3, which commits to reviewing the approaches to recruitment and investing in staff by nurturing their development; and using positive action as a tool to support greater equality of opportunity, access, and outcome. 
 

Major risks and issues

4.1.    Risks are assessed, managed and reported on a monthly basis through the Job Family Project and People Boards. Where necessary, risks are escalated to the Corporate Management Board. At the time of writing, the key risks are time and engagement; and communications. These risks are detailed below. 

Time and engagement

4.2.    The build of the job families framework depends on understanding the roles and levels of responsibilities held within the GLA. It is crucial to understand the nuances of roles; required professional and technical qualifications; experience requirements; the reporting structure; and how people currently move into and across the GLA. We have established a network of Job Families ‘ambassadors’ to assist with this.

4.3.    This requires staff and leaders to be available for interview, testing methodology and understanding; and to attend the workshops to gather information.

4.4.    A key risk is time constraints when trying to meet and speak with colleagues due to “business as usual” activities. Since the initial phase, the GLA has requested that time commitments are needed from colleagues in order to build the framework accurately without assumptions. 

4.5.    The GLA is mitigating this risk by continuously communicating throughout the project to the stakeholders involved; clarifying the rationale behind time requirements; and booking time required as far in advance as possible.

Communications

4.6.    The Job Families programme is a significant piece of organisational change. It requires understanding from colleagues to ensure they accept the change; and see the future possibilities and positive impact. Therefore, the communication strategy is important to ensure all colleagues are engaged.

4.7.    A key risk is that the project is not communicated in the right way across the GLA. Therefore, some colleagues will not be aware of the positive impacts as the organisation seeks to improve equality and parity in our frameworks. The GLA is working internally with the Internal Communications team and other stakeholders to make sure key messages are developed, and that staff are adequately engaged and informed.

Link to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.8     This work ensures the GLA will be able to recruit and develop the best possible calibre of staff to implement the Mayor’s strategies and priorities.

Conflict of interest declaration

4.9.    There are no conflicts of interest to declare from anyone involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision form.
 

5.1.    This MD requests retrospective approval for:

•    £1,457,000 on services provided by Korn Ferry for their consultancy and expertise in designing and delivering this framework 
•    up to £951,500 on services provided by Health HR UK for their consultancy and expertise in managing, leading and coordinating the delivery of the project for the GLA. 

See paragraph 1.6 to 1.11 for a full explanation of the procurement approach.

5.2.    The total cost of the Job Families work and budget associated is phased as follows:  

5.3.    £560,000 was provided for in this year’s People Function budget to cover Korn Ferry costs in 2023-24; costs are currently presenting as an overspend against budget due to additional external resource required to deliver the project and a change in phasing of the work. This can be covered through projected underspends in other areas of the GLA revenue budget.

5.4.    There is sufficient resource in future years’ planned budgets to meet the requirements of the project. Budget has been provisioned relating to systems upgrades that may be required following final recommendations. This will be reviewed at that point.

5.5.    There is also funding set aside in reserves for costs associated with rectifying any pay anomalies. This will be reviewed and utilised or released as necessary before the completion of the project roll-out.

5.6.    Due to the indivisible nature of the project, break clauses are not included in current contracts. Therefore, it will be necessary to include funding for this project in the final 2024-25 GLA Mayor budget (as reflected in the draft). Should any further contracts be required, consideration will be given to the inclusion of the break clauses.
 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions sought concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of the improvement of the environment in Greater London.

6.2.    In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, the GLA has complied with its related statutory duties to:

•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality, parity and opportunity for all colleagues
•    consult with appropriate bodies.

6.3.    In taking the decisions requested, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty – namely, the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not (section 149 of the Equality Act 20210). To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.4.    Officers have indicated in paragraph 1.6 to 1.11 (above) that the relevant framework (under which it is proposed the services required are to be ‘called off’) was procured in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code on behalf of the GLA, and with relevant procurement law; and the services required have been procured fully in accordance with the requirements of that framework. Officers must also ensure that appropriate “call-off” documentation be put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.

6.5.    This approval is sought retrospectively, the reasons for which are set out in paragraphs 1.6 to 1.11 (above) of this report. Accordingly, the Mayor should take account of those reasons in considering whether to approve the recommendations of this report.  Officers are reminded of the importance of seeking approvals in advance.