Lewisham Council, working with Hemsley Fraser, wins PPMA 2010 HR Awards in the category of ‘Workforce Skills and Development’
23, Mar 2010
Over the past 12 months Lewisham Council has continued to invest heavily in Learning and Development to up-skill its workforce. The investment has allowed the Council to achieve key aims including:
- Improved employee understanding of the Council culture and vision
- Addressing skill gaps in terms of management development and equality and diversity
- Increasing the volume of learning undertaken by staff
- Improving performance against key business indicators
Working with Hemsley Fraser
To achieve this Lewisham entered into a strategic partnership with Hemsley Fraser to deliver and administer all the council’s learning, freeing up the Lewisham team to concentrate on core development activities.
Hemsley Fraser’s Managed Learning Service is a flexible modular outsourcing model which enables organisations to select specific services they want to outsource and to integrate other activities which you choose to keep in-house. Calling on our proven experience and expertise, Lewisham chose Hemsley Fraser because we are not only experts at outsourcing, but experts in learning as well.
The starting point was a new approach towards the design and delivery of Lewisham’s learning portfolio. The entire course curriculum was reviewed and redesigned to ensure council-wide consistency to all learning content.
The Council, in partnership with Hemsley Fraser has made learning more accessible and relevant to all employees by customising content, running workshops at the most convenient times and having an online booking system that can be accessed by all staff.
Project Success – Service Improvement
Recent feedback showed that at least 79% of participants applied the learning back in the workplace immediately, which has ultimately led to improved performance in addition to developing and motivating staff. The Council’s range of people management related performance indicators has also showed significant improvements over the last 12 months, including: High retention levels, internal promotions and appointments and reduced absenteeism. The improvement in participation and job satisfaction has led to substantial improvements in productivity and service delivery.