Agenda item

The purpose of the report is to seek approval for the recruitment of a Graduate Trainee to the Engineering Team.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive approves the proposal to recruit a Graduate Trainee to the Engineering Team.

The Executive has agreed to RECOMMEND to the COUNCIL that a Graduate Trainee be recruited to the Engineering Team and the post be added to the establishment.

[This item is recommended to the Council for decision and is not subject to the call-in procedure]

[Reason: to seek approval to establish a Graduate Trainee post in the engineering team]

11.1    The general issue of succession planning for the Property and Engineering Service was raised with members during the budget process in 2015/16, with support for the investment being recorded by the Portfolio Holders at that time. The proposal has now been explored and evaluated.

11.2    The approach being put forward in response to this particular succession issue is in line with the corporate “Skills Gap and Capacity Management Strategy”.  The team currently constitutes a FTE of 2.5. The Team Manager is full-time as is one of the Engineers, although he has an agreement to work a 37 hour, four day compressed week. The average age of the team is 60 and so succession planning is a “live” issue, especially given the activity of the team does not readily lend itself to provision by a third party.

11.3    Activity of the team can be summarised as:

•           Drainage  0.9 fte

•           Street furniture 0.3 fte

•           Technical advice/support to other departments  - 0.4 fte

•           Corporate Property Management 0.7 fte

•           Asset Management 0.1 fte.

11.4    There are other areas where the team have involvement e.g. car parking, emergency planning and contract management.  The Team has already committed to provide additional technical advice to Parking Services particularly in respect of design and build tendering processes starting with the Haslemere High Street Project. If resourced, this could be a permanent feature of the service. It is fundamental to this proposal that programme and project management will be available to Environmental Services in respect of car parks in particular.

11.5    Whilst in theory it would be possible to procure some of these services via a third party contractor or some sort of shared service arrangement, it is not anticipated that this would effectively preserve the efficacy of the current arrangement.  There is real value of having dedicated in-house resource that is familiar with and has detailed knowledge of the range of assets the Engineering Team can have day to day involvement with (e.g. in the event of flood). Therefore, having considered the various options and to ensure continuity, it is proposed that a Graduate Trainee be recruited.

11.6    It is anticipated that in common with other Graduate posts at Waverley, the job will be evaluated as Grade 9 with a starting salary of £21,827.  It is hoped that at least one of the current post-holders will remain in post long enough for them to familiarise the successful Graduate with the range of assets, records and day to day demands which would ease any future transition.  This is particularly important when considering the detailed knowledge required to enable Waverley to discharge its responsibilities in respect of drainage, water-courses and street furniture.  The make up of the team will be re-evaluated as existing post-holders retire and it may be that if this proposal is successful, it will not be necessary to have to recruit to full-time replacements.  Alternatively a two-year contract could be offered.

11.7    Funding for the post is expected to be capitalised. Based on the projected budgets for car parking and other corporate capital works, the team will be involved in a capital re-charge which (based on a 10% client fee for parking contracts) would generate between £25-50k per annum.

11.8    Research has been undertaken to help understand the job market for substantive Engineers posts.  A salary equivalent to at least Grade 6 (our posts are currently graded at 7) might be needed.  The intention of this approach by recruiting a graduate trainee is to develop our own resource as opposed to taking our chances in a competitive market.

11.9    The Executive now

            RECOMMENDS that

12.       a Graduate Trainee be recruited to the Engineering Team and the post be added to the establishment.

[Reason: to seek approval to establish a Graduate Trainee post in the engineering team]