With public sector workers, no matter how committed, facing a daily onslaught on their budget and a rapidly changing work environment, persuading them to stay is becoming more and more difficult.
Holding on to "the talent", those invaluable people that work well across all departments, that have a specific knowledge core you'd be lost without, that are willing to embrace new challenges, is a constant source of anxiety to managers in a local authority who can see a world of pain opening up before them if these talented individuals leave. But how can you urge them to stay?
Personal development is one way, and technology, another.
Offering them effective, intelligent, integrated technology that works with them to help them do their job better makes work more fulfilling. And, using technology to creating a flexible workspace and work-streams that allow you to create a talent pipeline offers even more.
Local authorities that can offer future proof digital facilities can provide a sense of longevity and sustainability to public sector managers, as well as engaging a workforce that needs training and constant up-skilling.
It does all depend on how the culture around technology is organised, however. Rather than imposing technology on staff, create solutions around them. Training and skills transfer is an important enabler of technology integration, as is the creation of opportunities for different groups of professionals to learn from each other.
Ask people, those fortunate individuals who work happily across different areas of the organisation, to spread skills across the system. Improve knowledge, skills and confidence through joint consultations, multidisciplinary discussions and informal advice. Give people the freedom to make mistakes and ask advice, and offer formal training sessions and online training resources.
It’s an excellent recruitment tool to say that you’ve adopted the latest technology, a great retention tool to say that you encourage its use, and a great persuasion tool to encourage CFOs to compare investment in technology with the cost of constant recruitment rounds.
The public sector cannot always offer the highest wages, but it can offer flexible workspaces and knowledge sharing. Offering staff the ability to relocate and feel confident that if they want to work remotely they'll be able to work on high speed, high capacity Wi-Fi, with common systems and secure and resilient protocols – and a high quality data infrastructure goes a long way to helping people feel fulfilled and less likely to look around.
Bob Quin is Senior Marketing Manager at BT Business and Public Sector.
