Nursing & Midwifery Workload and Workforce Planning People Management

Aspects of Good Practice in Managing People (Audit Scotland, 2001)

Vacancies: things to consider (1) do we really need to fill the vacancy? do we need to recruit to the same grade or the same number of hours? has the job changed or have changing work patterns created a different job? is this an opportunity to review the structure of the department? are there re-deployment/ill health issues? can existing staff be re-deployed to increase their knowledge of the work carried out in the department and their potential? are there any other vacancies in other departments which can link with this vacancy?

Vacancies: things to consider (2) are there any anticipated changes which will require different, additional or lesser skills? is this post suitable for job sharing or where the duties of a job can be split? have the revenue consequences been identified? does the post have any training requirements? is this a new post? has the funding been agreed? what kind of person do we need to fill the post? will we need locum/bank cover in the interim?

Recruitment To enable you to choose the person who will contribute the most to your team, both in the present and in the future (Wells, 2007) work within your organisation's policies and with your HR team if you want to attract the best staff you need to consider what your ward or department has to offer contributes to a wider organisational strategy which should, in turn, be driven by the organisation’s overall goals

Recruitment Strategy Recruitment should be guided by a strategy which seeks to meet the present and future people needs of the organisation and should be properly integrated with other key aspects of people management including: training and development competence and skills assessment performance review and management reward strategy (Audit Scotland, 2001) planning the number and type of people needed

Staff Retention A moderate level of turnover can be beneficial as it can lead to the introduction of different experiences, ideas and approaches to service delivery Studies into why nurses leave their roles show the reasons to be (Wells, 2007): Nurses who stay in their jobs give the following reasons: a poor working environment low pay stress understaffing high acuity patients number of hours worked job satisfaction a positive environment recognition flexibility

Managing Performance

Managing Performance At its best, performance management is a tool to ensure that managers manage effectively and that they ensure the people or teams they manage: know and understand what is expected of them have the skills and ability to deliver on these expectations are supported by the organisation to develop the capacity to meet these expectations are given feedback on their performance have the opportunity to discuss and contribute to individual and team aims and objectives

Improving Employee Performance Audit Scotland (2001) suggests that organisations need have a pro- active attitude to improving the performance of its employees and build appropriate procedures and systems into its management arrangements to identify and achieve such improvements on a continuous basis. This involves: gaining commitment from managers and employees creating and using management information systems routinely to monitor employee activity and costs taking actions to achieve performance improvement