Identifying your key risks to Service delivery

People Planning Toolkit

S T A G E 3 : I D E N T I F Y I N G Y O U R K E Y R I S K S T OS E R V I C E D E L I V E R Y

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P E O P L E P L A N N I N G TO O L K I T

S tage 3 : I d en t i f y i ng you r

ke y r i s k s t o Se r v i c e de l i v e r y



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People Planning Approach

Stage 1Identify yourcritical posts

Stage 4Identify high potential/

high performingindividuals within your Service area(managing your

talent)

Stage 2Identify your

critical people

Stage 6Evaluate and measure

outcomes of yourpeople planning

approach

Stage 3Identify and prioritise

key risks to yourService delievery

Stage 5Identify potential

successors for yourcritical posts

Stage 3Identify and prioritise

key risks to yourService delievery

Once you have identified your Critical Posts andCritical People, you will need to identify the potentialrisks to continuing to deliver your services shouldyour Critical Posts become vacant, or your CriticalPeople leave your service.

By identifying these risks early on, you can focus yourefforts on taking action to minimise these riskswherever possible.

How do you assess the risk of keyemployees/employees in Critical Postsleaving your service?You will never know for sure whether an employeeintends to leave your service unless they tell yououtright. However, there are a number of factors thatcan help you assess the potential risk of an employeeleaving.

As with all planning tools, by assessing this risk andtaking early action or putting in place contingencyplans, this allows you to have much more controlover any changes that arise in due course.

Factors that may help you in assessing this risk include:



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Identifying your key risks to Service delivery

Hints and tips: This stage of the People Planning approach builds onanalysis undertaken in Stage 1: Identifying yourCritical Posts and Stage 2: Identifying your CriticalPeople. You should refer to these guides beforeattempting to complete the following Risk/Criticalitymatrix.

Hints and tips: This stage of the People Planning approach reallyconcentrates on identifying your key risks. Stage 4:Managing your talent and Stage 5: Managingsuccession within your Service concentrates onspecific action that you can take to minimise theserisks and further develops some of the ideas raised inthis guide.

Risk Factor Issues to consider

Age • Is the individual likely to beconsidering retirement?

• Is the individual just startingtheir career or approaching theend of their career?

Length ofservice

• The longer an employee stayswith your Service the less likelythey are to leave

• The length of service withprevious employers gives agood indication as to how longan employee is likely to staywith your Service

Mobility • How important is it to theindividual that their work isclose to home e.g. due topersonal commitments?

• How receptive is the individualto travelling to find jobs thatprovide them with the careeropportunities they desire?

• How easy is it to find alternativeemployment within the localarea?

• How much competition is therein the labour market for theskills of your employees?

Learning &Developmentundertaken

• The more receptive youremployee is to learning anddevelopment opportunities themore likely they are to look foropportunities to develop theircareer.

• The more learning anddevelopment your employeesundertake the more attractivethey are to your competitors.

• Lack of appropriate learningand development opportunitiesmay cause dissatisfactionamongst highly motivatedemployees.

Factors that may help you in assessing this risk include:

The most effective way of gauging an individual’sinterest and intentions about staying with yourservice, however, is to have regular 1-2-1s with youremployees and to discuss openly and honestly wherethey see their future within your Service area. TheCouncil’s Performance Management Frameworkencourages such conversations as part of thedevelopment plan and it would be very easy for youto incorporate the following discussions duringreview meetings:

• The individual’s career aspirations or career planand work preferences

• Personal circumstances that may impact on theemployee’s career in the short to medium term

• How to maximise the use of their specialist skill setsor capabilities within their current role

• Development opportunities that may help themperform effectively in a higher level role or abroader role at the same level

It should be noted that such conversations are notpromises of career development but are a realisticdiscussion about the wants and needs of theindividual and the needs of the Service area.



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Hints and tips: The above risk factors are only broad indicators of thetypes of issues that tend to influence an employee’sdecision to leave their current employment. The list isnot exhaustive and should not be used as a definitiveguide to predicting with any certainty the likelihood ofyour employees leaving your Service area.

Risk Factor Issues to consider

Individual’scareeraspirations

• Is your employee highlyambitious and looking forpromotion?

• What opportunities are therewithin your Service area forsuch employees?

• Has your employee been in thesame role for a long period oftime with no indication that theywant to move to the next level?

Otherorganisationalorenvironmentalfactors

• Have there been recentchanges to working conditions?

• What are relationships likebetween the employee and theircolleagues/line managers?

• Has the external labour marketchanged recently? How will thisimpact on the employee’smotivation to find alternativeemployment?

Signs ofdissatisfactionwithin currentrole

• Has the employee expressed anyfeelings of dissatisfaction to youor to members of your team?

• Does the employee’sexpectation of their role meetwith the actual demands of the role?

• Does the employee feel valued?

Exhibitedbehaviourwhichindicates anintention toleave the post

• Has the employee’s behaviourchanged dramatically at work inrecent times?

• Does the employee lackmotivation recently which isunusual for them?

• Has the employee’sperformance dipped recently?

• Is the employee behaving out ofcharacter?

The following matrix allows you to map your CriticalPosts and Critical People against the possible risk ofthem leaving your Service area within the next 12-18months.

Using the matrix, you should slot theindividuals/posts identified as critical to your Serviceinto the relevant quadrant based on theinformation/knowledge you have about theseindividuals and any discussions you may have hadrecently during performance reviews or regular 1-2-1’s about where they see their future.

This analysis can then help you prioritise where youwill need to focus your efforts in terms of minimisingthe potential risk to your Service area of keyindividuals or individuals in key posts leaving theService. For example, your initial efforts would betargeted in the highest risk, highest impact quadrantsof this matrix and prioritised from there.

Based on your analysis, where you have identifiedsignificant potential risks to service delivery you mayneed to consider the following:

For further information or practical support inidentifying your key risks to your Service area,contact the People Development Team on01443 424159 or 01443 424082.



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Using the Risk/Criticality matrix

• Could the work be organised differently so thatcritical elements of key roles could be picked upby others within your team?

• Do you know whether you have team memberswho have the potential motivation and the skillsbase to assume these roles should the presentpost holder leave?

• Are you facing capability gaps in critical areas?If so, what can you to do address these?

Hints and tips: Stage 4: Managing your talent and Stage 5:Managing succession within your Service will help youthink about how you address the above questions inmuch more detail.



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Criticality of post / individual

Criticality of post / individual Risk of post holder leaving Service

Acute• Severe impact on business continuity with risk

of service failure• Severe impact on achieving Council’s

objectives/priorities• Difficult post to cover due to demands,

strategic element of role,professional/technical expertise, essentialqualifications etc

• Very difficult role to recruit into due to natureof post, qualifications required, job itself (e.g.unsociable hours, location, remuneration,competition from other sectors)

5* Low vacancyrisk/acutely criticalpost or individual

3* Mediumvacancyrisk/acutely criticalpost or individual

1* High vacancyrisk/acutely criticalpost or individual.

Posts/individuals inthis categoryshould be primaryfocus. Addresssuccession issuesrelated to thisquadrant in initialphase

High• Impacts greatly on continuity of service

delivery• Difficult to cover due to nature of post/impact

on other roles• Impacts greatly on achieving Council’s

objectives/priorities• Difficult role to recruit into due to nature of

post and/or qualifications required

4* Mediumvacancy risk/highlycritical post orindividual

2* High vacancyrisk/highly criticalpost or individual

Average• Some impact on continuity of service delivery

and/or achieving Council’s objectives but canbe covered relatively easily by another post

• Fairly easy role to recruit into, sufficientapplicants from which to select

Low• Little or no impact on continuity of service

and/or can be easily covered by another postwith no adverse effect

• Little or not impact on achieving the Council’sobjectives/priorities

• Easy role to recruit into. No shortage ofappropriately skilled applicants both internallyand externally

LowLittle/no intentionof departure,although couldoccur

MediumSome probabilityof departure

HighAlmost certaindeparture withinnext 12 months



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Manager checklist

Action Completed

1. Identify your Critical Posts and Critical People

2. Assess potential risk of your employees in Critical Posts and your Critical Peopleleaving your Service area

3. Complete Risk/Criticality matrix using information above

4. Prioritise your high risk areas

5. Identify and develop strategies to minimise the level of risk to Service delivery

Documents

Identifying your key risks to Service delivery