Hertfordshire County Council
Raise awareness with all stakeholders:
Age - an essential element of long term organisational culture change
In March 2005 Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) launched a new workforce diversity strategy, designed to change the image of Hertfordshire and to promote it as a diverse employer. To kick-start the process HCC launched a press campaign that gained coverage both locally and nationally. This campaign was designed to support an internal culture change programme aimed at changing behaviours and language to support the principles of diversity. The press campaign was carefully developed to ensure that it appealed to people of all ages. Photos of real HCC employees not stock photos were used and ensured that the images portrayed a diverse range of ages.
The diversity programme was developed with the help of a range of staff groups at the Council including black workers, disabled workers, younger and older workers, and gay and lesbian employees. The groups were asked what would hinder or encourage people to come and work for the Organisation. This process revealed that potential staff may not consider Hertfordshire to be a diverse place to work and that existing employees might not be as encouraged as possible to contribute to their full potential. The aim of the campaign is to ensure that people see Hertfordshire as a welcoming and supportive place to work. To achieve this the Council recognises the value of a workforce in which people from the widest possible range of different backgrounds are encouraged to bring fresh ideas and perceptions to their teams and day to day activities. The high profile media campaign marks the start of a longer term cultural and organisational change programme which includes an internal poster campaign, a specially designed train the trainer pack which will be used to help develop the right behaviours and skills amongst all employees to deliver the cultural shift, a streamlined recruitment process which will help recruit a more diverse workforce and a new internal development programme to help encourage progression of staff through the organisation.
HCC will be measuring the success of both the press campaign and the internal change programme via staff perceptions surveys, careful monitoring of recruitment processes and detailed monitoring of the workforce to ensure that the programme is effective in reaching all possible groups and age ranges.
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Raise awareness with all stakeholders:
Age - an essential element of long term organisational culture change
In March 2005 Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) launched a new workforce diversity strategy, designed to change the image of Hertfordshire and to promote it as a diverse employer. To kick-start the process HCC launched a press campaign that gained coverage both locally and nationally. This campaign was designed to support an internal culture change programme aimed at changing behaviours and language to support the principles of diversity. The press campaign was carefully developed to ensure that it appealed to people of all ages. Photos of real HCC employees not stock photos were used and ensured that the images portrayed a diverse range of ages.
The diversity programme was developed with the help of a range of staff groups at the Council including black workers, disabled workers, younger and older workers, and gay and lesbian employees. The groups were asked what would hinder or encourage people to come and work for the Organisation. This process revealed that potential staff may not consider Hertfordshire to be a diverse place to work and that existing employees might not be as encouraged as possible to contribute to their full potential. The aim of the campaign is to ensure that people see Hertfordshire as a welcoming and supportive place to work. To achieve this the Council recognises the value of a workforce in which people from the widest possible range of different backgrounds are encouraged to bring fresh ideas and perceptions to their teams and day to day activities. The high profile media campaign marks the start of a longer term cultural and organisational change programme which includes an internal poster campaign, a specially designed train the trainer pack which will be used to help develop the right behaviours and skills amongst all employees to deliver the cultural shift, a streamlined recruitment process which will help recruit a more diverse workforce and a new internal development programme to help encourage progression of staff through the organisation.
HCC will be measuring the success of both the press campaign and the internal change programme via staff perceptions surveys, careful monitoring of recruitment processes and detailed monitoring of the workforce to ensure that the programme is effective in reaching all possible groups and age ranges.
Click icon to download a printable version of the case study
download pdf
