Government Technology

The latest Report on Jobs from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG shows that the jobs market is in its seventh month of recovery. With both temporary and permanent job placements increasing at steady rates, it looks like we are well on the road to recovery. But there may be tough times ahead as the public sector faces an extensive cost-cutting exercise.
     
While the Report on Jobs in recent months has shown a clear increase in demand for workers across the board, the jobs market remains in a fragile state. What’s more, there are a number of factors which could jeopardise the jobs recovery, such as the outcome of the recent general election.
    
As the new government starts to take shape, a key area that must be addressed is the planned expenditure cuts in the public sector. While the public sector continued to add jobs during the recession, it is now public sector jobs that are most at risk. We are likely to see reductions in headcount across all departments and local authorities as budgets are squeezed dramatically.
    
However, an ill-conceived dash for rapid cuts in public expenditure could cause irreparable damage to the delivery of frontline services. It would also setback the jobs recovery, but this needn’t be the case.
    
What’s needed is a new approach to public sector resourcing. New and workable methods need to be implemented across both frontline and back office roles such as IT delivery and support which provide the backbone of the public sector.
    
When looking at head-count as part of expenditure cuts it’s likely that government departments, local authorities and other government funded bodies will see agency workers as an easy target and they may be the first to face the chop. As temporary staff, agency workers may seem like an obvious cost to cut but rather than being a simple line on a balance sheet, flexible workers are an essential part of the public sector workforce. Due to their temporary, and often specialist, nature agency workers help the public sector to ‘flex’ to demand and are part of the cost solution, not the problem.
    
Experience shows that if sustainable structure and long–term reform is not implemented, expenditure will increase as soon as the pressure on costs is removed. What’s more, improving current processes combined with new ways of working could deliver huge efficiency gains across the public sector. To make the most of this opportunity the new government presents, the public sector should make the most of this period of change to work with its recruitment partners to help it to do things differently and more effectively.
    
Unlike the private sector, the public sector managed to escape some of the worst effects of the recession as nurses, doctors, teachers and social care professionals continued to remain in strong demand. Not only did the public sector workforce remain largely intact, it continued to draw upon locum doctors, temporary nurses and supply teachers to cover sickness, training and unexpected peaks in demand.  
    
While front line services are an obvious area where flexible staffing can take place, the public sector should also consider using temporary workers for back office roles such as IT. By using interim managers, part-time staff and agency workers the public sector would benefit from an expanded talent pool while only paying for workers when they are needed.

Efficiency through IT
IT staff in particular will have a key role to play in shaping the new public sector and establishing how and where IT can be used to drive efficiencies. Advances in shared services, virtualisation and best practice in IT service management could generate millions of pounds of savings across the public sector. IT professionals will be central to transforming the public sector into a sustainable and cost efficient machine and this contribution must be recognised as costs are being cut.
    
The value of IT professionals in the general economic recovery is clear, with IT being one of the first sectors to recover. Over the last few months, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s Report on Jobs has seen demand from employers for systems analysts and developers, M&E CAD technicians, Sharepoint professionals and various support staff as companies look to grow their business and deliver value and long-term efficiencies from their IT systems.
    
The same should be true for the public sector as efficiency savings from IT could be the secret to unlocking long-term value and sustainability for the public sector. With this is mind, it is essential that the value of IT and IT professionals is carefully considered before any drastic cuts are made to public sector headcount.