Human Resources
Productive time
Productive time is about maximising the time spent by officers and staff on frontline activities. This means doing things the right way, with the right people, using the right tools and equipment.
In the comprehensive spending review (CSR) years, forces will increasingly need to be confident that they are getting maximum productivity from their resources. The Home Office is working to support forces in their efforts to find new ways of working. A lot of this work will take a renewed look at overtime, sickness absence, rostering and optimising supply and demand.
Overtime
Overtime can, in theory, be the most efficient way to provide staff during times of unexpected demand. The cost of supporting overtime however, can be very high. In 2004/05, overtime cost the police service £415m.
Savings in overtime expenditure should not be made at the expense of operational delivery or effective management of the workforce.
The Home Office has recently established a research project to capture:
- key factors associated with overtime expenditure
- examples of good practice in forces that have successfully reduced overtime
- tools that will assist managers in better understanding overtime in their area.
The first phase will begin shortly.
Sickness Absence
Since the launch of the Strategy for a Healthy Police Service in 2004, the Home Office has funded several initiatives on sickness management around the country. This has included fast-track treatment, stress management, workplace rehabilitation and attendance management.
These initiatives have had considerable success in reducing officer and staff sickness rates.Absence rates for police officers have fallen from 12.2 days in 2000-01 to 8.5 days in 2005-06, and sickness levels continued to fall in 2006/07.
We jointly commissioned, with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), a review into the management of sickness absence in the police service. The report was commissioned to provide an in-depth analysis of absence management policies and procedures.It aimed to gather information on effective approaches to absence management and also to identify barriers to managing, preventing and reducing sickness absence and impediments to returning to work.
The full report Managing Sickness Absence in the Police Service is now available.
Rostering
Productive time also means understanding, and responding to, demand. Effective deployment can improve officer and staff work-life balance, improve the service received by the public, and reduce overtime spend. Forces need to understand their local demand patterns and roster accordingly.
A demand-modelled variable shift arrangement (VSA) can provide almost 70% more officers on duty at peak times than a shift pattern with a flat supply. Accenture’s 2004 study found that across England and Wales this could provide up to 2,500 more officers at peak times (typically between 2100-2300 on Sunday to Thursday, and between 2200 and 0100 on Friday and Saturday), with fewer officers on duty during periods of low demand.
Many forces have already taken Accenture’s recommendations into account as they review shift patterns for 24/7 response teams. Some forces have taken this further, and scrutinised demand across other parts of the business.
Airwave
The roll-out of Airwave in the Metropolitan Police was completed in October 2007, bringing the total number of operational police users to almost 177,000.
Running costs of the Airwave service reach up to £7.88 million per year so it is therefore vital to ensure that forces are able to use Airwave effectively and keep ongoing costs to a minimum.
Primary responsibility for Airwave benefits realisation lies with the NPIA. Contact details as follows:
- Jackie Davenport - Head of Future Radio Network (FRN) Programme
Tel - 0208 358 5456 or 07525 232736
Email Jackie Davenport - Val Keenan - FRN Programme
Tel - 0208 358 5649
Email Val Keenan - Maria Blackbourn - FRN Programme
Tel - 0208 358 5511
Email Maria Blackbourn
