Number of staff ... 608
Male/female ratio ... 46/54
Average age ... 43
Staff turnover ... 13%
Earning £35,000+ ... 6%
www.warwickdc.gov.uk

Practices The council’s staff suggestion scheme encourages and rewards employees for their ideas. The award – up to £30 for a nominal idea and up to £300 for a major one – is determined by the contribution to the council’s stated aims. An annual award is also given to a team that has worked over and above expectations to promote customer service, innovative service improvement or efficient use of resources.

Employee performance is recognised in different ways, depending on the achievement and the individual. These include thank-you letters, mentions at staff meetings and reports of achievements to the chief executive or at council meetings.

Team training programmes are used to develop the skills and knowledge of specific teams and the council seeks opportunities to involve employees in project work and cross-functional teams. This enables teams to share information and build relations between each other.

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BACKGROUND

• Best council rules

• Special award winners

Related Internet Links

• Best Councils 2008 table

Warwick is heavily involved in a wide range of community development projects and initiatives. These include regeneration, grants to voluntary organisations, the chairman’s chosen charity, support for cultural activities and staff charity events. It also promotes environmental sustain- ability and has a plastic-bottle recycling scheme for employees as well as a Switch It Off campaign.

A series of voluntary lunchtimemeetings called An Audience with the Chief Executive has been held to launch the corporate strategy. The meetings were attended by more than 120 members of staff. Other lunch- time sessions cover topics such as making the most of technology, performance management, improving processes and updates on major corporate projects.

The council is part of the West Midlands coaching pool. This provides opportunities for managers to become coaches and to be coached by managers from other authorities. There is also a senior officers forum of about 50 managers who meet every quarter to discuss key issues. Recent topics have included health and safety, child protection and the staff survey.

There is a range of training, development and blended learning opportunities for all staff through the corporate training programme. Recent training for managers has included programme management, people and change, recruitment and selection, how to deliver great training for your team, managing stress, finance for nonfinancial managers and running effective meetings.

The council has ten trained employee support officers who act as a point of contact for staff experiencing a problem or a difficult issue at work or outside the office. InTouch is a 24-hour Freephone voice messaging system that allows staff to ask questions and voice concerns, opinions and suggestions. It is administered off-site by an independent company.

Pay and benefits Working options include job sharing, home working, reduced hours and flexitime. Benefits include access to subsidised sports facilities and a long-service award.

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