2.1 People Issues
2.1.1 Manpower Planning
The Tribunal is committed to managing the decentralisation of its offices to Portarlington in a way which minimises disruption to business continuity, within a framework which places people at the heart of the process. Initially, given that none of the staff serving in 2003 had opted to decentralise, significant risks were identified in terms of knowledge management and staff recruitment. This was particularly the case at Legal Adviser and Equality Officer Grade (both are specialist posts within the general service grade). Nonetheless, with the assistance of the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, the Tribunal has made significant progress in ameliorating the challenges presented for all business units in terms of appropriate staff assignments.
Over the past years, planning for staffing in the new location has progressed and competitions for the position of Legal Advisor and Equality Officer Posts have been held. The terms of the competitions stipulated that the successful candidates would agree to serve in Portarlington.
2.1.2 Staffing Assignments
In terms of staff assignments, the Tribunal's approach has been to manage the movement of staff on a manageable phased basis that allows for training overlap and transference of knowledge to new staff. Ideally, Portarlington
bound support staff should be in place in their sections a minimum of six months in advance of the actual physical move to Portarlington. This may not be possible in light of staff recruited from the CAF coming from regional locations and the need to minimise costs and the payment of the special decentralisation training allowance. However, the Tribunal is of the view that a period of 1 year is more appropriate at Equality Officer level as this is a highly specialised post.
With the strong assistance of the Department every effort is being made to ensure minimal disruption to service delivery and loss of corporate knowledge with the anticipated 100% turnover of staff. The risk at Equality Officer level has now been reduced substantially through the agreement for specialist recruitment and a significant overlap period of 6 months.
Recruitment to the Equality Officer grade vacancies will be completed using a panel drawn up after an interdepartmental competition for promotion to the new grade. The Department has greatly facilitated the Tribunal by agreeing an overlap of 6 months at Equality Officer level to ensure a smooth transfer of accumulated expertise. This process commenced in April 2007 and at the time of writing seven Equality Officers have been recruited from this interdepartmental panel.
In relation to other grades a programme of phased assignment of decentralising staff has commenced. Personnel Unit in the Department has confirmed its commitment to ensure that the level of staff turnover will be managed against the background of a synchronised approach to staffing assignments (internally and externally to other Departments) under the Decentralisation Programme.
At the time of writing the following staff are committed to serving in Portarlington when the Tribunal decentralises:
1. Management: the Legal Advisor and two of the three Principal Officers
2. Equality Officers: 7 Equality Officers
3. Support staff: 1 EO, 2 CO
2.1.3 Training and Development
To ensure that the decentralisation exercise takes place in the most efficient and effective manner, the Tribunal has established a structure to ensure that officers transferring to Portarlington receive a minimum of eight weeks "on the job" training.
2.1.4 Skills Sets/Gaps
The "on the job training" period referred to above will enable officers to acquire basic competencies in their new job. More specialised training, however, is arranged via the PMDS in consultation with Corporate Learning Unit in the Department. An ongoing series of "in-house" briefing sessions (some specifically tailored and delivered by external specialists) ensures that specialised expertise is disseminated and more briefing sessions are planned for 2008. A detailed "in-house" Induction Pack has been developed by a working group and working procedure manuals have been developed by jobholders for new support staff.
Agreement in principle has also been reached for a pilot programme of outsourcing part of our mediation service, partly to deal with inevitable skills gaps during our decentralisation and partly to help smooth out peaks in demand for mediation. It will be a key task ahead to ensure that this is carried out in a way which meets the parties' needs and offers value for money.
2.1.5 Equality Officer Posts
As indicated above, due to the specialised nature of their quasi-judicial roles a different arrangement is in place for Equality Officer posts. Experienced jobholders have been willing to train those transferring to Portarlington and these staff members have greatly assisted with the provision of on the job training. The Department fully facilitated the Tribunal by agreeing a six month overlap for training and development at Equality Officer level. This is being achieved through an intensive new programme of on the job training, formalised training courses and mentoring and coaching of the new officers, to provide for the extensive and specific training requirements for this highly specialised role.
2.1.6 Indicative Timescales
The remaining staff for the new location will be recruited over the next 18 months, based on the CAF where possible. To what degree this can be controlled is dependent on the wider staffing and recruiting environment across the public service and accommodation availability.
2.1.7 Staff remaining in Dublin
Given the large scale staffing changes that have commenced taking place the issues of staff morale and motivation are central to the Decentralisation process. Staff whose posts are being decentralised but who wish to remain in Dublin may feel that they face a somewhat uncertain future in the Department and/or elsewhere. Such fears are very real and understandable. However through the various channels of communication outlined within this Plan is hoped that these issues could be addressed in such a way as not to adversely impact on the motivation and morale of staff.
Staff of the Tribunal who wish to remain in Dublin have been given an undertaking by the Department that they will be accommodated within the Department on a first choice basis depending on Department vacancies. The method of assignment of Equality Officers has commenced and is expected to be completed by March 2009. The Department needs to give consideration to the method of assignment of other Tribunal staff who wish to remain in Dublin. It is proposed to work closely with the Department to ensure an orderly transition, taking into account the realistic time table for decentralisation and the need for phased recruitment to protect corporate memory. However, this is one of the issues that need clarification.
2.1.8 Communications
Clearly, given the fact that almost all of the Tribunal's staff will need to be replaced by staff willing to decentralise, there are risks in relation to staff morale. To the maximum extent possible the uncertainty round decentralisation issues will be minimised by clear communication in co-operation with the Department. The Tribunal's Partnership Committee will be fully involved.
2.2 Property Issues
2.2.1 Facilities
The Tribunal's aim is to decentralise to an excellent quality, fully accessible, safe and healthy office environment, very close to public transport and other amenities, with a high standard of design and build quality. As well as office accommodation, the Tribunal's special needs include provision for hearings and mediations and a comprehensive library of relevant legal and other materials. It is important that the built environment is fully accessible to our customers and in this regard following discussions with the OPW the Tribunal has received a commitment that our facilities, interior design and environment will fully reflect our current inclusive environment. We have also received a commitment that the new building will have the best practice accessible design features and the OPW have been most helpful by suggesting some access improvements that we may wish to consider at the design stage.
2.2.2 Portarlington Office Accommodation
At the time of writing, the OPW have made significant progress in securing office accommodation in Portarlington. The impact of the recent approval of a 50% increase in Tribunal staffing, for at least two years, has been discussed with OPW and our additional space requirements have been included in the building specifications. It is planned that the office accommodation will be shared with the other decentralising agencies. The OPW has agreed that special physical arrangements will be provided for the privacy and confidentiality of Tribunal customers, in attending hearings or mediations.
Planning permission for the new building office accommodation is being pursued at the time of writing and provided there are no planning difficulties the indicative timescale for completion of works is 18-24 months. The projected completion date envisaged by the OPW for completion of building works and fit out is summer 2009.
A detailed accommodation brief has been supplied to the OPW and the Tribunal's Decentralisation Implementation Committee has started the process of ongoing engagement with them to ensure that the Department's and Offices requirements will be met, while maximising the use and quality of shared space within the building. Further meetings with OPW will take place over the coming months to ensure that specific requirements can be met. It is envisaged that there will also be further discussions with the other decentralising bodies in terms of the uses of shared accommodation, e.g. meeting rooms' functions and management.
2.2.3 Security and Confidentiality
The Tribunal has certain security and confidentiality concerns which must be addressed in the context of the move to Portarlington, particularly in terms of maintaining the confidentiality of hearings and mediations. We must ensure, therefore, that appropriate work practices, along with adequate facilities and security are in place before the relocation to Portarlington or an advance office takes place. This is addressed in the accommodation returns which have already been forwarded to OPW and will be discussed further as accommodation issues progress.
2.2.4 Dublin Office Accommodation
It has been accepted that, because more than 50% of complaints emanate from the Dublin region, it will be necessary to retain office/hearing space in Dublin, to meet the needs of the parties to the complaints. Provision of support facilities, such as a basic library and hot-desking arrangements for Equality Officers in particular, will maximise the efficiency of the Dublin base. Over the next few months it is expected that the exact accommodation specification requirements for a Dublin base will be discussed and agreed with the Department and OPW.
2.2.5 Advance Party
It had initially been considered that, because of the small size of its organisation and more particularly the interdependence of all of its units it was not possible to phase decentralisation. However, in light of the recent DIG Report and recent expansion of staffing, agreement in principle has been reached to send an advance party of approximately 14 staff to interim accommodation in Portlaoise. The OPW are actively working on the acquisition and fit out of office accommodation. The Tribunal's main consideration must be to protect customer service levels and optimise Tribunal skills and efficiencies. Staff assignments to this location will be on the basis of the necessary skills requirements having been met. Phasing may also have to be considered where the skills transfer requirements are such that more time is required to build up experience.
The indicative timescale for this advance party is the first half of 2008. However, another issue that may impact on the timing of the move is the need to bed down the Department's planned move to the Shared IT Services before the relocation takes place. This matter is being kept under close review.
2.3 Business Continuity Issues
2.3.1 Business Planning
Managing the Decentralisation Programme for the Tribunal has
been built into the Tribunal's Business Plans and it Strategy Statement.
The Senior Management Team and Partnership Committee systematically reviews all Business Plans throughout each year, looking back at achievements, slippages and any material changes to the plans. Ongoing reviews also afford an opportunity to look forward to modify plans, as necessary. From now until the successful completion of the Decentralisation Programme, decentralisation will be an integral part of the Business Planning Process. This Implementation Plan will also inform the Senior Management Team in its consideration of the 2008 Business Plans.
2.3.2 Risk Analysis
The Tribunal has adopted a risk based approach in planning for decentralisation and has identified, monitored, assessed and reported on the key risks associated with decentralisation in previous iterations of this Implementation Plan. A detailed risk assessment has been prepared. A SWOT analysis is also included in Appendix 3 to the Plan. The central focus of this SWOT analysis relates to the quality and efficiency of Tribunal's service, which may be affected by the move to Portarlington. The analysis is concerned with what can be done to preserve and improve the quality and efficiency of the Tribunal's service delivery.
The risks as identified in the risk assessment relate to things that might go wrong in the context of the Decentralisation Programme. They are monitored on an ongoing basis as part of the Tribunal's Decentralisation Implementation Committee, Partnership Commitee and Senior Management team meetings.
2.3.3 Knowledge Management
One of the most significant risks, as identified by previous reports, is the potential high staff turnover and the associated loss of corporate memory/ skills/ knowledge and the potential impact on Tribunal customer service delivery. This has required careful succession planning and an effective training programme to minimise risk to business continuity and customer service. It also requires a significant commitment from the Department to allocate appropriate funding for additional training and pay costs for staff overlaps.
2.3.4 Quality Customer Service
2.3.4.1 Risk based approach to minimising impact of decentralisation
The main risks which are identified in the risk assessment pertaining to business issues are categorised as operational, strategic, financial and reputational.
While the Tribunal's clear objective will be to minimise any adverse effects on customer service, because of staff turnover, some loss of service can be expected, as inexperienced equality officers take longer to deliver quality decisions or mediations. Actions taken to mitigate this risk are set out in the risk controls. One of the key considerations in terms of risk managing the Decentralisation Programme effectively is the maintenance of the credibility of the Tribunal and the quality of its work following decentralisation so that all who are affected by the equality legislation have the necessary clarity on their rights and obligations. Our overall approach in planning our relocation to Portarlington is to minimise disruption to service delivery.
In particular, the Tribunal is committed to the 12 Principles of Quality Customer Service. Relocation and expansion presents the Tribunal with an opportunity to re-examine its existing structures and business processes in order to provide an improved service to the public and a better working environment for its staff. While processes within the Tribunal have
undergone business process reviews in the recent past, nonetheless we plan to revisit our business structures to reflect the changes that will be brought about as a result of the move and ensure that the processes in the business units and Tribunal are as efficient as possible to ensure quality customer service in the new location. This business process improvement approach is reflected in our latest Statement of Strategy.
2.3.5 Communciations
The next major task, which will commence once the building of the Tribunal's new offices are underway and a definitive timescale has been identified for the move, is the commencement of communications with customers. Customers will be informed of the move and the timescale and on issues that impact on service. The Tribunal's Consultative Forum will continue to have decentralisation as a standing item on its agenda, to ensure this and other essential tasks, are completed.
2.3.6 Project Management
2.3.6.1 Internal
The Decentralisation Project is supervised and managed by the Director, the Head of Corporate Services Fiona Lafferty and her team in the Equality Tribunal. It is part of the agenda of the Tribunal's Partnership Committee and Senior Management meetings. The Tribunal is represented on the Decentralisation Working Group which was established to monitor progress on decentralisation of staff under the Justice, Equality and Law Reform aegis.
2.3.6.2 External
It involves the support of and co-operation with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (especially Human Resources and the Equality and Diversity Divisions) and the Office of Public Works. The Tribunal's Consultative Forum is briefed on decentralisation at each meeting, and they have indicated their absolute priorities are the maintenance of customer service and the retention of a Dublin base of operations.