institute for employment studies

Towards world-class HR and OD in the NHS North West

Finding help

Please contact the helpline at IES if you have any queries about workshops, the survey, or information about the project, or if you do not find the information in the FAQs below.

Gwen Leeming : 01273 763433

Frequently asked questions

About the project and your participation

Q Do we have to participate?

A No

It is not mandatory to participate in this project. Although why wouldn’t you want to position your HR & OD services as supporting the provision of World Class services to the people of the North West?

Q Do we have to pay to participate in the project?

A No

There is no charge to use the World Class HR model, the self-assessment process, for IES to collect and analyse your organisation’s stakeholder feedback or for attendance at project workshops. This is because the NHS North West has contracted with IES to provide these services on behalf of all the NHS organisations within the North West during the period of this project only. However any other costs you incur as part of your research or action planning/implementation phases will be at your own expense eg travel costs, staff time, supplier to collect/analyse feedback if you do not use IES.

Q In summary, what is the project about?

A The project is a collective project borne out of the HR Directors in the North West Conference in late 2007.

It is designed to help HR and OD departments to support the provision of world class health services for the people of the North West. HR Directors can join in at any time.

Phase 1 is a research based phase to collect a range of hard and soft data which gives the HR function a good picture of where it stands now, against a model of World Class HR developed by IES for this project.

Phase 2 is an action phase whereby HR functions plan what improvements or changes they need to make as a result of the research phase findings, and then implement these. A peer support process supports the remainder of the action phase.

About the model

Q Is the model based on research?

A Yes

The world class model of HR and OD brings together different strands of IES research and consultancy experience, is informed by good practice from organisations in both private and public sectors, and checked against other key NHS frameworks such as World-Class Commissioning and Improving Working Lives.

Q How does the model work?

A The model comprises a series of building elements based around the two principal roles of HR and OD, as ‘deliverer of services’ and ‘facilitator of change and people management’. Contained within it are seven factors underpinned by a short number of descriptors.

See: A model of world-class HR and OD

About the methodology for the research/data collection phase

Q Do we have to collect all the hard data mentioned?

A No

Collect what makes sense for your organisation. Some data you may already collect, others will be more challenging. The idea is to bring together data from a range of aspects of HR and people management factors. We recommend you select around three-four pieces of hard data from each of the seven factors ie a maximum 28 hard indicators in total. Which you choose is up to you and your HR team colleagues to agree. Neither IES nor the NHS North West need to ‘approve’ your choices: collect those which most support your organisations strategic goals.

Q Do we have to collect the capacity data?

A Not during 2010

Response to our short capacity data questions during 2008 enabled IES to benchmark your participating function against overall data for the NHS NW. Your data was aggregated with that of the other organisations in the North West. The NHS North West did not have access to your individual responses. In return for participation, functions received a copy of our report. The next capacity data collection will be in 2011.

Q Do we have to collect internal customer feedback on our current HR & OD activities?

A Yes, please

If you have recently undertaken a major feedback exercise on your services you may decide to use the results from that instead of asking your customers again. However we recommend that you look carefully at the stakeholder data listed under each factor in the World Class HR Model and map it against the feedback you have previously collected. If it does not stack up well you may decide to use our on-line questionnaire feedback exercise.

If you want to take advantage of free online survey collection and analysis offered by IES, it is recommended for 2010 that you survey all employees and managers. This will allow us to benchmark your function against overall data for the NHS NW.

Q Will the NHS North West see my organisation’s results?

A No

Not unless you decide to share them. Researchers at IES are the only external personnel who will see your stakeholder feedback and capacity data. All feedback and data sent to IES will be reported on in aggregate form only in a composite report. This composite report will go to the NHS North West. All participating organisations will also get a copy of the composite report as well as your own short report outlining the feedback from your own stakeholders. This will allow you compare how your function fared in comparison with the results from composite feedback of all the participating organisations.