HR review at a Further Education college

In 2013 a London FE college expressed the desire to ensure that it had an ‘optimum central support infrastructure in place’. This was seen to be especially necessary against a background of its expansion and during a period of fast changing educational infrastructure. Specifically, the college wanted to review its HR function – its structure, relationship to the local authority and its key policies and practices. IES was asked to carry out such a review focusing on the capacity and capability of the HR team to deliver against the current and potential work requirements.

IES undertook a number of tasks:

• HR policies and practices were reviewed to see if they were fit for purpose

• The capacity and capability of staff was examined through
• The completion of a diary by the HR team
• Examination of roles and job descriptions
• The use of a skill survey
  The analysis of CVs to look at knowledge, skills and experience
• The performance of the function was tested via
• Calculating the HR:staff ratio
• A simple customer survey and senior management interviews
  Considering various KPIs
• A review of processes and technology
• The future requirements were investigated

A report was produced that set out the results from the above analysis and then described the advantages and disadvantages of a number of change options. Each was marked against their potential service quality and cost and against their resilience against change with a clear recommendation made. Finally, the implications and fit for current college HR team was considered.

Project details

Year	2013
IES contact	Peter Reilly