About 30 local authorities are to start piloting an online staff secondment service as an alternative to making redundancies following deep cuts to their budgets.
The pilot scheme was jointly developed by online skills exchange StaffShare and Local Government Employers, a body that represents employers when negotiating on pay, pensions and workforce-related issues.
The idea is that redeployed staff will remain on the same employment contract throughout the secondment period, which can range from a few months to a year or longer, while new employers pay up to half of their salary costs.
The goal is to enable councils to retain key talent, while also saving money by being able to place staff elsewhere on a temporary – or even permanent – basis, whether that be in other public sector bodies or private and third sector organisations.
Jan Parkinson, LGE’s managing director, said: “Local councils are under extraordinary pressure to cut their cost of operation and looking for ways to help valued employees to move into new roles within the private and third sector is part of that strategy.”
The exchange works by enabling employers to search StaffShare’s employee databases for relevant skills and membership costs £100 per year. Employee CVs cost £20 each to purchase.
Phil Flaxton, a founding director of StaffShare, said: “This benefits all parties. It enables the council or public body to save money without losing the member of staff. It allows third sector organisations and SMEs the benefit of skills which they could not otherwise secure or afford. The employee benefits by having continued employment and the economy benefits by redistributing skills to where they are needed.”
After the pilot has been completed, the aim is to roll the scheme out nationwide.
