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RA business objective 8
To be a caring and considerate employer and, as an Investor
in People, develop the skills of the Agency's staff and unleash
their creativity
8.1
Training and development
The Agency's training and development activities support
the facilitation of development opportunities in line with changing
business needs and the development of a learning culture. Our
change programme for 2003-04, which looks forward to the values
that will be embraced in Ofcom, reflects these objectives.
To ensure that our people's technical skills reflect the cutting edge of industry development, we support continuous professional development and attendance at conferences. Our Graduate Trainee Engineer Scheme was re-accredited by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) in 2002-03, and is now complemented by a scheme encouraging non-technical staff to develop engineering skills. These schemes give further impetus to maintaining our engineering profile.
Project and risk management skills were emphasised during 2002-03, enabling staff to add value to their business objectives – see Sections 6.4 and 6.5.
The Agency championed the benefits of effective leadership and improved its leadership capability through the Leadership Development Programme, which was extended to all managers. It yielded tangible technological, professional and internal and external status benefits that are well understood by managers and staff.
8.2
Investors in People
The Agency was awarded re-recognition to the Investors in People standard
in May 2002, confirming that it is well placed to lead the way in terms
of best practice in leadership, organisational development, valuing
diversity and change management.
8.3
Intranet and internal communications; Rapport
Development of the Agency intranet continued steadily throughout the
year, with enhancements made to improve usability, navigability and
speed of access. The Intranet User Group contributed to the success
of the intranet, which attracts on average 850 unique users per month.
However, because of Ofcom, the intranet's development was limited;
resources were concentrated on planning and developing the Ofcom transitional
intranet and website, both of which were launched in early 2003.
We continued to publish our quarterly staff magazine, 'Rapport', which keeps staff informed of developments in specific business areas. Our staff suggestions scheme, 'Inspirations', this year attracted 42 ideas, six of which we intend to implement.
8.4
Internal performance targets
The Agency operates an array of targets to measure its own performance
in areas such as training and development, communications, human resources,
finance, change management, information systems, facilities, radio technology
and compatibility studies, site clearance, research, and the production
of Management Board minutes.
Performance against these targets is constantly monitored; to ensure that staff are aware of the Agency's performance, the results are published on our intranet. The most significant targets are subject to more stringent monitoring as part of the quarterly review process, and are reported to the Management Board every month.
The targets are reviewed as part of the Agency's annual resource planning cycle, to ensure that they remain valid and demanding measures of performance. This year, in light of Ofcom, it was decided not to restructure the targets radically.
8.5
Health and safety
The Agency made good progress on health and safety issues this year.
Codes of practice were approved on alcohol, drugs and smoking and on
portable electrical equipment, and we published guidance for contractors.
On the issue of stress, we established a review group, produced a statement
of intent, surveyed staff and ran a highly successful awareness campaign
for European Week of Safety; we continue with work on risk assessment
of stress. The Chief Executive signed a new Health and Safety Policy
Statement, and an overall review of safety policy is under way.
8.6
Equal opportunities and diversity
Our strategy is to build a diversity-oriented organisation that is consistent
with Ofcom's vision and values. Our policies reflect this strategy,
and all managers and their teams receive training to raise awareness
of the benefits that diversity brings to achieving business success.
Our annual Diversity Open Forum focused this year on celebrating our achievements to date and sharing ideas with staff from other Ofcom regulators – see Section 8.7.
The Agency retained accreditation as a Disability Two Ticks employer this year, and is planning a disability awareness event for all staff in May 2003. We published a cultural awareness handbook on the intranet, provided a reflection room for prayer and meditation, and contributed to DTI's achievement of a silver award in the Race for Opportunity benchmarking survey 2002.
We continue to make good progress against our diversity benchmarks for 2005 on achieving a balanced profile of staff across our grading structure in terms of gender, ethnicity and disability – see Tables 10 and 11.
8.7
Racial Equality Advisory Group (REAG)
REAG is an internal committee, established in 1999 to advise the Chief
Executive and Management Board on issues relating to ethnic minorities.
The committee comprises around 15 ethnic minority staff, and has representatives
from the Human Resources Unit and Training and Development Unit. REAG-proposed
initiatives (from the way we recruit to the development and promotion
of staff) have benefited all staff.
REAG's main priority for 2002-03 was to ensure that the Agency's momentum in promoting a fair, diverse working environment continues into Ofcom. REAG played a leading role in organising the Agency's Diversity Open Forum, held in January 2003. This highly successful event featured presentations and attendees from all the Ofcom regulators, and proved an excellent opportunity to exchange thoughts, concerns and perspectives. A clear theme from the event was that Ofcom's key priority of promoting diversity in the services it regulates is best served by ensuring and valuing diversity in its own staff.
REAG is therefore keen to continue its advisory role on race equality and cultural diversity into Ofcom, providing forward-thinking initiatives to ensure that Ofcom is a racially equal and culturally diverse organisation – and that the best service is delivered to its diverse customers.
8.8
Trade union side
Trade union side activity during the year was dominated, as expected,
by discussions with management through the Agency's Whitley machinery
about the transition to Ofcom.
Staff representatives were particularly pleased with securing the right of return to DTI for all staff, but realise that this is not an appropriate option for everybody. They were also pleased to secure an optional two-year secondment period for all staff – but with TUPE applying only on day one ('vesting day'), this option will again not be viable for staff wishing to be sure of continued employment.
Any progress to be made on TUPE conditions will depend on discussions with DTI rather than with Agency management.
The trade unions look forward to early notification of the terms and conditions applicable to staff transferring to Ofcom, and to discussions with the Ofcom management team. They also look forward to a meaningful approach from Ofcom management, to reassure union members that proper industrial relations will operate in the new organisation.
Table 10: Ethnic mix of Agency staff
Mix
of staff (administrative) 2003 |
||||
| White | Minority ethnic | Undeclared | Total |
|
| Fast Stream | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Range 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Range 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| Range 3 | 38 | 14 | 5 | 57 |
| Range 4 | 35 | 22 | 6 | 63 |
| Range 5 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 25 |
| Range 6 | 30 | 9 | 5 | 44 |
| Range 7 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 24 |
| Range 8 | 25 | 8 | 2 | 35 |
| Range 9 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| Range 10 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 14 |
| Range 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| SCS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
|
|
||||
| Total | 205 | 67 | 38 | 310 |
|
|
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| Mix
of staff (administrative) 2003 |
||||
| White | Minority ethnic | Undeclared | Total |
|
| RS1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| RS2 | 99 | 4 | 9 | 112 |
| RS3 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 24 |
| RS4 | 48 | 5 | 6 | 59 |
| RS5 | 32 | 7 | 4 | 43 |
| RS6 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 16 |
| RS7 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| RST (F) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| RST (G) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| RST (T) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
|
||||
| Total | 227 | 24 | 31 |
282
|
|
|
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Table 11: 2002 ethnic survey of applicants for Radiocommunications Agency jobs
Of 1,810 external applications received this year, 1,801 applicants chose to participate in this survey.
| Gender | Ethnic origin | |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| Male
|
Female |
White |
Black |
Asian |
Other |
Not
stated |
Total
minority ethnic |
|||
|
|
|||||||||
 |
Application received | 1,234 |
567 |
1073 |
199 |
255 |
73 |
201 |
527 |
|
| Satisfied sift criteria | 194 |
130 |
230 |
25 |
39 |
10 |
20 |
74 |
||
| Guaranteed Interview Scheme | 4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
||
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
Invited for interview | 194 |
130 |
230 |
25 |
39 |
10 |
20 |
74 |
|
| Did not attend interview | 19 |
24 |
32 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
||
| Not successful at interview | 134 |
88 |
163 |
14 |
29 |
6 |
10 |
49 |
||
| Guaranteed Interview Scheme | 4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
||
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
Offered job |
32 |
21 |
42 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
|
| Waiting list |
5 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
||
| Declined offer |
4 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
||
| Appointed | 33 |
20 |
41 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
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