THE ORG CHANGE HOKEY COKEY
You put your left arm in, your left arm out…In/out, In/Out, shake it all about….
One of my all-time favourite greetings cards bears the legend, “I used to be addicted to the Hokey Cokey but I turned myself around….and that’s what it’s all about.”
The Hokey Cokey, for those not familiar with it, has its origins as a British folk dance and according to Wikipedia, “peaked in popularity as a musical song and novelty dance in the mid-1940’s in the UK.” Growing up as a child, my Nan was a big advocate of the Hokey Cokey (as well as The Slosh – a topic for another day, perhaps).
What, you may wonder, has any of this got to do with the ongoing organisational change situation in the NHS? Well, HR managers might be forgiven for thinking they are currently living in a Hokey Cokey nightmare zone of constant about-facing and not knowing whether to put their left arm in or take their right arm out, on any given day.
When the need for swingeing costs savings was announced earlier this year, the headline was that in-year savings were paramount. Many organisations have had draft VR schemes ready to share with staff side colleagues for months. At one stage a few weeks ago, our understanding was that organisations were required to submit plans (and business cases) for both voluntary and compulsory redundancy exercises, and that a process for approving such plans then would be put in place. The latest seems to be that voluntary redundancy plans are not now going to be signed off (nor any approvals process put in place) but that organisations can still submit business plans for compulsory redundancy exercises only.
This does give the slightly worrying impression that no one thought about how much voluntary redundancy schemes might cost, before starting down this road. The current position also overlooks the obvious point that undertaking compulsory redundancy exercises will cost the same, for those who are dismissed, as voluntary redundancy exercises. Compulsory redundancy exercises also tend to be more difficult, by virtue of the fact that they are compulsory and employees (and staff side representatives) will be more inclined to object to them. It also ignores the fact that if you can successfully utilise a voluntary redundancy process first, this can reduce the numbers of those who are potentially affected or at risk during a subsequent compulsory redundancy exercise thus making it easier to manage the compulsory bit. That would appear to be the approach favoured by NHS England, who launched their own voluntary redundancy exercise on 11 June, seeking expressions of interest by 13 July – albeit to a mixed reception from staff side colleagues. It is troubling that the same opportunity is not being afforded to other NHS organisations who are still required to make significant costs savings. Pushing such organisational change down the compulsory redundancy route is likely to end up taking longer, costing more and increasing the prospects of Employment Tribunal claims and challenges, further down the track. The idea that in-year cost savings will be achievable, has also now essentially disappeared given how long it has taken to reach this point.
The trickiest issue, perhaps, is whether the process thus far has enabled NHS organisations to get any closer to delivering the changes which were initially envisaged. If these changes were regarded as a necessary system reset to enable it to become “fit for purpose” to deliver on the bold targets set out in the NHS 10 Year Plan, it is obviously important that the changes are made. Plainly, those changes will be costly and so it is important that changes are not made now for the sake of it. As Roy Lilley has recently pointed out, if cuts are made for cuts sake, the NHS could end up re-engaging individuals who have recently been made redundant on consultancy contracts which end up costing more, but contributing nothing more, further down the track. If, however, real change is needed to deliver the 10 Year Plan, it is important for the funding (and gumption) to be found, and to go ahead and make those changes.
As my Nan would say…sometimes you just need to put your whole self in (not your whole self out). Knees bend, arms stretch, rah rah rah!
Emlyn Williams
Head of Healthcare Employment
Weightmans LLP
