FRS Promotions in the Spotlight and Why Better Solutions are Needed
Hannah Vallance, Chartered Occupational Psychologist
Creating bespoke On-line Assessment Tools to help Fire & Rescue/ Emergency Services fairly and objectively recruit, promote and develop their very best talent. Career Coaching & CV support for busy professionals
The majority of FRS HR departments already have a promotions process in place. But increasing numbers are seeking other solutions. Why this need for change?
HMI Reports
Recent HMI inspections show that many FRS’s have areas requiring improvement, specifically with regards to assessment and promotions processes. Common problem themes are:
Outsourcing the promotions process to a specialist in the field enables FRS’s to confidently address their shortcomings in a demonstrable way, not only to perform well in future inspections, but also to improve the promotions experience for FRS personnel across the board.
Finances
Outsourced assessment processes vary dramatically in price and value.?It’s worth opening discussion with the provider of the solution you’re interested in. Flexible solutions may be available, adapted to suit your requirements and budget.
At VCA Ltd we’ve developed a new service, the CPG Feedback Lite. This new version of our already successful Career Progression Gateway (CPG) online assessment service in response to FRS’s with a high volume of candidates. This service offers many of the advantages of the original CPG but at a reduced cost, and can also be used with smaller candidate pools.
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Overcoming Limited People Resources
The demands on people when handling assessments in-house are considerable – and pressure on staff is increasing. The extra workload during promotions activity can be enormous and contribute to stress and poor work-life balance.
We can offer options in order for you to outsource the workload, from timetabling and facilitating assessments to providing detailed feedback reports and post-assessment developmental feedback. While not an obvious cost-saving solution at first thought, the value of this approach is emphasised when taking into consideration the hidden expense of internally managed promotions.
Candidate Dissatisfaction
When candidates are unhappy with processes it creates a shared climate of distrust and dissatisfaction. This necessitates a change in process to ensure a cohesive, efficient team.
One benefit of changing the assessment process is that changes can also be made to information sharing, briefing, feedback and candidate preparation support. Improving these elements will also enhance candidates’ perception of fairness, understanding and acceptance of outcomes. Companies like VCA will provide all the materials to enable you to make these changes effectively without adding to your workload.
Selecting the Right People
If there is a lack of confidence that the right people are being promoted it can be hard to maintain credibility and support your chosen process. If you are seeking an alternative solution, it can be helpful to choose tried and tested methods to draw on the experience and results from other FRS’s and confirm the results and validity of your own practice.