Annual report 10/11 - Dstl

Our peopleThe quality and commitment of our people are critical to Dstl’s success and weunderstand the importance of staff engagement to organisational performance.In 2010, we participated for the first timein the Civil Service People Survey thatmeasures staff engagement. Despitethe current financial constraints andspeculation over job losses in the publicsector, the vast majority of our staffparticipated in the survey and weachieved an engagement score of 64 percent. This places Dstl in the top quartileas a high performing organisation withinthe public sector.Our staff continue to be highly motivatedby what they do with 94 per cent findingtheir work interesting and 68 per centproud to tell others that they are partof Dstl. We received positive feedbackon leadership and managing change.However, we need to improve the visibilityof our senior managers and give morepeople the opportunity to contribute theirviews on decisions that affect them.Learning and development is vital if weare to attract, develop and retain thebest people. Many people speak highlyof the career opportunities and trainingand development in Dstl. Last year, morethan 250 people achieved a career levelpromotion, including six who becameFellows and Senior Principals – notedexperts within their fields. However, thereis still a perception that career paths arenot always clear and we need to helppeople understand their options andmake the best choices.Our line managers play a valuablerole in the workplace but we must domore to ensure that our leaders haveall the support, tools and skills theyneed. In addition to developing peoplemanagement skills, we must also focus ondeveloping the skills of those responsiblefor technical and programmes leadership.It is not just our staff who see Dstlpositively. We have worked hard to raiseour profile and reputation as a greatplace to work. This year, we have beennominated for several recruitment awards,reinforcing our position as a place whereS&T graduates want to work.Attracting and retaining the best staffremains a top priority and we recruited78 permanent staff during the year.Workforce agility is extremely importantand, while our resignation rates remainlow at 4 per cent, we are actively changingour ratio of temporary to permanent staffthrough the increased use of fixedtermappointments. Over the year, ourpermanent headcount has fallen from3696 to 3613 (3585 to 3501 full-timeequivalents).Giving people a good grounding in corebusiness and technical skills is criticallyimportant so we have introduced a twoyeargraduate development programmethat provides the basis for professionalaccreditation. We currently have 121people on secondments to industry,Other Government Departments (OGDs)and wider MOD. We have also welcomed67 inward secondees.The recent survey showed that somestaff do not feel that their pay adequatelyreflects their performance, although moststaff are satisfied with the total benefitspackage offered by the organisation.Indeed, all of our staff benefit fromflexible working and more than 300people work part time.Our relationship with the Trades Unions(TUs) is very important to us and wecontinue to work in partnership on issuessuch as site relocation and making themost of our total reward strategy withinthe confines of a pay freeze.Dstl has a strong diversity and equalopportunities policy. In the past year, wehave updated our Diversity Action Plan,which is focused on ensuring that all ofour people understand what our diversitypolicy means, checking that we haveappropriate policies and processes inplace, and monitoring the effectiveness ofour approach. We have also run diversitytraining for senior managers.We are committed to supporting peoplewith disabilities and we are proud to beaccredited to the ‘Positive about Disability’two ticks scheme. We fully supportthe career development of people withdisabilities and constantly work withindividuals to make adjustments, allowingthem to access promotion opportunitieswithin Dstl.The health, safety and wellbeing of ourstaff is of paramount importance. Earlierthis year, Dstl received Crown Censure*for the tragic death of scientist TerryJupp who sustained fatal injuries duringan explosives trial at Shoeburyness in2002. Over the past nine years, Dstlhas developed and implemented newapproaches to managing health andsafety. Most recently, this has includeda new method for benchmarkingperformance and regular reportingon health and safety issues to seniormanagement. Our regulators indicatethat our approach is sound and, in somecases, ‘best in class’.During the past year, an average of 4.9days per person were lost to sickness– which is considerably lower than theUK norm and a decrease of 7.5 per centfrom the previous year. We believe thatthis is in part due to the introduction ofthe employee assistance programmeand the roll out of improved absencemanagement, which focuses on ‘return towork’ interviews.*Crown censure is a procedure where the Health and Safety Executive summons a Crown employer tobe censured for a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974).28