Merseyside Police reports a record year for recruitment with its highest ever intake

Merseyside Police reports a record year for recruitment with its highest ever intake, managing the cycle with the Workforce HR & Recruitment system from Intellect.



Merseyside Police reports a record-breaking intake for 2004/2005, recruiting a total of 450 police officers plus support staff into the force as of March 2005. This compares with just under 200 for 2003/2004, and represents the culmination of an extensive campaign that has involved processing close to 4000 applications. Merseyside Police is using the Workforce Recruitment Manager module, from HR & Payroll software house Intellect, as the core administration system, enabling the recruitment team to automate a significant proportion of the process throughout the yearís cycle.

Constable Debbie Matthews, a long-standing member of the Recruitment and Resourcing team, within the Forceís Personnel Department, explains what is
involved:

ìOur targets for this year were exceptionally high and it has been a real challenge to manage the cycle in order to deliver the results the Force needs. The process coincides with the introduction of a new national police recruitment procedure, putting in place a standardised approach that is designed to improve consistency and raise standards across the country. This year, we have run seven assessment centres, compared to the usual three, and we have sent out around 9000 applications since April 2004, as opposed to between 3000-5000 in previous years - highlighting the scale of the task! We have also been running a structured positive action programme, aiming to attract candidates from all sectors of the community. There are very strict guidelines for the entire recruitment process, with each candidate receiving comprehensive feedback after each stage. Itís a very rigorous process and typically involves at least 26 weeksí training once they have passed the Assessment Centre, Physical Fitness Test, Medical Examination and Vetting & Referencing stages. We log every stage into the Workforce system prior to a confirmed start date, enabling us to report on gender, ethnicity and a host of other parameters in line with government regulations. We quite simply could not manage the process without the ability to record and analyse this information. Workforce has been in place since April 1999, and we would crumble without it!î

2005 has also marked another recruitment first for Merseyside Police, holding its first-ever Welcome Ceremony for new recruits in February, hosted by the recently appointed Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe. Involving a total of 42 police recruits and transfers from other forces, the ceremony included a swearing-in and attestation in front of a 350-strong audience. This marks the official commencement of the training process, taking place on Day 2 after a recruitís official intake day. This represents the culmination of the yearís work for the recruitment team, involving 12 staff and a team leader based at the Forceís Liverpool HQ.

Of the 9000 applications sent out since April 2004, the team records each applicantís basic details onto Workforce, providing a continuous data trail in line with Home Office requirements through to completion, when a formal
offer is made to a candidate. This also provides the team with the ability to report on any facet of the recruitment cycle instantly, such as applications from a given postcode area to track a specific campaign; compliance with ethnicity and/or gender targets etc. At present, there are around 42 active users of Workforce throughout the Force, with plans to increase this number to around 75 from 1st April 2005 as Merseyside Police rolls out Workforce to all personnel departments, including the six Command Base units across the region. Workforce is also used to manage the movement of all internal staff at the Forceís HQ.

The decision to install Workforce was taken after an extensive tendering and evaluation process, as Debbie Matthews elaborates: ìWe had a very clear idea of what we were looking for, having experienced two different personnel systems. Workforce stood out on several counts - how it looked on screen, its straightforward functionality, and its extensive and easy to use customisation facilities. This was reinforced by a number of site visits that gave us absolute confidence that Workforce could handle the volume of work here, generating thousands of letters each year. Both the recruitment and IT teams were unanimous and Workforce won the day. We havenít looked back since, and rely totally on Workforce to help us manage the recruitment cycle. The report writing features are excellent, enabling you to run reports very easily once you have set up the template, and then manipulate the data in Excel for example. Workforce plays a key role for us as a flexible, easy to use and reliable administration system - we quite simply could not exist without it!î

The Intellect Portfolio
All Intellectís solutions are designed to offer unequalled integrated operation, as a result of a unique design approach - using a single source database that holds all of the data used by both payroll and HR. This ensures that the payroll and HR functions operate seamlessly, with instantaneous updates to all fields that can be viewed from either application, at any time.

Workforce comprises seven core options, offering an innovative, flexible and easy to use solution for organisations requiring a modular approach to HR. The latest release of Workforce includes extensive features in support of departmental restructuring, as well as a powerful tool set designed to streamline and automate letter production. Workforceís intuitive prompts and screens simplify the usually complex tasks of moving posts and consolidating departments, automatically transferring selected posts in a few easy steps. On the automated workflow front, Workforce supports a variety of automated communication methods, including letters and emails, across all the modules in the Workforce range - Human Resource Manager, Public Sector, Training Manager, Recruitment Manager and Ochre Payroll. The system automatically sends a communication to an individual or groups of employees via a one-click step.

In addition to Workforce, Intellectís portfolio includes the Ochre Payroll, offering advanced, flexible and ìon-timeî payroll management. Ochre is fully customisable, enabling an organisation to blend and fine-tune Ochre to suit its working practices. The software conforms to all legislative requirements set out by the Inland Revenue for accreditation as an IR-approved payroll system. Completing the line-up is the specialist enterprise-level Indiga solution. Designed for larger, more complex organisations, IndigaHR is completely integrated, combining all aspects of people management, leadership and development, recruitment and retention, plus an optional payroll, into a single seamless solution.

Since launching its first products in 1989, Intellect has built up a total of more than 10,000 users across the UK and overseas, ranging from large local and unitary authorities to smaller organisations. Intellectís strategy revolves around working in partnership with its clients, offering a unique relationship policy that ensures complete continuity of contact from the moment implementation starts. By appointing a dedicated lifetime account specialist, companies benefit from ongoing help and guidance, based on Intellectís in-depth knowledge of the organisation and its working practices. As an ISO9001 Registered Company, all Intellectís software products are developed under a quality system that has gained ISO9001 accreditation. See www.intellecthrpay.com for more information.