Questions around recruitment
Have we carried out effective exit interviews and if so do we understand why on call staff have left?
Exit interviews are offered to all staff and data is collected for the reasons why people leave. This includes a survey for people to share their views with the service.
- What will happen if you can’t meet the criteria but don’t wish to leave?
- Will competent firefighters get preference over development for positions?
- Will a survey take place to gauge how many current on call are interested in the new system?
The service will do everything possible to enable any on call firefighter demonstrating the values of the organisation to transition across onto the evening shifts and surge teams.
The current staff engagement workshops include more detail for an evening shift and surge shift. They provide details on competence expectations, working hours, who can access these shifts, numbers of personnel required and remuneration. We will invite staff to feed back their views on these proposals during the presentation itself and using a feedback form post presentation.
After the close of the public consultation on 10 March, formal staff consultation will take place when any final proposal is agreed, and any changes to terms & conditions will be subject to negotiation with relevant representative bodies.
How many part-time vacancies will there be?
Under the proposed model, there will be an additional 4 fire appliances available from 18:00 to 22:00, which will require a minimum of 16 staff per evening.
Will two part-time personnel be able to seamlessly move onto a whole time shift & job share?
The service currently adheres to the requirement to consider part-time working requests.
After the close of the public consultation on 10 March, formal staff consultation will take place when any final proposal is agreed, and any changes to terms & conditions will be subject to negotiation with relevant representative bodies.
Will current firefighters have to re apply for their jobs?
Wholetime firefighters will not have to re-apply for there jobs. On call firefighters will have the opportunity to apply for both evening shifts and surge teams.
- How will we recruit for part time shifts going forward?
- Will training for part time staff be a 12-week course (not really possible for those with civilian employment) as is for wholetime or will they be trained similar to that of on-call, continuing with development firefighters which maintains the status quo of non-competent firefighters.
The current staff engagement workshops include more detail for an evening shift and surge shift. They provide details on competence expectations, working hours, who can access these shifts, numbers of personnel required and remuneration. We will invite staff to feed back their views on these proposals during the presentation itself and using a feedback form post presentation. After the close of the public consultation on March 10th, formal staff consultation will take place when any final proposal is agreed, and any changes to terms & conditions will be subject to negotiation with relevant representative bodies.
Will on call firefighters have preferential access to the new part time positions?
On call firefighters will have the opportunity to apply for both evening shifts and surge teams.
Will part time employees be able to seamlessly transfer into wholetime positions?
After the close of the public consultation on 10 March, formal staff consultation will take place when any final proposal is agreed, and any changes to terms & conditions will be subject to negotiation with relevant representative bodies.
Where are they finding more people for the shift pattern 2-2-4? Who will work where?
WFRS will recruit staff using the current recruitment policy.
- Will On-Call Firefighters who are in Development still be eligible to apply for any Full/Part time positions?
- Will current development firefighters have opportunity to fully qualify before the transition takes place? If yes, how will this be delivered?
The service we will do everything possible to enable any on-call firefighter in development demonstrating the values of the organisation to transition across onto the evening shifts and surge teams.
Firefighters join the service to serve the community and be operationally active. If a firefighter is only on shift circa 4hrs per week this could lead to months between live call-outs. How would the service manage frustration in firefighters training for a role they could be rarely deployed in?
The service we will do everything possible to enable any firefighter idemonstrating the values of the organisation to develop and maintain competence. For staff working evening shifts, there will be a minimum requirement to work 2 shifts per week to complete all required training. Part time staff will be able to apply for surge shifts.
Have they factored in how they are recruiting different shifts, which could be affected by geographical issues?
The current staff engagement workshops include more detail for an evening shift and surge shift. They provide details on competence expectations, working hours, who can access these shifts, numbers of personnel required and remuneration. We will invite staff to feed back their views on these proposals during the presentation itself and using a feedback form post presentation. After the close of the public consultation on 10 March, formal staff consultation will take place when any final proposal is agreed, and any changes to terms & conditions will be subject to negotiation with relevant representative bodies.
There was a on call availability action plan - why didn't that work?
WFRS has tried a number of different ideas to increase on-call availability. The decline in on-call availability is not universal but is being experienced in a number of Fire and Rescue Services. There is some analysis that shows that communities are changing and that it is becoming more difficult to attract, recruit and retain people for this type of work.
Was this proposal already decided, how long has the plan been in the making, and was there ever an appetite to fix the on call challenges?
This was not and has not be decided yet. The proposal is subject to consultation.
Essentially solving on-call issue would solve the problem. Can we look at how this could be achieved?
The proposed model addresses the on call availability challenges. We will consider all alternative proposals that are submitted via the public consultation.
The presentation stated that significant interventions had been put in place to increase retained availability. What are these interventions?
There have been 22 on call firefighter recruitment campaigns from June 2019 to the present day.
The number of campaigns were increased from 2 to 3 per year but there were still low application rates.
The process layout was redesigned, a written test support booklet was designed and implemented, and written retests were introduced to address the loss of candidates at this stage.
An online question & answer session was introduced 4 weeks before the advert closed and awareness days were set up so candidates could learn about the process and could complete role related tests.
Role related test and fitness advice videos published at the bottom of all recruitment emails.
On call recruitment has been promoted across all our social media platforms included LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.
There were multiple news releases featuring good news stories from on call firefighters and the Stratford Herald ran an extensive campaign to attract on call firefighters for the south of the county.
Our on call staff were encouraged to support recruitment by attending community events.
The Retained Support Officer attends the quarterly On Call Watch Managers Forum and supports all stages of the recruitment process and attends the initial on call course.
Despite all of this, recruitment and retention rates are below what is required.
What contingencies are in place for a potential reduction in Control Team staff members due to additional pressures when attempting to maintain cover and meet standards?
We will recruit staff as and when required using the current recruitment policy.
If recruitment for on call is already proving difficult, how does the service expect to recruit from the same pool of individuals for a stricter part time routine which includes longer travel times (up to 45mins in some areas of the county) to stations that offer part time shifts? This will potentially impede on civilian employment/families, thus lowering the attractiveness of joining the service.
Recruitment for the part time and surge shifts will initially be from current on call and wholetime staff. We will recruit additional staff if required using the current recruitment policy.