MOPAC
MOPAC provides strategic direction to, and oversight of, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). It works closely with a range of bodies in London to reduce crime, the rate of reoffending, and cut delays in the criminal justice system.
MOPAC employed more than 120 people and was tasked with reducing this by 20%.
Situation
An experienced interim Head of HR and OD was required at very short notice to manage a complete organisational transformation within a limited timeframe.
London’s first Police and Crime plan had just been published by MOPAC with clear targets that had to be achieved including the new organisational structure. An experienced interim that could deliver immediate impact was critical to the plans’ continued success.
Challenges
Our challenge was to provide MOPAC with a choice between three highly credible interim managers each of who could be guaranteed to deliver the restructure and manage the risks associated with the project. The successful person would need to provide rapid assurance to all key stakeholders that both the restructure project and the day-to-day HR service were in capable and trustworthy hands.
Our Approach
Our understanding of MOPAC business requirements and the skill set to fulfil them saw the appointment of a highly experienced and qualified HR Lounge Associate, as their interim Head of HR and OD.
Not only was the momentum of the restructure maintained, our approach was to accelerate it. This reduced the period of uncertainty for staff and, crucially, enabled new teams to be formed in advance of a major relocation of the majority of MOPAC staff to their new offices at London’s City Hall.
The overall approach was one where a focus was kept on the future as well as the immediate challenges of the present. MOPACs’ future capacity to deliver its strategic priorities had to be assured. Vacancies needed to be kept to a minimum so an ambitious external recruitment campaign was developed.
Our HR Lounge Associate remained in place for a period of 14 months following up the restructure with delivery of a recruitment campaign, resolving a number of problematic employee relations cases, establishing an HR Shared Service with the GLA and managing a service transfer from the MPS. The assignment was completed by providing a thorough induction and handover to the incoming permanent Head of OD to ensure continuity.
Results
- All key objectives were achieved including: Completion of the restructure ahead of time and within budget
- Management of the exit of 30+ people from MOPAC and recruitment of a similar number to newly established roles
- Reprioritisation of work programmes across MOPAC and managed transfer to new programme owners
- Planning and delivery of a HR shared service with the GLA increasing service resilience, capacity and reducing costs
- Successfully transferring and integrating a new team from the MPS into MOPAC
- Reviewing core MOPAC HR policies and commissioning replacements focused on business need
- Updating of MOPACs’ Performance Management and Personal Development Planning framework aligning it with MOPACs’ business plan and the requirements of the new Senior Management Team.
