Sharing good practice: Recruiting temporary staff
Introduction
Intro summary
A key part of planning for elections is making sure that you have the staff you need to deliver key election processes, whether it be Poll Clerks, Presiding Officers or count staff.
We know that local authorities are finding it increasingly challenging to recruit temporary staff for elections, and this resource aims to support you with addressing these challenges.
We’ve worked with a range of local authorities to collect examples of practices that they’ve followed in recruitment which have been successful in their area and pulled those together as a collection of ‘what works’. While some of these practices will be familiar to you and may even be things you already do, we hope you find some new ideas you can explore to help address the recruitment challenges.
The examples cover a number of different areas:
- Building whole-council support
- County council support
- Local external sources
- Promotional activity
Building whole council support
WCS Intro
As with many aspects of preparing for and delivering elections, adopting a whole-council approach and drawing in expertise and resource from outside the electoral services team can help to give you what you need. Some local authorities have taken steps to encourage and make it easier for people across the council to work on elections.
Encouraging staff across the council to work at elections
Considering how to make working at elections more appealing to council staff and preparing them for the roles can help to ensure you have sufficient levels of staff for elections.
At Torridge any staff member who works the election will receive their normal salary for the day and then the election payment on top of this. They are also not required to take a day’s holiday. Each member of staff is entitled to one ‘election day’ per election.
Operational Managers were asked to run day to day services on ‘skeleton staff’ to allow the council to continue to function but to also ensure that we had the required number of staff for the election. Any staff shortages were normally filled by using internal staff. All new staff at the council are introduced to the elections team and we run through the opportunities for them at future elections.
We have had a number of staff changes over the last couple of years so we have a number of Poll Clerks who have carried out the role twice or more who are not sure if they want to step up to a Presiding Officer role. We are setting up a ‘mock polling station’ and will produce all the necessary paperwork to try and make them more familiar with what is required for the role, and hopefully lead to some additional Presiding Officers.
Ensuring senior management engagement can help ensure that the importance of elections is understood across the council, and can help with the identification and recruitment of temporary election staff from within the organisation. Encouraging senior staff to lead by example and take on electoral roles can also help raise awareness of electoral work and prompt interest from others in the council.
We have a “silent army” who can be deployed from January up to election day, every year. This was put together to mitigate the risk of not having enough trained staff deployed when needed – providing much needed resilience on the day as well as future proofing for “people” resource issues.
This “army” consists of a number of officers across the council and is not office title nor salary range dependent. There is a council-wide understanding – which gets cascaded from the Central Management team (Strategic Directors), Senior Leadership team (Service Directors and Heads of Service) and Team Plymouth (managers and team leaders) that election is a council/corporate affair which everyone is responsible for.
Operational plans for several departments are adapted to make sure that either cover is arranged during election period or expectations of elected members and Directors are managed so they are aware that a few operational activities will either be paused or will take additional days to complete.
Our silent army consists of officers from the following departments (not exhaustive):
- Emergency Office team - emergency POs and supervisors for Verification and Count.
- Democratic and Scrutiny teams – tactical command centre for the day for either polling stations or registration.
- Policy and Performance teams - emergency POs and supervisors for Verification and Count. Performance team also leads on QA of the register for all election activities and the IT programmes/spreadsheets for Verification and Count.
- Transformation team – Assists Performance team on QA of the register as well as auditors on Verification and Count night.
- Finance (even the S151 officer was deployed as a PO at elections last year and this May).
- Streets and Highways – Presiding Officers, Triage team and ballot box prep. They also assist in making sure that parking spaces are designated on the day (if parking spaces are at minimum or non-existent). Service Director for Streets is one of our area managers for the count.
- Legal team – most are released to be Poll clerks, Presiding Officers and 2 senior lawyers and Monitoring Officer are Polling Station Inspectors. A few junior lawyers have been trained in registration as well as PV opening - this was very important during the transition to Voter ID!
- Call Centre colleagues – two FTEs dedicated for all election and registration queries, with an additional four on election day.
- Central and corporate Business Support team – emergency POs and lead on preparation for Verification and Count. Also assists in verifying employment eligibility.
- Events team – response team for all polling stations and leads on security and parking arrangements for the verification and count.
- Facilities team – booking for and making sure that all council offices used for different election activities are available and ready when needed.
- HR team – standby verification and count assistants.
- Procurement team - POs and supervisors for Verification and Count.
The Chief Executive and the Service Director of HR has agreed that council officers who will be called will not need to take annual or flexi leave for election activities. There is also arrangement for officers working on election night to be able to come in later in the next morning.
Consider what existing communications channels can be used to promote working at elections to staff such as staff newsletter, intranet and staff briefings. Promoting it as an opportunity to come together and work on something as a whole-council team can boost morale and strengthen working relationships.
In recent elections we had around one third of appointed staff drop out from between mid-March to the day before polling day. We had already lost a large number of staff from our database as a result of Covid and lost a few more this year due to their nervousness over dealing with Voter ID.
As a result, we ran several campaigns in our staff newsletter. We highlighted election work to any new staff who hadn’t previously been aware of the opportunities to get involved. We also asked staff to spread the word amongst their friends and relatives. We have an online form which people can complete to register their interest and we made sure this was included in all our communications.
We recruited around 50 additional staff for these elections using this method. Although we still had to rely on internal staff to fill a number of the shortfalls, it was made clear to internal staff that they wouldn’t be required to take leave in order to help with the elections, which did result in a few more coming forward.
When we put out the request for help internally it is very much couched as an opportunity to build “Team Teignbridge”, i.e. the opportunity to meet colleagues you wouldn’t normally encounter in your normal area of work, all pulling together to deliver successful elections, support the RO etc. I have to say there’s always a good positive feeling and the team building element is particularly so at the verification and count. A thank you email goes out to all staff after the election and the RO also puts a thank you item in the staff newsletter after the election.
Using a variety of different methods to target staff at different levels across the organisation can lead to positive results and ensure that roles are filled effectively, hopefully retaining staff for future elections.
Apprentice team
We are currently working with the Apprentice Support team to provide staff to assist with postal vote opening, ballot box filling and with helping with sorting and storing stationery.
With new apprentices coming through each year and hopefully retaining those that have already worked on an election we can increase the pool of staff. Apprentice inductions also contain information about working on upcoming elections.
Directors PAs
We have a number of PAs to provide office cover for postal vote opening sessions and on election day. A vast number of our directors are doing election duties which in turn frees up their PAs to help assist with providing cover.
Cascading workflows
We decided to start early appointing senior postal vote opening and verification and count staff after hearing issues from neighbouring Authorities in May 2023. We approached DROs and once confirmed asked them to provide their own supervisors who they would want to work with them. We then in turn asked the supervisors to provide their own assistant supervisors, which has proved highly successful with some even providing their own counters and postal vote openers.
We believe that doing it this way means teams are familiar with working for each other and should hit the ground running. We also hope that staff will be less likely to withdraw given that in most cases its their director or line manager who they will be working alongside and where staff do drop out we will be initially going back to the person that provided the name to see if they can find a replacement.
Starting the recruitment process early is a good way to ensure that you get ahead on recruitment and gaining the buy-in and support from other teams, including your HR team can make the process easier on electoral teams.
As part of a corporate approach, the HR team have carried out the recruitment of staff for the count for a number of years. This leaves the election team time to carry out other tasks which take up a considerable amount of time and effort.
The HR team start the recruitment process in October. A save the date email is sent in October to all Council staff:
- Count Assistants to support with the verification and count.
- Support Roles such as our receipting team and count supervisors to support the local elections.
- Poll Clerks to assist the Presiding Officer in the conduct of the ballot in the polling stations on the day of the elections.
- Presiding Officers to play a key role supervising at a Polling Station, supporting pre-election activities and supervising poll clerks on the day of the election.
A document explaining the counter role is also produced which sets out each step clearly and in an easy-to-read form.
High quality information is provided so that people understand the role and a sufficient number of staff take up roles to support elections.
Utilising existing activities, such as staff inductions and meetings to promote working at elections is a good way to reach council staff and including the activity in job descriptions as an expectation helps to ensure it is seen as everyone’s role to help ensure elections are well run.
All new staff inductions at Northumberland include information and encouragement about working on elections with our information details included so they can contact us should they be interested in working.
Senior staff and heads of service joining the Authority also have the following included as part of their Job descriptions.
To undertake functions in the event of local or National elections, supporting the Returning Officer ensure the democratic nature of such activities is undertaken efficiently and in compliance with all statutory requirements.
Our heads of service also meet once a month so ahead of a previous meeting we sent all HOS an email asking them to cascade the message that we needed new polling station inspectors as we had 14 vacancies to fill. The response was very positive with the 14 vacancies filled within 3 days and off the back of the success of the email we are planning to send a further email to the HOS group for polling station staff.
County Council support
Intro County C Support
While not all Local Authorities are in a two-tier structure, some have been successful in reaching out County Councils in their area to source candidates for electoral roles.
County Council Support
Collaborating with County Councils to source staff for elections can have added benefits, such as strengthening the relationship between district and county councils.
We advertised internally asking if staff were interested in participating in the democratic process.
The Business Support Officer looks at where people were based so as to recommend which district councils they would be more willing to work for due to the journey time. We have staff based across the whole of this huge county so we can usually help to find enough volunteers to meet the needs of our district colleagues.
It has generated closer engagement between the county council and district councils. A monthly virtual meeting now occurs with democratic services staff from district councils and county where we talk about elections as well as democratic services items.
Working collaboratively with staff at County Council level to source applicants for electoral roles can be highly effective.
Lancashire County Council assisted Lancashire District Councils (including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool) with their polling station staffing vacancies by publishing LCC staff notices encouraging employees to apply.
Along with other approaches, this resulted in over 500 enquiries being received. Expressions of interest were provided to District Election Managers by area, so that any areas with spare resources could pass the details to a neighbouring area. District Election Managers were encouraged to provide regular updates on staffing vacancies to enable a more targeted approach.
Local External Sources
Intro Local Ext Sources
Every local authority will have some local organisations that may be able to support with promoting electoral roles. This may be local education institutions who have students looking to gain experience, voluntary organisations with staff who have the relevant skills or other organisations who can put you in touch with potential candidates.
External sources
Approaching local employers can be helpful in promoting electoral roles to the wider community. They may be open to you coming in to speak to staff or get a message out through internal communications.
There was a shortage of staff as we approached polling day.
We had tried for a couple of years to recruit from within DWP and were not successful as we just didn’t manage to get the right contacts.
I approached the Comms Dept to see if there was anything they could do to help promote the jobs.
We sent over the job advert, and once it was approved it was then sent out to all staff. The email was sent out at 8.30am and by 9.10am we were fully staffed with a big reserve list.
After the election we sent out a questionnaire to staff about their experience and we didn’t receive any negative comments and most of the new recruits would like to be considered as a Presiding Officer next time.
At the local election we struggled for Presiding Officers and had to recruit in-house - going forward we hope to use the DWP staff pool now that they have some experience.
Approaching a variety of different local organisations to source staff for elections can be helpful. Consider which organisations may be most interested in helping recruit staff for elections.
Lancashire County Council assisted Lancashire District Councils (including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool) with their polling station staffing vacancies by sharing details with Lancashire’s Volunteers Partnership.
Lancashire Volunteer Partnership consists of a range of public service organisations, who have come together to improve, promote and widen volunteering across the public sector. The Lancashire Volunteer Partnership website brings volunteering opportunities into one place.
We also shared vacancy details with the University of Central Lancashire and Lancaster University for inclusion in their ‘Student News’ communications, allowing students to apply.
Along with other approaches, this resulted in over 500 enquiries being received.
Consider who might benefit from developing skills and experience through working at elections. Some authorities have had success approaching Universities to promote electoral roles. Find out if they have recruitment fairs or whether you could do a talk about working at elections.
In the run-up to the 2023 elections, we approached the two universities based within the city. Both run politics-oriented degree courses, and it seemed to us an ideal opportunity to collaborate with both universities in providing some ‘live’ experience of the political process to the students (and staff), whilst also securing additional staffing resources for the Council.
Having approached both organisations, we received a particularly positive response from one, which resulted in the recruitment of approximately ten students for poll clerk and count assistant duties. Whilst this number may seem low, it represents the beginning of what is intended to be an ongoing relationship with the university, through which their politics students (and staff) may gain first-hand experience at the ‘sharp end’ of the electoral process and help to spread the word through the student population on the need for voter ID when voting at polling stations.
Using a variety of approaches to promote roles is key to ensuring that your message reaches the right audience. Consider what audiences you already have access to and how you could promote electoral roles to them.
In 2023 we tried the following approaches to increase applications
- Call to action posted on our jobsite (all jobs posted on there appear on indeed and LinkedIn as well as appearing in a more prominent position on our website.
- Jobs also promoted through Resident emails (currently approx. 15.5k residents signed up)
- Print assets sent to partner organisations, including the National Park Authority, our information offices and depots.
- Print assets installed at printer locations, by coffee stations and on noticeboards around offices.
- Digital assets sent to local colleges
- Friends and Family emails sent to all registered MEA staff and contact made with all NFDC staff to encourage not only their own registration but encouragement of friends and family.
- Leaflet produced for New Forest County show
- Produced a blog post using testimonial from experienced staff in an aim to ‘reassure’ potential new sign ups further.
- Used internal channels to reach colleagues – lock screens, staff emails, intranet post.
- Offered short informal chat calls with interested parties to provide more information.
The impact of this work was approximately 60 new ‘work for us’ form submissions over the period of activity, many of whom ended up working in a range of roles for the May polls. We were able to offer/encourage some long-standing Polling Clerks to work as Presiding Officers this year as we were able to recruit additional new Polling Clerks. We also had a number of informal chats with prospective candidates – majority of whom went on to work at the May polls.
Promotional activity
Intro Prom Activity
The methods you use to promote electoral roles will impact on who, and how many people you reach. There are lots of opportunities to think creatively about how to promote the roles you have as well as using the standards routes of advertising on your website. Starting the process of recruitment early is also a valuable approach to ensuring you have enough staff.
Using Gov. to notify potential staff
Taking a creative approach to promoting electoral roles can get the attention of prospective staff.
We had received feedback from previous years that staff didn’t fully understand what election roles entailed so we decided to hold a staff event at Christmas called the ‘North polling station’. We voted for Christmas themed candidates to the North Poll ward. It gave potential staff candidates the opportunity to try out the process, reassured them that it is fairly simple and not too daunting.
Keeping in contact with people who have previously worked at elections can help to ensure they remain engaged. This can help retain staff for future elections and ensure they feel valued and appreciated.
Gov.notify is a straightforward and simple system to use. Our elections management system has a staffing module and we extract the names and email addresses of staff and put them into an excel spreadsheet which then links to the gov.notify system. It’s a very quick way of being able to contact staff.
We contact elections staff several times during the run up to the poll using the system. The initial contact is a general alert/reminder that elections are coming up – including the date and an indication of the fees that will be paid so that people can make a note in their diaries and get it on their radar.
An email is also sent to staff who have been provisionally allocated roles and asks only that those who cannot work contact the ESM.
Gov.notify is also used to send out reminders about training sessions, a reminder a few days ahead of the poll, and a good luck message on the day. The system is also used for post-poll follow ups. It makes contacting elections staff very simple and straightforward and frees up time to enable the team to focus on other work at what is a very busy time.
Gov.notify has a dashboard so you can see whether the emails have been delivered, if they’ve been opened, and any bounce-backs. This means we can keep a track of anyone who hasn’t seen the messaging. It can also be used to contact candidates and count guests – again because of the simplicity of the system and the ease with which communications through it can be managed.
We have used Gov.notify as an extra form of communication in addition to using the notification/appointment facility in our electoral management system and internal staff newsletters. We don’t like to rely on one form of electronic communication in case they disappear in spam or junk folders!
Utilising the tools and resources you already have in place, such as your website, can be a good way to promote roles to members of the public. Some councils have found it helpful to have a form on their website for people to express interest or make an application directly.
Outside of election time we get around 20-30 applications a month and this increases to a few hundred a month between February to April. We add a quick link to it on the homepage around February time so anyone visiting the website sees it.
All applications are entered into our Electoral Management System and we set the job types they are interested in, then send availability requests to them ahead of sending out job offers.
The applicants won’t always get an offer in the first round as we tend to offer to people who have worked before, but this way we have a good bank of reserves and know their availability.
Contact us
If you have any feedback on this resource or an example of good practice to share, please email us at goodpractice@electoralcommission.org.uk.