Bristol City Council and Guidant Global WIN at the PPMA awards

On reflection (after the hangover’s subsided and the questionable dance moves forgotten) – what a great night the 2018 PPMA awards were for Guidant Global! In this blog post I’ll give some background to the awards and attempt to capture and convey the spirit of the night.

The PPMA
For those of you not versed with the Public Services People Managers Association (PPMA), they are a voice and association for Human Resources and Organisational Development professionals working within the public sector.

Their wide agenda topics such as public sector policy reform right through to the effect of the ‘consumer society’ on customer expectations of public services – all of which presents challenges and changes that all involved in people management and workforce have to navigate.

PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards
The awards is an annual opportunity for people professionals in the public sector to celebrate and showcase the best work over the past 12 months, whilst saying “thank you and well done” to our industry colleagues who excel in increasingly challenges circumstances.

Guidant Global have been proud sponsors of the PPMA awards for the past 5 years, with our sponsorship of various award categories.

Guidant Global sponsor 'Best Value for Money Recruitment Campaign' award
For the second year in a row, Guidant were sponsors of the 'Best Value for Money Recruitment Campaign' category. This award is judged based on the organisation that best demonstrate how a recruitment campaign supported either the wider plan for business growth, addition of new strategic skills or a move into a new sector. 

Our very own Karina Townley (Head of Operations) presented the award to the deserved winners, Bucks Fire and Rescue working with Jobsgopublic. Huge congratulations to them both for their success in scooping the top spot in such a hotly competed category.

Guidant Global & Bristol City Council pick up the ‘Most Effective Partnership’award
The ‘Most Effective Partnership’ category looks for the best example of a HR/OD team that build close working relationships and demonstrate best practice, which has achieved significant outcomes and contributed to the delivery of sustainable change.

Whist I knew our entry was a really strong example of two organisations building a solid partnership to deliver on joint goals and instill best practice, it was a nervous wait for the winner to be announced with tough competition coming from other entries.

When we were announced as the winners the team were ecstatic – it is a great feeling to have our effort and achievement validated by an impartial third party such as the PPMA.  As you can imagine the Guidant and Bristol City Council representatives at the awards very much celebrated the well-deserved victory!

“I’m incredibly proud of the on-site team in Bristol, the award of Most Effective Partnership demonstrates Guidant Global living and breathing our “We Are You” guiding principle. The team have delivered a core strength in aligning our goals to reflect precisely what the client needs, and working in partnership to make those goals a reality.”

- Simon Coulson, Account Director - Guidant Global

Bristol City Council Case Study
To showcase the work the partnership between Guidant Global and Bristol City Council have conducted over past 18 months, we have put together a case study, which can be downloaded here. 

I implore anyone in the Public Sector to take 5 minutes to read through the case study, it’s really shows that challenges can be overcome and great things can be achieved when a supplier and local authority work collaboratively, transparently and in a true partnership.

I’d like to share with you a few of the key highlights from our partnership along with a quote from a hiring manager that I feel epitomises the sense of partnership from the Council’s perspective. Working together we have achieved: 

1. Temporary labour spend reduced by £5.5 million over 18 months
2. Now a 100% compliant temporary workforce
3. Significant improvements to the candidate experience through education of hiring managers
4. Cheaper, simpler and quicker acquisition of the right temporary workers through supplier consolidation and educating on the importance of following processes
5. Guidant delivered on our ‘We are you’ principle, by making a real difference to the working lives of people within the Council and within the wider Bristol community

“I regard Sharon (Client Relationship Manager, Guidant) as a valued colleague, not an external service provider. She is extremely driven and exceptionally responsive. It is these qualities that make a real difference to the effective use of temporary resources. The fact that Sharon is on site and readily available is well recognised by the organisation.”

- Hiring Manager – Bristol City Council

Looking for a true partnership?
If you are inspired by our work with Bristol City Council and are looking for a MSP/RPO provider to form a true partnership with please share your goals, challenges, vision, dreams (whatever they may be) and we will be honest with you on what can be achieved by working collaboratively together.

Simply contact myself on 07775 407560 or louise.west@guidantgroup.com to take the first step today towards what could be a great partnership.