Salford City Council: Talent Management Strategies Examined

This essay examines talent management practices at the Salford City Council, focusing on how the council can establish itself as an employer of choice. The essay explores the importance of employer branding and discusses strategies for attracting, recruiting, deploying, and retaining talented employees. It highlights the council's financial strength and diverse operations as key assets for attracting talent. The essay then delves into the implementation of an integrated talent management solution model, including employee training and rewards systems. It analyzes the effectiveness of in-house and on-the-job training methods, as well as the impact of rewards systems on employee motivation and retention. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of both training and rewards in enhancing the council's employer brand image to attract and retain skilled employees, ultimately contributing to the council's overall success.

Running head: TALENT MANAGEMENT AT THE SALFORD CITY COUNCIL
Talent Management at the Salford City Council
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The term brand can be defined as the specific name or mark given to a product,
which differentiates it from products of similar category. The organisations traditionally use
their brands to differentiate and sell their products in the market (forbes.com 2017). Today
they also use their brands to attract employees because talent management is very important
for organisations to gain competitive advantage in the market. The brand values of
organisations represent their ability to offer rewards packages, career growth of employees,
employee value proposition and job satisfaction. The essay would examine this employer
branding in the light of the Salford City Council, the main organisation of the study. The
strategies the council can implement to acquire the employer of choice brand would draw
inspirations from British Council. The Salford City Council is the local governing body of the
City of Salford, Greater Manchester and functions under the supervision of the Labour Party.
The main functions of the Council are to provide civic amenities like education and develop
public-private partnerships to encourage business growth in the area. The council also
employs talented people to form strategies and execute them. It is this employer aspect of
the council, which forms the crux of the study (Kohli and Choi 2014).
The Salford City Council should implement its project of developing itself as an
employer of choice by forming a talent management strategy, which would cover areas of
attracting, recruiting, deploying and retaining talents. The strategy should follow integrated
talent management solution model, which would streamline the on-boarding process with the
dynamic and expansive nature of operations the council undertakes. The first strategy, which
the council can use to acquire talent, is to advertise itself as a government body, which
would act as assurances of job security to the candidates. The financial base of the council
stands on three pillars namely, the grants it receives from the central government, the taxes it
receives from the business establishments operating within its jurisdiction and the taxes paid
by the domestic residents of the area (services.salford.gov.uk 2017). The planning

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obligations statement prepared under Section 106 shows that the amount of income the
council supersedes the expenditures. This clearly shows the financial strengths of the council
and its capability to offer good compensation and rewards to the employees. Thus, the
Salford City Council can use this financial strength to present itself as an employer of high
brand value and attract high qualified and experienced human resources. One can point those
organisations like, the British Council uses its financial strength and strong international
presence to attract talents from all across the world (britishcouncil.org 2017). Hence, the
Salford City Council can utilise its expanse and financial strength to attract talents.
The second plan, which the Salford Council can adopt, to develop itself as an
employer of choice are to attract highly talented human resources is to advertise the
companies under its jurisdiction. Multinational national organisations like the British
Council advertise their services worldwide to attract talents. The Salford City Council
similarly, can advertise the big companies, which are located within its boundaries like BBC,
BUPA and Talk Talk Group. The council also has educational and medical institutes.
Advertising the names of these institutes while recruiting employees enables the council to
point out the vast expanse of its operations (Masalimova and Nigmatov 2015). The
prospective candidates would be assured of the vast job environment within which the
council functions. This would enable them to get ideas about their career growth, which
would encourage them to apply for jobs with the council. This would enable the council to
place itself as an employer of high brand value capable of facilitating framework within
which a large number of diverse organisations like commercial organisations and educational
institutes can function (Kohli and Choi 2014).
One can summarise that the council should advertise its financial status and diverse
operation areas to attract, recruit, retain and deploy talents. This would allow the human
resource department to implement the talent management theory to recruit eligible

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candidates who would promote to the excellent performance of the council. The analysis of
the financial strength and the expanse of the operations of the council shows that the
employees would be ample chances to gain professional development and job satisfaction
while working with it. This would finally allow the council to retain talented employees and
deploy them in areas of strategic importance (Kohli and Choi 2014).
The Salford City Council would require training the employees to develop and
improve their level of efficiencies and knowledge in order to gain the image of a employer of
high brand. This would also help the body to retain its employees and strengthen its image as
one of the most sought after employers in the United Kingdom. The Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD) points out to two methods the organisations in England
use to train their employees namely, training and rewards. The Salford City Council can
consider these two methods to train and retain its employees (cipd.co.uk 2017).
The first method, training refers to training of employees in training rooms or fields
which involve theoretical knowledge, presentations and their practical applications.
Masalimova and Sabirova (2014) points out that in-house training can be implemented to
training both experienced and inexperienced employees. However, it can be used to train the
inexperienced employees who have no prior job experience. The Salford Council in the
course of the in-house training sessions can educate the newly hired employees about the
council, its employee policies and client policies. The Council as the result can present a
more transparent image of itself among the employees. These employees would promote the
transparent employee policies among their friend and relatives, which would strengthen the
employer-of-choice image of the council. The in-house training method would allow the
newly hired employees to develop the basic skills they would require in order to work in the
practical field. Masalimova and Nigmatov (2015) propose that in-house training would create
the values for the new inexperienced employees. It would help the experienced newly hired

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employees to enhance their values. Thus in-house training can help the council to create and
enhance the values of the employees. Tantalo and Priem (2016) points out that this practice
enhances the perception of value enhancements among the employees, which leads to job
satisfaction. Terera and Ngirande (2014) in order to enrich the need of imparting in-house
training to new employees state that job satisfaction lead to employee retention. This practice
of training and retention of employees would enhance the image of a sought after employer in
England. However, the in-house training method would be of limited benefit to the
employees who have prior job experiences. The council can apply on-job training under the
supervision of the line managers for these experienced employees.
The practice of on-job training refers to training under supervision of managers in
the actual job places. Bonenberger et al.(2014) point out that newly hired employees with
prior job experiences can start productivity during on-job training. This helps the new
employees to start contribution towards the performances of the council. This creates a sense
of job satisfaction and importance in them. These employees as a result spread the employee
beneficial image of the council in the market. This would in turn strengthen the brand image
of the Salford City Council as an employer. Moreover, the newly onboarded employees with
experiences can bring about innovation in the methods of operations. These new innovative
methods help the managers to enhance the efficiency of the department as a whole. Thus,
using appropriate methods of the training would enable the Salford City Council to align the
employees with the operations of the organisation (randstadsourceright.com 2017). Peter et
al. (2015) argues that the effectiveness of on-job training depends on the capability and
efficiency of the trainers. Often the managers are not competent to train the juniors because it
requires them to make training schedules. Trainers are often unable to understand the needs
of the trainees, which limit the effectiveness of the training. The trainee as a result fail to gain
the desired level practical knowledge and fail to attain the level of performance expected.

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Thomas, Kohli and Choi (2014) point out that this leads to lack of job satisfaction and hence,
the concerned employees leave the council. Hence, it can be inferred from analysis of training
under line manager that on-job training is very effective in training new employees with
experiences but the effectiveness of the training depends on the ability of the trainer.
As the discussion points out, training helps the Salford Council to create and enhance
the values of the employees and its image of one of the most desired employer in England.
However, training cannot help the organisation to retain employee value and image because it
does not create any return. This is where the rewards system, the second practice under
consideration comes into play at the Salford City Council.
Theurer et al. (2016) shows that reward system have a positive relationship with
employer branding. The employers which rewards their employees for their contribution
towards the organisational excellence are among the sought after employees. Thus, in the
light of the above facts, it can be stated that the Salford Council should implement an
efficient rewards system to enhance the employee perception of value and strengthen its
employer brand image. The council can establish a system of paying the highly performing
employees with incentives as rewards for their performances. This would make the efficient
employees feel empowered and they would work harder to achieve their targets. This would
enable the council create the image of an employer who rewards the efficiency of the
employees beyond the basic monthly salary. The Salford City Council implement the second
type of rewards system, the system of granting employees a share of the profits for the
contribution towards its performance (Stariņeca and Voronchuk 2014). This should ideally be
limited to only upper level employees who deal with critical operational areas. The mangers
who manage critical areas of operations should be allowed a portion of profits of the council.
This will motivate these employees to undertake additional responsibilities to operate in ways
that are more professional by taking extra responsibilities. The Salford Council can also

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announce the system of bonus for the highly performing employees. These initiatives would
enhance employees’ perception of values. Siddiqui (2015) state that reward systems motivate
the employees to work harder. The rewards system creates a sense of compensation among
the employees for their effort and performances. Cerasoli (2014) further adds that
organisations link the reward systems to the productivity of the employees. This linking of
rewards systems with the integrated talent management model enables the HR department to
judge the performance of the employees more closely. The employees get opportunities to
prove their efficiency and eligibility for appraisal and promotion. The company in turn can
get to judge the employees more accurately to award them the promotions and appraisal
facilities (Phipps et al. 2013). Thus, rewards systems enable the employer and the employees
to judge and get a transparent picture of each other. The employees as a result, continue to
serve the council for a longer tenure. The council as a result would be able to plan career
succession for these employees.
The Salford Council would be able to benefit from the efficiencies and expertise of
the employees. Vinayak, Khan and Jain (2017) state that the two practices of training and
rewards systems help organisations to enhance their employer-branding image to attract,
recruit and retain talents. The first practice helps in attracting and recruiting the employees.
The second practice, the rewards system would help the Salford Council to enrich and retain
its talented human resources. Suliman and Al-Khatib (2014) argues that training and rewards
systems alone are not sufficient for the Salford City Council to become one of the most
sought after employers in England. Sikka and Lehman (2015) point out that government
bodies like the Salford City Council are prone to interference from the governments and
corruptions. These often hinder dynamic decision-making processes by the body. These
bodies are prone to favouritism and political interference, which does not allow the HR
department to judge the performances of the employees. The Salford Council must ensure

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that its job environment remains conductive to performance and dynamic decision-making to
attract and retain talented employees and maintain the image of one of the most desired
employers in England.
The findings of from the discussion consist of various aspects about employer brand
and talent management. The intense competition to acquire, recruit, train, retain and deploy
human resources has led to organisations project themselves as sought after employers. The
Salford City Council must form strategies to acquire and retain talents following the human
resource management patterns of multinational companies. The body should advertise its
status of government body and the organisations under its jurisdiction to attract talent. The
council must apply two practices to acquire, train and retain efficient human resources
namely, the training systems and the rewards systems. The training systems would depend on
the attributes of the newly hired employees like their experience level. The Salford City
Council can use two methods of training the newly hired employees depending on their
experience and expertise. The employees having expertise and experience can undergo on-job
training under the supervision of the line managers. The fresher candidates can first undergo
an in-house training before they can join the on-job training team. The findings also show
that rewards systems comprising of bonus and incentives allow organisations to maximise
employee values and retain them. However, promoting its government body status,
organisations under its jurisdiction, training and rewards systems are not sufficient in
attracting and retain highly dynamic human resources. The body must ensure that its human
resources are protected from corruption and political interference.

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