Shirehall staff to make way for new office suite
Tuesday 1st June 2010, 6:08PM BST.
Shirehall staff were today said to be angry at being “displaced” so that a suite of offices can be created for senior Shropshire Council managers. The move was branded a waste of taxpayers’ money.
But the decision has been defended by chief executive Kim Ryley who claimed the costs were “minimal” and that bringing managers into a single location would make their work “more effective”.
A member of staff, who did not wish to be named for fear of losing their job, said about 100 employees from the ground floor west wing offices at the Shirehall were being displaced and that builders were coming in to prepare glass petition walls and an executive reception area.
The source said: “Understandably staff are angry about this, especially given that they are frontline and customer-facing, supposedly a priority for the authority.
“These staff are already struggling to cope with the backlog of work that the badly conceived transition to the new unitary authority left.
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“Now they find themselves under the additional pressure of being pushed to the margins and moving not once, but twice.”
The scheme was a waste of taxpayers’ money, given that staff had been told vacant posts would not be filled, and requests for equipment such as new computer screens, were being ignored.
The source added: “I see frontline staff working with barely functioning IT equipment, outdated programmes, and layer upon layer of management, trying to offer an often ungrateful public the service they both deserve and expect.
“I see public money being squandered on such schemes, roadshows, non-jobs and so on, while we are lectured on austerity and going the extra mile with less resources or staff.”
But Mr Ryley said the council was constantly relocating staff to get better services by “joining up related functions” as it did in the move to unitary status.
“There are often moves going on in Shirehall and other council offices, and this change is a small example of that process,” he said.
“It is designed to bring all senior managers into one location, which will make their work more effective.
“All we are doing is moving staff to accommodate that change. The costs involved are minimal. We are using existing equipment and furniture.
“This is part of wider changes which are about getting frontline services closer to people where they live, and making sure that staff are in the best place to deliver services.”
By Dave Morris
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Nice!
Can’t wait to see the “Executive Reception Area”.
A private little entrance, just for executives, how quaint.
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its alright for some in the ivory towers hey, no doubt their luxury offices will come at my expense when council tax goes up again next year
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Instead of building new suites for senior managers, why dont they get rid of some, I bet some of them we do not need, and the chief executive Kim Ryley, kept on repeating by saying the costs for the work was minimal, so why don`t they just give us a fiqure, we have a right to know where our money is being spent.
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cant they talk via the telephone…? i imagine this will create an isolated group leading to an us and them feeling and making them all out of touch with the real workers
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Pardon me, but is this a news story?
Staff at Telford are so used to moving around that they almost have desks on casters, and I would love to have had shares in the removal company whose vans were constantly moving staff out of Civic Offices and Darby House and then back in again.
That is of course, those lucky enough to HAVE a desk. A growing number either work from home or “hot desk”, finding a spare place wherever they can.
The standing joke was to ask, if you wanted to visit someone, where they were, because where they were one day could be totally different the next or six months down the line!
Telford has also dissolved their “departmental” structure to bring their “directors” into a management team which hopefully can concentrate on the delivery of services, and not on defending or expanding departmental empires!
Or at least that is the theory!
As far as Shropshire is concerned, can someone advise what these “front line services” are? Is this the planning section? If so why should I have to trek up to Shirehall to be able to access them? Would it not have been better to put the “front line staff” at the old SABC offices, which ARE in the centre of the town, and leave the education/schools people where they were?
I wonder if it matters where people work – as long as they are working?
If the senior managers are brought together, then maybe – just maybe – they will be able to get out of the “bunker” mind mentality which prevails so much in local government and translates into “that’s not my responsibility,” or more likely “sorry, that’s not coming out of MY budget”.
As for the staff – sorry – but talk to your colleagues down the road at Telford. It might open your eyes to what is happening in the real world.
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“But Mr Ryley said the council was constantly relocating staff…”
Anyone notice the problem in what Mr Ryley said? “constantly relocating staff?” And in what way is “constantly relocating staff” cost-effective?
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sack them all there are too many managers in the public sector period, we need more broom pushers and less pen pushers
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is this really big news?? i actually think it sounds like quite a sensible idea, being physcially opposite someone makes it far easier to work together. Isnt that the who point of a unitary council, everyone coming together to work together unlike the crazy old days of Shrewsbury and Oswestry pursuing conflicting policies and arguing with the county council about everything all the time?
its very easy to criticise, what better ideas for more joined up services can people suggest please?
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I suggest they have a green carpet in the corridor, that way they can practice their putting without the need for the ongoing mileage expense of going to and from the course where most management decisions seem to be made…Fore!!!!
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come on it will be a red carpet they rate themselves so highly juding by their fat cat pensions and massive salaries
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