The challenge
Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) is an organisation established by school leaders to deliver high-quality improvements to all Tower Hamlets schools, as well as to continue to encourage collaborative working and raising working standards.
Reed was approached by THEP to help it develop a managed service to act as a process which delivered high-quality agency staff from a compliant list of vetted suppliers. Hasib Hikmat, Business Manager at Olga Primary School, was clear in what he wanted:
“A managed service scheme that will actually accommodate our future needs, build a trusting relationship with the teams and improve the quality of the current supply staff.”
Kate Bagg, Tower Hamlets Account Coordinator at Reed, initially began tackling the brief by offering THEP schools a point of contact for all their recruitment needs, to streamline the process.
Then, after extensive conversations with the client, Kate knew that the biggest challenge ahead was managing communication between the various agencies involved in staff provision.
“As a managed service, there are seven agencies who receive each vacancy which comes through the service. The challenge is to ensure each vacancy is communicated to everyone in the same way, whilst making sure the candidates are collated in a way that makes it easy for the client,” she said.
I would recommend Reed to work with, they are a great organisation who I have no doubt can execute and develop a similar scheme.
Business Manager at Olga Primary School
The solution
To guarantee the process operated smoothly, Kate spoke with the schools regularly to collect any feedback on all the candidates that were sent in through the service, and in turn, shared this feedback with the suppliers.
Kate believes this is one of the most critical parts of the service: “This is so they have an idea on what works and what doesn’t, so it can inform their candidate resourcing and ensure they are finding the candidates in the local area that are the best suited for a role.”
Likewise, the team checked every CV to make certain that there were no gaps in the candidate’s work history, and they possessed the experience and attributes that the schools were looking for.
Along with this vetting process, Reed also arranged trial days for potential candidates to allow the schools to see them in action before making any formal decisions.
The service also allowed for an easy access portal, where the client can have candidates from all seven agencies booked into one system and therefore only one timesheet is needed – allowing for a smooth and easy way for the schools to get supply staff quickly.
The results
After two years the managed service is fully up and running, helping THEP to source any type of staff its schools require. Kate is happy with how the process went and has received great feedback from the client: “The candidates are getting on very well and have embedded themselves in the school community, one candidate has been taken on a permanent basis due to being a good fit.”
Similarly, Hasib said: “I would recommend Reed to work with, they are a great organisation who I have no doubt can execute and develop a similar scheme”.
Supply Teacher Noreen Ahmad, who is one of the staff Reed found for a role at THEP, commented: “My consultant was amazing, she communicated with me regularly, was always available for any questions I had about my bookings and made sure I was always fully prepared – overall it was a very positive experience which I would recommend to others.”
