Case Study

Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI)

"I have found Grafton to be professional and courteous, demonstrating commitment, flexibility and determination in delivering a robust, defensible recruitment process and consultancy service. I have been impressed with Grafton’s ability to scale up to undertake large, complex HR recruitment exercises, to deliver bespoke programmes for executive recruitment and to provide an objective perspective when problem solving and negotiating solutions to HR issues"
Head of Resourcing Solutions

Context

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has over 10,000 employees and is one of the region’s largest employers. Over the last 7 years, following recommendations made in the Patten Report, PSNI has undergone unprecedented organisational change.  As a result, it is now regarded as one of the most professional Police Forces in the world. However, it remains one of the most highly scrutinized, by oversight bodies and the public.

Solution

The outsourced recruitment and selection services created by the Grafton ESP/PSNI partnership has delivered innovative solutions and withstood constant scrutiny.   

We currently manage the recruitment and selection of the entire range of civilian roles for PSNI.  These include volume recruitment for administrative roles, specialised technical and criminal justice roles, and senior management posts.

From the outset, Grafton ESP was aware that sections of Northern Ireland society had deeply entrenched feelings of mistrust towards PSNI.  Therefore significant work was undertaken to develop an employer brand that would change these long-held perceptions and promote the organisation across all communities.

Each campaign is carefully tailored to suit the specific role and the exact requirements of PSNI. To ensure the process is comprehensive, each campaign is initiated with a role profile and job analysis.  This allows an in-depth understanding of the role to be developed and ensures that subsequent stages of the campaign are fit for purpose. It also allows the selection methodology to be specifically designed and aligned to the requirements of the role.

In addition to the provision of all permanent recruitment needs, Grafton ESP manage the provision of temporary and ad hoc staff into PSNI for a range of roles and projects.

Highlights

• Managed over 50,000 requests for information
• Managed over 250 distinct campaigns
• Master Vendor for temporary staffing across Northern Ireland
• Met diversity measures and improved community representation within PSNI