"Major concerns" over resignation of Gov's HR boss

Wednesday 22 November 2023

“Major concerns” have been raised about the resignation of the Government’s top HR professional – at a time when as many as one in three civil servants have said they would "leave their job tomorrow if they had another to go to".

During a Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel hearing last week, the Chief Minister revealed that the Chief People and Transformation Officer Mark Grimley had resigned. The Government later confirmed to Express that this was for "personal reasons".

"It is always a sad moment when people choose to do different things, but the situation that the Chief People and Transformation Officer leaves behind is a strong team that is well able to step up and support in most areas of that work while we seek another person to take on the role," Deputy Moore said.

Mr Grimley has been in post for over four years, hired as Group Director of People and Corporate Services by former Government CEO Charlie Parker in June 2019. He joined the Government of Jersey from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. In common with Charlie Parker, he had also previously worked at Manchester City Council.

His title changed to Chief People and Transformation Officer 10 months ago during the creation of the Government's ‘Cabinet Office’, but his role remained essentially the same.

A key element of that was overseeing the transformation of the culture of the service in the wake of reports of widespread bullying and harassment throughout the civil service, as well as low morale.

Pictured: Mr Grimley was first hired as Group Director of People and Corporate Services by former Government CEO Charlie Parker in June 2019.

Following the scrutiny hearing last week, Chair of the Panel, Deputy Sam Mézec said that "progress has been made" with public sector staff employment and working culture "in particular with more constructive engagement with the trade unions and staff, and in efforts to reduce interim personnel, fill key worker roles, and reduce turnover".

However, Deputy Mézec raised concerns that many of these improvements were being led by Mr Grimley, who has now resigned.

He said: "We remain concerned that there is still a long way to go, as shown by the evidence our Panel has received in submissions from people on the front line.

"One major concern we have is that many of these improvements were led by Mark Grimley, Chief People and Transformation Officer, who has now resigned, and we aren't aware of any strategy to replace him."

Pictured: Panel Chair Deputy Sam Mézec raised "major concerns" over the resignation of the Mark Grimley.

Mr Grimley has recently come under fire for his decision to keep the breakdown of results from the Government's staff survey secret for the time being, stating that the data still needed to be communicated to individual teams before it was made available to the public.

States Employment Board Vice-Chair Andy Jehan recently admitted that less than half of around 9,000 Government employees completed the £43k 'Be Heard' survey earlier this year.

General results from the Be Heard survey indicated that one-in-three Government employees would "leave their job tomorrow if they had another to go to".

However, the Government has refused to publish detailed data, admitting that some public sector employees have yet to be told the results of this year’s survey.

A month after Mr Grimley told Express that detailed data showing staff attitudes would not be made public “in order to maintain individual anonymity”, the Government said it was now their “intention” to release details of attitudes within individual departments.

Detailed data showing staff attitudes were for the previous 2021 survey following a challenge by Express under the Freedom of Information Law, but Express is still awaiting a response to a request regarding last year's.

The Government invoked article two of the FoI Law to push back the deadline for publishing this information to 9 January next year, adding that they would try “to ensure that the response is provided by Friday 29 December 2023”.

The information was due under the law last Thursday 16 November after the deadline was extended from last month.

Following the announcement of Mr Grimley's resignation, Express asked the Government to confirm:

• When did Mr Grimley resign? What is his notice period/final day and is he working during this period?

• Is he entitled to any contractual payment and, if so, how much?

• Who will be Interim? And when will recruitment begin for a permanent replacement? Will an outside headhunters be used – and what is the budget for this if so?

• Can we please have a copy of Mr Grimley's resignation letter and the Chief Minister's reply?

In response, the Government said: "Chief People and Transformation Officer Mark Grimley confirmed in June this year that he would be leaving his post at the end of 2023. This is for personal reasons.

"Lesley Darwin, Associate Director, Employment Experience, Reward and Relations, will become Acting Chief People and Transformation Officer with responsibility for the States Employment Board (SEB).

"She will be supported by Sarah Goodwin, Associate Director and Head of Organisational Development who will become Interim Deputy Chief People and Transformation Officer.

"The SEB have expressed their gratitude for the support, advice, and guidance that Mark has given them since their election and wish him well in his future endeavours."