Housing association has job reshuffle (From Watford Observer)
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Watford Community Housing Trust has job reshuffle
4:00pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in News
By Mike Wright, Chief Reporter
Housing association has job reshuffle
Employees at Watford Community Housing Trust are facing having to reapply for their jobs as part of a restructuring.
The housing association, based in Clarendon Road, has said its overall number of employees will be reduced by one while a number of current positions will be made redundant.
Workers at the trust were told about the planned restructure this week and it is set to some into effect from July.
Tina Barnard, the chief executive of Watford Community Housing Trust, said it needed to change to meet the challenges it faces over the coming years.
She said: "We have made huge strides over the last five years. We have delivered our transfer promises, established ourselves as a community gateway that empowers residents, and delivered our first housing developments.
"Now we have a new business plan and it is important that we have the right organisational structure to deliver it. We also need to be equipped for the challenges and risks ahead, such as welfare reform, rising homelessness and a changing funding environment.
"We believe that the new structure we are proposing will help us to continue to provide excellent services, and we look forward to hearing staff’s views on it."
Watford Community Housing Trust bought Watford Borough Council's housing stock in 2007 and plans to build 500 homes over the next five years.
The trust said there would be no significant changes to frontline staff in sheltered housing schemes, the neighbourhood services teams or the Gateway Repairs Team as a result of the restructure.
The new structure will see the trust’s Housing service and Housing Support Services combined and three new Business Trainee posts created.
Of the employees affected, the trust said some would be assimilated straight into the new role and others would have to reapply for positions.
Comments(3)
KeefyD
says...
6:31am Fri 25 Jan 13
And "wouldnt it be funny if they all failed the interviews" comment is not very nice is it? I hope you dont have to attend an interview for your job ( if you have one that is ) and you failed, you would keep us informed wouldnt you because you sound like a good community spirited kind of person :-(
MarsLander
says...
8:46am Fri 25 Jan 13
KeefyD wrote:I read the WO. In the WO are tales of woe over ceilings that fall down despite the fault being reported to the trust (fortunately the children sleeping under them were in another room at the time), the WCHT having a huge expensive jolly and being criticised for it and the furore they caused just recently by hiking charges and refusing to talk to elected councillors about the hardships caused.
From what you have read??? Where in this or other article does it say that there are lots of people employed by the trust that are not fit for their jobs!! Do you read into things that are not there?? Perhaps you can give out the winning lottery numbers so others can enjoy your talents.
And "wouldnt it be funny if they all failed the interviews" comment is not very nice is it? I hope you dont have to attend an interview for your job ( if you have one that is ) and you failed, you would keep us informed wouldnt you because you sound like a good community spirited kind of person :-(
If that's your idea of a well-run trust then we must agree to differ. But then maybe you just didn't read any of these articles and are ignorant of the facts. Then again, maybe you are being re-interviewed for your job at the trust. Good luck, if you're any good I'm sure you will keep it.
Working for a trust shouldn't be a passport to a comfortable retirement, they should do a good job cost-effectively for the people that pay their wages, the tenants. I just have serious doubts whether that's the case for all the employees there.
I hope the deadwood are identified and removed and the good people re-employed. That's as it should be and will offer a better service to the people who rely on the trust for the roof over their heads.
As for community spirit, wanting a better service for the tenants is very community spirited I hope you will agree.
Keeping people in jobs that they are not fit to do is not community spirited. That's charity and that type of charity is not one I subscribe to.
If you can do the job, fine, if you can't, move over and let someone else do it who can.
MarsLander says...
5:30pm Thu 24 Jan 13