“Data, data, data.” That is what the Regulator of Social Housing says should be the focus for landlords as we prepare for the new regulatory regime.
The Housing Ombudsman has said poor recordkeeping is the source of many of the complaints it has to deal with.
As landlords prepare for current and future challenges, our ability to gather, interpret and react to data from our tenants will be crucial. HQN’s 25th anniversary research highlighted repeated calls from staff for “more sophisticated, integrated systems that actually work.”
But, do we currently have the skills across our organisations to make the best use of the data at our fingertips and deliver the change we need? Can we use data to tell stories about our organisational performance? And do we have the ability to adapt service delivery to meet tenant expectations in the digital age?
In our latest I&T Hub event, we explored how housing can attract and retain digital talent in an increasingly complex global marketplace.
The art of the possible
Alan Keers kicked off the day with a glimpse into what the future may hold for housing associations.
Keers is Chief Executive at Twenty11, a charitable subsidiary of Red Kite Community Housing based in High Wycombe. The digital-first housing company was set up to address some of the challenges social housing customers were facing around the rising cost of private rent, increased anti-social behaviour and the lack of community cohesion.
The organisation is leading the way in innovation, with a flexible rent model linked directly to people’s ability to pay – with some tenants paying as little as 40% of the market rate.
They have also introduced a Tenancy Sustainment License, with a points-based system to encourage people to be active in the community and take part in volunteering, and a team of Community Potential Specialists offering life coaching.
Keers says that the pandemic has accelerated a change in tenants’ expectations , with an emphasis on self-service.
The majority of transactions with tenants are done online, with around 93% of 4-week and six-month visits carried out via video messaging.
Keers believes that the new approach has demonstrated that the majority of social housing staff have been able to adapt and upskill to this digitally focused approach, and says the biggest challenge has been external recruitment for more soft-skilled, customer-focused roles, such as Community Potential Specialists.
Using tech to improve lives
Steve Allcock, Executive Director of Customer Experience, Digital Transformation at Johnnie Johnson Housing, outlined how housing has a unique opportunity to show the direct link between digital transformation, better data and improved lives.
He said that the biggest challenges ahead for the sector were around:
- Smart technology, digital services and automation,
- Data maturity, integrity and compliance,
- Targeted and personalised communications.
Allcock said that for too long data had been the “elephant in the room” for the sector, and until now the challenges had been brushed under the carpet.
He said that the development of a new operating model meant Johnnie Johnson had identified some clear digital and data skills gaps and seen the introduction of:
- New customer experience experts,
- Data and insight experts,
- A team of digital champions across the business.
He added that the landlord had revisited its recruitment strategy to include digital and technical ability at all levels of the organisation and was encouraging IT teams to work with HR and L&D professionals to develop an ongoing training and development programme.
Allcock said that attracting the right talent to fill new roles could be a challenge, but was reassured that, even as a small landlord, they’d been able to fill new roles.
Skills to deliver
Jacqui Bateson, Managing Director at HACT, said landlords needed to adopt a “gather, analyse and use” approach to data – with the right people and skills at each level.
She said landlords need people who know what data to collect, which involves bringing together the right skills and training for frontline staff, finance, marketing and quality and assurance teams.
She added that the housing sector needs to recognise that the analysis of data is a specialist skill and that attracting and retaining talent in this area is dependent on leaders knowing how to make the best use of these people.
Michael Litterick, Former Director of Architecture, Data and Analysis at Cambridge University, explained that housing was now competing in a global recruitment market for digital talent and that the pandemic had increased the skills needed in specific fields.
He said the move to a skills economy over a location-based one pointed to the democratisation of the digital workforce, with a powershift from managers and companies to workers. The modern worker wants to be paid on their skill set, not their job title.
He said any landlord who wanted to attract someone who could develop their data architecture, who had the relevant experience, with sector knowledge, lived within their geographical region and was available during the relevant one-month time period, was looking for a needle in a haystack.
Litterick added that digital talent often felt out of place in housing and local government, and that a culture where leaders are willing to learn from, rather than preach to, digital talent is needed.
Elaine Johnson, Director of People at Great Places Housing Group, agreed with this analysis and said the sector needs to think laterally about recruitment in this area.
She said that recruitment needs to focus much more on the sector’s ability to make a positive impact. Johnson added that recruitment needs to evolve to find hidden pockets of skills and talent, with new approaches based on neurodiversity.
Growing our own
Francis Burrows, Director of Support and Service Development at Orbit Group, argued that growing and evolving our own digital talent should be the focus of the housing sector.
He said data and digital needs to be embedded in every policy and strategy across the business. He added that the landlord hadn’t had a clear understanding of digital skills across the business, but their own skills assessment exercise had unearthed a huge range of hidden talent.
Since then, Orbit has been focused on developing levels of professionalism in its digital skills – with an emphasison making sure they have the right talent and processes to get data collection right.
Burrows added that the Barclays Digital Eagles programme had been the catalyst for change, as had getting staff more engaged in system design.
He also felt the sector needed to recognise that colleagues would be starting from different places on their digital journeys. And that support and patience would be needed in some cases.
Georgia Thwaites of Socitm Advisory said setting up processes for internal and external knowledge transfer would speed up the re-skilling of teams.
She said landlords need to clearly communicate why change is important, and embed a culture where you can share knowledge, rather than traditional approaches where teams protect their skills and information.
Thwaites added that creating bite-sized chunks of information that was readily available via different channels would be key to making this approach work.
Join us next time
I&T Hub members are invited to join our next Best Practice Group on Tuesday, November 8 2022.
Author: Bobbie Hough