CSTAR prioritise the use of permanent members of staff to deliver our critical solutions wherever possible. Whilst we do not intend to use non-direct employees to deliver this solution, and so do not anticipate an impact from contract expiration or short-term loss, we do have a dedicated process to ensure they deliver the same quality of work as our permanent staff.
Where specific specialist expertise or short-term demands increase, however, we are able to draw on our pool of trusted contractors to provide support. To ensure consistent quality of service across teams, we seek to mitigate any associated risks, especially in terms of transferring knowledge and skills. We have therefore implemented the following processes and practices to manage these:
Resource Selection
With over 15 years’ experience of delivering technical solutions into secure government customers, we have a strong relationship with a number of key contractors and partner organisations. We prioritise working with trusted entities, who align with our culture and quality standards wherever possible. This approach not only provides a seamless integration with our wider perm team but also a significantly higher retention rate across project lifecycle as required.
Where new non-direct employees/resources are required for a task, our internal resource team and trusted agencies run through the same level of screening and interviewing as for our permanent staff. This process is overseen by the Operations Director and covers cultural and behavioural aspects of working as part of CSTAR and customer teams (as appropriate) in addition to the technical skills needed. This has succeeded in delivering the level of cultural cohesion critical to success, and also increases the likelihood of a contractor remaining loyal to the project.
Onboarding
Our clear process ensures all clearances are in place and that any new non-direct resources are appropriately briefed on the team structure, their roles/responsibilities, client objectives, ways of working and any cultural aspects associated with the role (key for complex secure projects) before starting. This ensures real value delivered from day one, as well as establishing their role within the team. Further, it limits silos of knowledge and creates an open, collaborative and productive team.
Knowledge Management
We are aware that in even the most successful and happy teams, people will still move on periodically. We look to manage this risk from project onset, working with the team (perm and contractors) and customer to ensure no one person becomes a single source of knowledge and truth on the project or its technology. This involves rotation of roles, paired programming and regular structured knowledge transfer/sharing sessions (once a sprint).
We are especially experienced in utilising this approach with our MOD projects, with multiple teams of MOD, CSTAR permanent and contract workers, and other suppliers actively collaborating and sharing knowledge over multiple years. This has resulted in a highly flexible team able to respond to short term needs and gaps as they occur.
Line Management
All non-direct employees/resources report to our CSTAR Delivery Managers on a daily basis and regularly interact with our Account Manager/Director. These relationships, established through the interview and onboarding process, remain key throughout the project. By holding regular catch ups with contractors CSTAR are able to closely track their performance as well as their aspirations and job satisfaction.
Where issues and risks are identified, CSTAR Delivery Managers have the support from the wider CSTAR Leadership Team and the autonomy to work with the customer to resolve them, so that all the team (including contractors) can continue to deliver to the high standard required. This communication and relationship building also minimises surprise losses of resources and skills before the planned end date.
Backfills
We are able to action any changes to resource, both internally and externally, within a day. All contractors have to provide at least a month’s notice of leaving, so handover and knowledge transfer will be started immediately, alongside potential backfill activities. We have a reputation of being able to backfill resources between 2-6 weeks depending on security constraints, and wherever possible will ensure handover between outgoing and incoming resources. Should no overlap exist, we are able to pass responsibilities and knowledge to other team members who can then transfer back to new team member as appropriate.
To support our agility and ability to backfill resources at short notice, we ensure that we have a team of permanent staff available at all times on the ‘Bench’ to help us overcome unexpected changes in resource availability and allow for continuous knowledge share across the teams while a longer-term solution is identified. This is managed by the Head of Engineering and Operations Director.
As a result of the above processes and culture we have a very low turnover of contractors, with most staying as part of the CSTAR team for the duration and working with us across multiple deliveries. This ensures our customers get the same level of expertise and can have the same level of confidence in continuation and quality of support from contractors where used as our perm staff members.
Grace Thiele 