In February 2021, UDITE conducted a survey of its national
associations to better understand the emerging preoccupations of Chief
Executives in local authorities throughout Europe. At the heart of the
survey were two key questions. The first, sought to identify the
top 5 needs that local leaders needed support with during
the COVID-19 crisis and the second, to identify the top
5 risks that have been experienced during the pandemic
by professionals in the sector.
Based upon 139 responses from 9 countries to the first question,
our survey indicated that agile and effective communications
and transparency protocols were vital at the earliest stage
to build confidence amongst employees of the local authority and more
broadly citizens. The second most important priority focused upon the
rapidly evolving human resources
dimension during the pandemic from the
perspective of developing new ways of working, support for remote
workers and monitoring the mental health of employees working from
home to ensure a sustainable work life balance despite the major
changes in working patterns that have occurred in such a short period
of time.
In the second question, UDITE sought to better understand the
dimension of risk management during the pandemic of local
authorities and their managers. Responses indicated a
major preoccupation with the risk of regular business
processes being destabilised by the pandemic. The second
concern focused upon the longer term impact on local authority
financing as a legacy from the pandemic. Concerns focused
around the rapid lifting of furloughs and government support for SMEs
and their employees that if done too quickly would have a knock on
with increasing business failures and eventually a fall in local tax
revenues for local authorities.
The UDITE Conference takes place on 15th-16th October, 2021 and will
discuss further these aspects and will hear from University and
experts and a representative from the OECD who will look at the
broader impacts of the pandemic. Register
now to join the discussion in Metz or online.
UDiTE Admin