Agenda item
Impact of COVID-19 on the Current Agile Working Programme
Minutes:
The Director of HR, OD and
Transformation introduced the report and stated that the Council
had seen lots of changes to working arrangements in a short space
of time because of the pandemic. She highlighted that in December
2019 the agile working policy had been refreshed, but that because
of COVID-19 the Council had to learn to adapt quickly to agile
working for the majority of the workforce. The Director of HR, OD
and Transformation thanked the IT team for their hard work in
ensuring that all members of staff had access to the right
equipment to work from home, including the fast-tracked rollout of
Microsoft Teams. She clarified that although some services had to
shut-down due to social distancing restrictions, the majority of
services were being delivered successfully from home.
The Director of HR, OD and Transformation added that one of the
main barriers to agile working pre-COVID19 had been the lack of
home telephony solutions, but these had been successfully overcome
within a week of lockdown being introduced. She added that the
Council had also set up the TCCA, and given work mobile phones to
those that needed them, as well as solving issues surrounding hunt
groups. She stated that another barrier to agile working
pre-COVID19 had been the amount of printing that had been done
within the offices, but many services had been able to transfer
successfully to digital working. She recognised that home working
was not successful for all staff members, sometimes due to the lack
of social interaction, particularly for those vulnerable people who
were shielding. She stated that the Council had introduced new
support packages for managers and staff to encourage social
interaction virtually with team members, as well as a new
e-learning agenda.
The Director of HR, OD and Transformation summarised and stated
that agile working would continue to be the way of working once
lockdown had ended, and her team were currently looking at ways to
sustain the progress made. She added that as the country moved
towards recovery, officers would be considering council buildings,
as less space might be needed for staff, although a civic office
would always be available for people who needed to work from the
office.
The Chair welcomed the report and thanked officers for their hard
work in keeping services running during this difficult time. He
highlighted point 6.3 of the report and felt glad to see that agile
working would become the new normality. He added that the
transition to home working would also benefit the environment as
people drove less and improved their carbon footprint. He queried
what percentage of council staff would continue to be eligible for
home working after lockdown had ended. The Director of HR, OD and
Transformation replied that there were approximately 2,500 people
that worked for the Council, of which one third were frontline
workers, such as care staff or waste collectors, and were based in
the community. She stated that two-thirds of Council staff were
office based, but confirmed that the majority of these roles could
be undertaken from home. She stated that some services would remain
in the Civic Offices as staff needed direct access to residents or
colleagues. She felt that the policy of “less offices, better
services” was ambitious, but hoped that the momentum started
by COVID-19 could be sustained.
The Chair felt his key concern was ensuring good quality services
for residents, and asked how oversight was being provided when
staff members worked from home. The Director of HR, OD and
Transformation replied that providing good quality services was a
key priority embedded in every Council officers expectations. She
added that staff members were being monitored on their outcomes,
and this was being overseen by individual managers. She added that
during lockdown the number of resident’s complaints and
member enquiries had decreased, and this would continue to be
monitored. The Chair asked if home working had affected the level
of staff sickness. The Director of HR, OD and Transformation
replied that pre-COVID19 the target for staff sickness had been 9
days, and the Council had struggled to achieve this. She was
pleased to report that for 2019/20 the average number of
day’s sickness had decreased to 8.2 days, representing great
efforts by managers and HR. She stated that in the 2 months since
lockdown began sickness had remained low due to number of factors
such as a decrease in the spread of infections because of decreased
social contact, and more flexibility for staff members. She
clarified that the Council had always focussed on staff wellbeing
and service provision, and was providing COVID-19 testing to those
staff members that needed it.
Councillor Duffin congratulated officers on meeting the staff
sickness target. He questioned the plans for the rebuild of the
Civic Offices, and asked if discussions had been taking place on
how to best utilise the space, if less office space for staff was
needed. The Director of HR, OD and Transformation stated that the
plans were currently being looked at, as although there is a need
for the Civic Offices, the amount of space allocated to offices
could change. She added that a baseline needed to be established
post-lockdown of how many people needed to come into the offices on
a regular basis, before any decisions could be made.
Councillor Ralph stated that he felt impressed at the speed of
which the Council and its IT department had changed to home
working. He added that working from home could have some negative
impacts for people, such as loss of self-identity, decrease in
physical and mental health, and the loss of an escape from home
life. He queried what monitoring was being undertaken on members of
staff to ensure their wellbeing whilst at home. The Director of HR,
OD and Transformation replied that staff wellbeing was critically
important, and highlighted that sources of help were available on
the intranet for any staff that needed it. She added that managers
were encouraged to ensure their teams did not feel isolated, and
were encouraged to hold team or one-to-one meetings on a daily
basis.
RESOLVED: That:
1. The Committee commented on the content of the report and the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Ways of Working.
Supporting documents: