The report of the Head of Democratic Services
provided a summary of evidence received to date on the
Board’s inquiry into agile working, developing new ways of
working and estate realisation. It looked at the future areas of
interest in terms of this developing work stream.
It attendance at the meeting for this item
were:
·
Cllr. James Lewis – Deputy Leader of Council and Executive
Member
for
Resources
·
Neil Evans – Director of Resources and Housing
·
Mark Mills – Asset Management
·
Graham Sephton – Head of HR, Resources and Housing
Members of the Board were informed of the
following points:
- Appendix 1 provided the initial
thoughts on this evolving agenda;
- Planning for a return to work for
some staff, a number of surveys are to be sent out which will take
account of how staff are feeling currently. It was recognised that
over the past 12 months, staff opinions have changed on how they
worked in the past, are working currently and the new arrangements
going forward;
- The survey will be sent to all 8,000
staff in late March or April, and will look at gathering
information on new arrangements as the Council goes forward and how
to balance that with good service provision. In May it is hoped
that findings from the survey will be able to be shared
and form part of the new arrangements,
with a view to return to work from June;
- The utilisation of the buildings
that the council use will change. The estate will have buildings
located within the City and also in district centres.
- The core buildings will deliver more
collaborative spaces for team working with a change in layouts to
address a flexible approach to office and home working. Working on
Hybrid meetings is ongoing with staff in DIS and this will require
a change in protocols and training.
Member’s discussions and responses to
questions from the Board included:
- Support to staff at all levels
during this period;
- Service level response times;
- Flexible working hours and any
impact on council services. It was noted that the survey and a
toolkit would address wellbeing support, measures for service
delivery and standards.
- Costs in relation to ICT. It was
recognised that there had been a one off cost to enable people to
work from home at the start of the first lockdown, and that where
possible recycled kit had been used and will be used moving
forward;
- A trade Union working group was
looking at policy changes, contracts, funding arrangements in
relation to job descriptions and roles as new working arrangements
evolve;
- It was recognised that there was
still work to be done on achieving a better balance for home and
work and managing expectations carefully;
- Some of the buildings to be utilised
would require investment to make them sustainable. The change in
how we work will also present opportunities to look at
accommodation such as leisure centres and community centres and how
space within these could be used differently for office space or
touch down space. Opportunities may also arise for shared spaces in
community hubs with partner organisations;
- Members were keen to ensure that the
views of staff are taken into account in relation to travel, and to
consider if staff would prefer city centre locations or community
based locations. It was noted that this would form part of the
staff survey.
RESOLVED – To note the
content of the report and pass over to the successor Board for
further work in early in the next municipal year.