Smart Working

Emma Edgeley – LongBusiness Change Officer

What do we mean?

• Flexible? • Agile?• Smart?

We are empowering employees to work where, how and when they choose, to maximise their productivity and deliver the greatest value to the business

What is involved?

What are our drivers?

• Being able to meet the demands of the customer more effectively

• Opportunities for developing value via increased employee productivity and loyalty

• Improved work/life balance• Accommodation – making workplaces fit for

21st century whilst reducing on premise costs• Tri council partnership – success

How do we achieve it?• Buy in from senior management• Managers need to be enabled, encouraged, supported and

motivated to successfully manage flexible arrangements• Teams need to be aware of how other people/ teams work

and good practice championed• People need to spend time talking about agile and share

experiences of all employees whether office, home, remote working

• Some people want, like, need and are more comfortable/ used to being governed by rules around work hours and will require coaching /mentoring support and skills

• Working hours/arrangements need to be aligned to improve and support a range of flexible practice i.e. - toil, flexi

Measuring our success“Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so”

– attributed to Galileo• Managers are used to managing people they can see, where as

they should focus their efforts on managing business objectives and outputs

• However performance management needs to be innovative (not all roles are equipped to quantify outputs)

• Clear performance measures help us to understand what we need to achieve and how this will be evaluated

• Monitoring can be destructive if badly applied• We need to move to a trust based system. Is it better to be

descriptive rather than defining actual measures?

Managing Cultural Change

• Championing good practice and embedding it in our culture

• Dispel inaccuracies such as:– Team work demands increase – Charter to skive– Flexible working is asking for a favour

• Engaging with new working practices norms• We need to make people more accountable and

managers more enabling• Develop of a culture of trust

Staff FeedbackPeople• Team collaboration is of upmost important• Potential for loss of knowledge gained by being in the office• Will feel isolated working alone• Will core hours be removed?• Need the trust of managers to work from home• How to best manage performance• Staff left in office will have to take more phone callsEquipment• What equipment will be given to work at home?• What are the DSE implications for working at home?• There is not enough space for me to work at home• Who will pay for the increase bills if working at home?• Broadband – my infrastructure is not good enough• Broadband – Will have to upgrade contract to accommodate usage, who will pay?• Will require IT Support for set up at home and during non-core hoursProcessing• How will printing work, will it become centralised?• Paper records still used, I will need to access them• How will telephones been managed if I am at home?• How will I attend meetings if I am at home?• Pool car system – will not work with flexible working• I do not know what the new technology looks like so it is hard to visuals working smarter.

Timewise PilotTimewise - The pilot is designed to develop a toolkit of resources and skills. The accreditation is based upon the Council/s having an improvement plan in progress by April/May 2015 which will be designed to: • Assist employers to attract and retain people who have a

diverse range of skill, knowledge and experience • To promote improved workforce flexibility in local

businesses. Other councils participating in the pilot are: Carlisle City Council; Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Enfield and Waltham Forest Council.

What are the benefits?• Attraction and retention of staff• A leaner and more responsive organisation• Greater knowledge sharing and resilience• Greater input into work / Ownership of working style and

routine• Greater job satisfaction• Reduced stress levels and wasted time• Reduction in accommodation costs• Reduced dependency on office premises• Reduced travel time• Reduction in CO2 output

Group Discussion and FeedbackMeasuring Performance

Managing Cultural ChangeCommunicating Effectively

Accommodation and Technology

Measuring PerformanceFeedback from CMT 16/12/14

• How are we measuring now? Articulate how we measure in future

• Identify team ‘outputs’ Quantity Quality – Customer Satisfaction Speed

• Identify customer expectations and publish new standards Telephone enquiries – call backs Appointments system Standards – revisit what they are Streamline

• Analyse your business requirements• Develop productive work programmes

Accommodation and TechnologyFeedback from CMT 16/12/14

• Communication Black holes Mobile Broadband

• Need to map these areas Officer Reports Information from providers

• What technology do teams require/define functions requirements: Flexible contracts Just text or more complex req?

• Sometimes people need to work together Development of staff, mentoring Some work processes need people working together (accuracy)

• Ability to make decisions must be clear• Schedule contact time

Managing Cultural ChangeFeedback from CMT 16/12/14

• Demands trust in employers from managers and vice versa• We all need to understand the psychology of working differently• People need to understand a new way of working• Feelings of threat (change) arising from different ways of working• Is it mandatory?• More effective communications e.g. from office to home• Risk workforce feel they are being manipulated to meet customer and

councils demands (24/7, accommodation)• Threat to performance if not done right• Office working does not dictate successful performance• Fears of isolation

Communicating EffectivelyFeedback from CMT 16/12/14

• Many staff are currently working flexibly, need to communicate this

• Need to set and manage expectations• Establish what will be provided/paid for• Need to set expectations on policies and standards• Need to sell the benefits to combat reluctance or

resistance