Agenda item

Purpose: To receive feedback from Heads of Service on their experience of the Timelord process and that of their staff. 

The Committee considered feedback from Heads of Service on their experience of the Timelord process and that of their staff (Agenda Item 6).

This was in follow up to the last meeting of the Select Committee where concern was raised as a result of staff feedback that the introduction of Timelord was having a negative impact on team working, was causing isolation for staff and conducting confidential conversations was a difficulty due to the office layout and availability of meeting rooms. 

It was however noted at the last meeting that efforts were being made to ensure lessons were learnt and issues would be addressed in future.  Jackie Jordan reminded Members that Management Board had accepted the recommendations for improvement and these were being actively pursued.

Heads of Service based in West Street House, who had experienced the Timelord process, had been invited to attend this meeting to share their views and those of their staff, particularly on the issues listed above.  Ian Pearson read through feedback from a range of staff based at West Street House, this was based on both the new working style and the new building.  Firstly the positive aspects:

·                    The new working style meant that disruption during the severe winter weather was minimised with more staff able to work from home.

·                    The issuing of Blackberries to some staff was extremely useful.

·                    Work/life balance had improved.

·                    Working from home reduced travel time and cost, allowed for more uninterrupted and concentrated work and gave staff a feeling of being trusted and valued. 

·                    West Street House was ready for staff’s immediate use, minimising the disruption caused by the office move. 

Negatives:

·                    Desk areas were too small, this had partly been addressed in phase 2 and for phase 3.  One amendment was for Heads of Service to have a fixed desk and therefore a larger desk irrespective of their workstyle. 

·                    Initial IT problems had been experienced, but good support had been provided by IT staff.  Citrix had been reported as being occasionally slow by 2 teams, but this had not been the experience of others present.   

·                    A limited number of printers and photocopiers in busy periods caused congestion. 

·                    On the subject of team working, there was felt to be a loss of identity, informal information sharing/support and an inability to hold unplanned meetings.

·                    The reduced office space and the close proximity of colleagues caused distractions.  This was particularly an issue when making confidential telephone calls and it was often necessary to try and find a more private space for these, but room availability was an issue.  A working protocol to cover issues created by a more open plan environment, such as noise levels, had been produced.  Room availability was also an issue when trying to hold a confidential discussion with a member of staff.  The number of meeting rooms was partly constrained by the size of West Street House.     

·                    The removal of offices for Heads of Service was not only a loss of space for confidential discussions, but was also a loss of an additional meeting room.  This was only compensated for in part by the communal meeting rooms available on each floor. 

·                    Space for collating meeting papers etc was limited.

·                    There was a lack of flexibility on the allocation of IT/telecoms equipment, which was strictly based on workstyles.  Blackberries, for instance, were only available for free staff.  Although Jackie Jordan advised that free staff amounted to around 60% of the workforce for phase 3. 

·                    A small number of staff had reported problems with carrying heavy equipment and paperwork between different locations.  This was partly a need due to reduced storage space.  Use of trolley’s was being promoted to resolve this issue.   

Additional comments:

·                    Full awareness was needed of staff whereabouts to ensure maximum staff numbers were not exceeded and there were enough desks available.  Although staff could work in different parts of the building if necessary and not be limited to their service area. 

·                    Greater electronic storage was necessary for service managers.

Despite the concerns raised by some members of staff, it was acknowledged by the vast majority that Timelord was a sensible approach and there were significant benefits.  Staff remained committed to their work and were adaptable to change.

Heads of Service were then asked to comment on whether they felt issues such as reduced desk space and a loss of team identity could disconnect people from the organisation.

David Hogg felt that a greater effort was required by managers to ensure that issues were understood and, where necessary, addressed in order to support staff.  For example, individuals might feel more isolated either working from home or because of the numbers potentially absent from the office as they benefited from interaction with colleagues during the day.  A number of options were being actively explored to resolve this and that included use of team meetings, social events and a social area at work. 

It was queried whether use of instant messaging had been explored which was perhaps a more informal form of communication than e-mail.  Jackie Jordan advised of a pilot project for Unified Communications which included instant messaging.  This was currently running within Housing and Performance and would be rolled out more widely by the end of the year.  The Presence element of Unified Communications was a good way of ascertaining the whereabouts of staff.  Unified Communications also provided conferencing functionality – another way of staying in touch without requiring physical presence in the office.   

Members were interested in whether there had been an impact on staff morale and productivity.  Ian Pearson advised that an improved building, new equipment etc had boosted morale.  A more negative impact on morale was caused by uncertainty surrounding budget cuts and job losses rather than the introduction of Timelord.  A reduction in productivity was not felt to be a major cause for concern and staff needed to be performance managed as was normally the case. 

Jackie Jordan then described some of the activity being put in place to try and address concerns, as follows:

·                    In response to concerns regarding desk size, desk occupancy had been monitored.  The occupancy levels varied between teams, but on average showed that while up to 70% of staff could be in the office at some point during the day, actual desk use was around 50%.  So as a minimum 30% of desks were currently available at West Street House and staff were encouraged to spread out by sitting at every other desk when possible.  This monitoring also identified spatial pressure points during the day which were reported to Directorate Management Teams on a monthly basis to try and resolve.  It was felt that occupancy could reduce as staff became more confident with Timelord as was experienced at Turnhams Green.  Because West Street House used bench desking, it should be perfectly possible to increase the desk size at the expense of numbers of desks but Jackie Jordan would take her lead from Directorate Management Teams on this.    

·                    It was hoped that creating more space in this way would help to resolve issues of confidentiality and apart from Heads of Service, staff had always worked in an open plan office.  There were a minimum of 3 meeting rooms per floor and any increase would mean a loss of desk space. 

·                    Evidence from acoustic studies showed that providing screening for Heads of Service would not be a benefit. 

·                    Concerns had been raised by Unions which, in addition to some of those already mentioned, related to health and safety concerns for staff working from home.  These concerns had been partially addressed at the Joint Consultative Panel by the Health and Safety Manager. 

·                    A visit to West Street House was being arranged for members of the Joint Consultative Panel to try and alleviate their remaining concerns.  In addition, it was felt that staff were developing greater self reliance when working from home. 

·                    Evidence showed that IT availability via Citrix was faster than in the office and there was not a large number of calls being made to the IT Helpdesk. 

Robert O’Reilly then made the following points from an HR perspective:

·                    This was felt to be the right way forward for the Council and was in line with the practices of other large organisations.  It was felt that staff would continue to feel the benefits over time. 

·                    There was some concern among staff and with the Unions, but in terms of morale, sickness figures were down for the service areas concerned as was turnover.  West Berkshire’s overall retention figures were higher than the Local Authority average. 

In summing up the item, the actions being undertaken to address concerns were noted.  However, some concerns did remain for Members i.e. lack of confidential space and loss of team identity.  These were accepted as being difficult to resolve and senior managers were therefore asked to continue to keep these issues under review. 

As a final point, Jackie Jordan gave the view that Timelord was achieving its overall objectives, i.e. the triple win to staff, the Council and its customers.  This was confirmed by the review of phase 2.   The speed of response to customers had greatly improved since Timelord’s introduction.

RESOLVED that the information would be noted and that senior managers would be asked to continue to keep the issues raised under review.