Alongside this, our existing travel guide has been renamed ‘travel policy’ and has been updated to simplify the rules and provide more consistency across our new employee profiles.
This approach to the way we work reflects our commitment to enabling colleagues to be the best they can be, valuing the benefits that remote working has enabled, whilst remaining committed to in-person interaction. Through this policy, we can achieve the right balance between the following 4 key elements:
- the efficiency and effectiveness of individuals
- the efficiency and effectiveness of the individual’s immediate team
- the efficiency and effectiveness of the interaction between teams across the council when delivering services to residents and communities
- our ability to regenerate our workforce for the long term
In developing the policy, we’ve used the feedback you gave us through the working arrangements survey and also consulted with the Joint Trade Unions and a working group of department and divisional leads.
The policy will be implemented from 1 April 2023 so please make yourself familiar with the detail it contains and talk to your line manager if you have any questions.
The following is a short summary of some of the key policy features:
Our employee profiles
Working arrangements will be based on the employee profile that best fits your role and the work you do. Your particular profile will have been identified by your head of service and could be either fixed-base, field based or flexible. In exceptional circumstances, employees may be home-based with approval from your Executive Director.
Determining working arrangements
If you use a work email address for your job, you will receive an email confirming your employee profile or if you do not use a work email address for your job, you will receive a letter to your home address. Once you receive this, where applicable you’ll need to agree specific working arrangements with your line manager. These arrangements must be operationally viable and enable the service operating model to be delivered.
Flexible employee profile
There is a specific set of expectations for the minimum amount of time that flexible employees should spend at their base location. Flexible workers will also need to follow the flexi time policy, where applicable, which permits working between the hours of 7am and 7pm (subject to agreement with your line manager). The extended flexi bandwidth and extended working days introduced during the pandemic will no longer apply.
The policy sets out a number of things that your manager will need to consider when determining your working arrangements and also explains the guiding principles which underpin our approach.
Wellbeing support
To support our new working arrangements, we have produced additional guidance:
- working from home
- working from a flexible office workspace
- wellbeing guidance
Anyone who spends time working from home must complete a working from home risk assessment which will be sent to your manager so that they can support your health, safety and wellbeing.
There is also guidance available at the following links to support employees and managers in identifying and managing hazards and risks associated with hybrid working: