Hybrid habits - how are we doing?
Back in April, we were finally able to say to all of our colleagues who had been working from home - you can return to the workplace, on a hybrid basis.
Three months on, we’ve had a couple of disruptions to our hybrid work patterns. Rail strikes have impacted travel, and ongoing COVID monitoring has highlighted that we still need to follow our COVID-safe precautions when working together.
Nevertheless, we are working towards establishing the hybrid working habits we will follow in the longer term.
We need to reach a level of stability with how buildings are occupied on a day-by-day and week-by-week basis, so that our asset management team (who oversee our buildings and properties) can build a picture of the demand for office space.
Asset management colleagues will continue to analyse how our main buildings in the city centre are occupied, so if you’re hybrid working, please use the buildings now as you plan to do longer term.
Getting into a hybrid working routine will also help you, for example, to:
- become more settled in new habits
- know when you will next see your colleagues
- get used to your commute again.
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TIP! Don’t forget you don’t have to go into the office for a whole day. You could go in for a meeting, touch down in the office for a couple of hours with colleagues, then head home early to avoid the rush hour and finish your working day at home.
Hybrid working – how to guide
Our formal hybrid working policy is still in development, but in the meantime our Future of the Workplace hybrid working framework provides guidance to managers and teams who are able to work in this way.
We have a flexible approach to meet individual and service needs. We expect teams to work together in person where this adds most value, such as for team building, supervision/one-to-ones, training or supporting new staff. Here are the key expectations when it comes to hybrid working:
- Teams should maximise opportunities to be in together.
- Face-to-face working is encouraged to support people into new job roles.
- Holding some face-to-face meetings, for example team meetings, one-to-ones, training, professional development and appraisals is encouraged.
- Colleagues should always have the option to come into the office more frequently if you prefer or need to.
- Working from home is always subject to team outcomes continuing to be met.
Take a look at the Future of the Workplace hybrid working framework for more information LINK
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Office equipment (keyboards, office chairs and monitors)
We are hearing questions about what office equipment colleagues can expect when working in the office.
There is less equipment in many of our offices than before the pandemic, because many items (keyboards, office chairs and monitors) were taken home to support people working comfortably from home.
However, there are also fewer people in our workplaces now, and people go into the office on different days, so there is generally enough equipment to go round.
If you’re struggling to find a monitor or chair, please contact the contact the caretakers, who will usually be able to find items on another floor. To get in touch with caretakers please use Building Support Direct. Go to Bradnet > Working Day > Buildings > Building Support Direct and click on Building Support Direct.
If anyone is struggling to get the right equipment to work comfortably on a regular basis, please have a conversation with your manager about the equipment you need. The council has a duty of care towards employees which includes ensuring your workstation meets health and safety standards. Full information about this, including advice on working with ‘display screen equipment’ is on our health and safety website.
Managers should have kept a record of what people took home during the pandemic. If you took equipment home, particularly larger items such as a chair or monitor, these should now be kept in your ‘prime location’ (where you spend the most of your work time). Smaller items such as a mouse or keyboard are more portable so can be taken to different work locations if necessary.
If additional equipment is needed so that individual members of staff can have specific items in both a council workplace and at home, then the service will need to supply this. However, we would encourage you to make the best use of the equipment that is already available as much as possible.
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Connecting up
Many of us have new laptops since before the pandemic and connecting up to a workstation in a council workplace can feel unfamiliar. Here are some tips.
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Connecting to the network. Although Wi-Fi is widely available in our offices now, you can also connect up using the network connection cables on desks. This can offer a stable and faster connection if needed. This connection is known as the Ethernet or network cable (pictured right).
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Connecting to a monitor. You might now need an adapter to connect to a monitor in a council office. You may have been given one when you first collected your laptop, so please check your laptop bag – you never know what may be lurking at the bottom! If you are still unable to connect to the monitors in your workplace, contact IT Support using the online IT Support Portal, and use Service Requests – Hardware and Accessories – Other Hardware/Accessory to put a request in.
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Connecting to a keyboard and mouse. If only have one USB port on your laptop, but you want to connect to a mouse and keyboard, you will need a USB splitter cable or hub. Again, you may already have one so please check, but if not you can request this using the online IT Support Portal, and use Service Requests – Hardware and Accessories – Other Hardware/Accessory.
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Technology update - hybrid meeting rooms
We are increasing the number of meeting rooms available where you can hold a ‘hybrid’ meeting on Teams.
This means some of the people in your meeting can be in a room together at work, while others join from other locations or home.
Our hybrid meeting rooms are equipped with a large screen, a good quality webcam and microphone/speakers, and connections so you can link your laptop to the equipment. Instructions will be provided in the meeting rooms to help you connect up.
The rooms available for you to book for hybrid meetings are currently:
- Sir Henry Mitchell House - Room 206 (room capacity 10)
- Margaret McMillan Tower - Room 101 (room capacity 16)
- Margaret McMillan Tower - Room 103 (room capacity 10)
- Britannia House - Room 3A (room capacity 18)
- Britannia House - Room 3B (room capacity 16)
- Britannia House - Room 4B (room capacity 16)
We also have hybrid meeting rooms at Argus Chambers (1st Floor) and Appleton House for colleagues working in those locations.
You can book the rooms at Sir Henry Mitchell House, Margaret McMillan Tower and Britannia House on our meeting rooms booking system – go to Bradnet > Working Day > Meetings > Booking a Meeting Room and click on Book a meeting room using our online system.
The hybrid meeting rooms are expected to be extremely popular. When booking a meeting room, if you don’t need the hybrid technology, please avoid booking a hybrid room if you can find a different room that meets your needs.
Buildings staff will be monitoring meeting rooms for ‘no shows’. If you find you no longer need any meeting room you must cancel your booking using the room booking system, to allow it to be rebooked by someone else that needs it.
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Hybrid working champions
We have set up a group of hybrid working champions from across the organisation who provide feedback and input into how hybrid working is being rolled out across services and buildings. The champions were enlisted from some manager sessions earlier in the year and are colleagues who are keen to keep up to date.
Although the champions are not tasked with being experts, the champions do often hear more background or detail about what is happening to support hybrid working. We are encouraging our champions to be proactive around sharing useful information with colleagues. If you would like to join the hybrid working champions group please contact YourWorkplaceMatters@bradford.gov.uk.
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