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This past week has been a tumultuous one nationally and we will be waiting to hear how we will be affected by the measures the Chancellor will announce in his budget at the end of the month. We don’t know what that will bring, but I am sure that the work we are doing to change and improve the way we work, finding ways to generate income and save money and focus on our customers’ needs will stand us in good stead for what comes next. In the meantime, we are doing what we do best and getting on with the job.
Our move from St Aldate’s Chambers (SAC) to the Town Hall is progressing well and I am delighted that one of our new collaboration space in the Town Hall is now open. This means that the collaboration space on the 2nd floor of SAC will close this Friday 21 October. You can read more about it in Isaac Durno’s piece below and do take the opportunity to have a look the next time you are in the office.
I’m also really pleased that this week’s Connected Council features our new Menopause guidance especially as yesterday (18 Oct) was World Menopause Day. Menopause awareness has attracted greater attention recently (I can assure you amongst my women friends it has become a very common subject as we all compare notes), but it is still a subject that many find difficult to talk about especially in a work context. Given that half the population will go through the menopause and many of us will experience physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms, it is a workplace issue that that all of us need to understand.
In the Council we have worked hard to raise mental health awareness so we treat it just as seriously as our physical health. Menopause can affect both physical and mental health and should not be taken any less seriously. I’m very grateful to the People Team, working in conjunction with the Women’s Health Group and Union colleagues, for developing the excellent menopause support guidance for employees and managers which is now available on the intranet. I encourage everyone to read it, I found it really helpful both in explaining how it can affect people differently and some helpful tips for a wellbeing action plan which I actually think we would all benefit from thinking about.
Finally, we are lucky to benefit from our links with some great cultural organisations in the city; the New Theatre’s offer of free tickets for last week’s performance of Saturday Night Fever was well received by colleagues. This week the Oxford Playhouse is offering tickets for £10 for two of their shows. Details are at the bottom of this newsletter.
Have a good week.
Caroline Green
Chief Executive Officer
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Head of Housing Services, Nerys Parry talks about how she’s coping with her role and the changes in her department.
I won’t break with the tradition of documenting my Head of Service journey through Connected Council! Having started to feel settled over the last couple of months, the last couple of weeks have seen me in an almighty wrestle with the role as I discovered new depth and breadth to the role that I just hadn’t clocked. This has brought up all kinds of difficult feelings. I’ve talked to people inside and outside of work and whilst the wrestle continues this week I have very consciously looked after myself (long walks and yoga), chunked up the work as not everything can be achieved immediately and reminded myself that I’m doing my best. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, my advice is to chat to people.
I share this mainly for the many people in my team (and more broadly in the Council) who are also changing roles and taking on new roles (happy to be a listening ear to you), as the Housing Needs restructure works its way through. We are in the final couple of weeks, a difficult time of incredible change for everyone, whilst also continuing to provide key statutory services. Please bear with us.
Landlord Services, under Bill Graves, is also starting their journey of change, with Tenancy Managers starting to pick up estate management work to improve the locality as well as working alongside the Locality Managers to offer residents support and advice during these particularly difficult times linked to the cost of living. This is an area with multiple strands of work having an impact, from the Social Housing White paper to the Tenants’ satisfaction survey and I’ll be looking forward to working with the whole team over the coming months to understand how we will be responding to this.
And before I close, I’d like to plug the Womens’ Health Network and encourage any of you who are keen to join to contact them. Naomi Winnifrith, Becky Willis, Adela Miencilova, Alison Cassidy, Nicolette Weaver and Gail Hughes run a supportive group giving space to a wide array of issues impacting women in the workplace. All power to your elbow, the People Team, who have partnered with the Women’s Health Network to launch the Council’s Menopause Guidance this week, following the all-party parliamentary report, launched last week, on this issue.
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The Covered Market went to the Oxford University Student Union Freshers’ Fair. Verity Hoper, Covered Market Digital Marketing and Events Officer, gives an account of what it was like.
The Covered Market attended it’s second ever Oxford University Students Union Freshers’ Fair in the first week of October Our super colourful exhibition stall was packed with huge range of products and photographs giving the students a taste of all the wonderful things you can buy and experience in the market.
It really was fantastic to meet so many students in person in one place, and welcome them to the market. Our brand new Covered Market tote bags arrived just in time and they became known as “the famous Covered Market tote bags” across the fair because they became rated as the best of the entire fair – and believe me students were inundated with various promotional tote bags from people.
We also ran our mystery gift tour of the market again. This is a collaboration between OCC and ten traders featured traders where students are given a flyer to redeem free gifts or a large discount at each shop. It’s been lovely to so many students excitedly wandering around the market, flyer in hand looking for their next gift stop!
We hope this particularly positive introduction to the market for students will mean The Covered Market earns more fans for life.
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Isaac Durno, Senior Programme Manager talks about the new collaboration space in the Town Hall.
We’re on the move! Our first Collaboration Space opened on Monday 17 October, in the Gallery Space (located behind the Café in the Town Hall). This is a new space with lots of new colourful and welcoming furniture, ranging from team tables, sofas, booths and private pods for phone calls. Fitted with upgraded Wi-Fi and a printer, this space is non-bookable and open to all. Over the coming weeks we’ll gather feedback from colleagues to ensure its fit for purpose.
As a reminder, the SAC Collaboration Space will close on Friday, 21 October.
We will be opening more collaboration spaces, and workstations in the Town Hall by the end of November, and more dates to be confirmed shortly.
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COUNCIL HEROES: Nerys Parry, Head of Housing Services, says: “A big thank you to Malcolm Peek, Mark Smart and their teams who amongst so many other things are working in close collaboration with Paul Robinson, Wendy Hind and many Council colleagues to prepare a submission for the Social Housing Decarb Fund; to attract additional funding to continue the Council’s work on retrofitting its stock with the aim of achieving EPC C status by 2030.”
ODS HERO: Paul Jakeman was nominated by Gary Preston: Paul stepped up to assist in getting power back to Oxpens following a failure with the supply to our building. The site suffered a break to supply which led to sockets and lights going out and also loss of power to the charge points for the fleet vehicles. If left without attention the whole fleet would soon have been immobilised. Paul liaised with the electricians on duty, called SEC, and made himself available until they arrived and also stayed until backup was provided in the form of a generator, all to get us over the problem before a permanent fix could be found. Paul stayed way beyond his finish time having had an early start to the day and made sure everything was in place for ODS to continue delivering the top quality service expected from our customers. Thank you Paul, you are ‘doing good’ for us all!
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It’s time to talk about menopause
Tuesday, 18 October was World Menopause Day.
We have been working with the Women’s Health Group and Trade Union colleagues to create guidance on the menopause to support everyone in the workplace. This is available on the intranet along with information on available resources.
Approximately one in five of our employees are working through the perimenopause and menopause. Nationally as many as one in four people may leave the workplace because of the symptoms. This is a huge loss of experience and talent that don’t want to happen here.
Menopausal symptoms may be physical and/or emotional and can impact all aspects of a person’s life (at home, socially and work) so it is not just an issue for the person experiencing it; it is everyone’s issue. Everyone’s experience will be different and some people may not realise that their symptoms are related to the menopause.
Whilst menopause is a natural part of life it doesn’t come naturally in conversation. Now is the time to change this. Naomi Winnifrith, who is part of the Women’s Health Group at the Council said “we would urge all managers and staff, especially anyone who doesn’t really feel they have a good knowledge in this area, to read the guidance as it contains resources and information as a starting point for how we communicate with each other about this really sensitive yet important area which is affecting so many colleagues across the organisation”.
The guidance is for everyone. You may be an employee experiencing the perimenopause or menopause and wish to know about support. Line managers can find out how they can support staff who may be experiencing symptoms. Or you may just want to know more so you can support your colleagues. We encourage everyone to read the guidance and if you want to know more you can dip into some of the other resources. Having read the guidance perhaps you can take the time to have a conversation about it at your next team meeting or coffee and catch up. We want anyone who is experiencing symptoms to feel comfortable with speaking about it and seeking support when they need it.
To continue the conversation we will be arranging a lunchtime learning and discussion session in the next few weeks. It will be an open space to have a conversation in a safe environment, share experiences and be able to ask questions. Watch out for further updates on this.
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OXFORD PLAYHOUSE OFFER for all OCC, ODS & OX Place staff
Best available £10 tickets
Two Popes: Quote: 'CPOCT22'
Ticket offer available on Tue and Wed evening performances only. Limited tickets available. Max 4 tickets per person.
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Groucho: Quote: 'CPNOV22'
Ticket offer available on Wed and Thu evening performances only. Limited tickets available. Max 4 tickets per person.
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