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 Claire Symonds has been appointed as our new Chief Executive, following a rigorous and inclusive recruitment process.
Claire is a Redbridge resident who grew up in the Borough, went to school and started her career here. In a recent press statement, Leader of Redbridge Council, Councillor Jas Athwal, said, “Claire will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the role, her strong ties to our Borough complement her impressive skillset and I am looking forward to working with her to continue to deliver for our neighbours across Redbridge.”
Our new Chief Executive has more than 30 years’ experience in Local Government. More recently, she worked at Barking and Dagenham Council as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer, before taking on her current role as Acting Chief Executive during the height of the pandemic.
Claire will be joining us at the end of May and working closely with Lesley and the council leadership team to provide a smooth transition before we say goodbye to Lesley, who joined us in April last year. Councillor Athwal said “Lesley has done a fantastic job supporting and guiding the council while we sought and found a permanent replacement. I would like to thank Lesley for all that she has done for this borough, this council, and our residents.”
On Monday, the Prime Minister announced an end to restrictions as part of the Government’s ‘Living with COVID’ plan.
Despite these changes, you are still encouraged to continue to follow advice from our public health team, just as you would for infections, such as the flu, to minimise the risk of catching COVID-19 and help protect your family, friends, and colleagues.
From Thursday, 24 February:
- Restrictions in England will be removed and the legal requirement to self-isolate ends
- Between now and 1 April, if you test positive for COVID-19, you are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least five full days. You should continue to follow the guidance until two negative test results on consecutive days, have been recorded.
Further information about these changes is available on the Government’s website.
There are simple things you can do to protect yourself, and others.
- get your vaccination if you haven’t already - it's never too late to get vaccinated
- wash your hands regularly
- let fresh air in when you’re meeting with others indoors
- consider wearing a face covering when in crowded, indoor spaces
Our intranet page will be updated tomorrow regarding staff working in the office. Please read for guidance.
If we all do our bit, we can continue helping to keep Redbridge safe.
To find out more about where to get vaccinated and information on COVID-19, please visit the COVID Hub.
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On Thursday 18 February, we held our fourth annual Recognising Redbridge Staff Awards ceremony at the Crown Banqueting Suite in Ilford. Around 140 nominated staff, managers and politicians attended the event. For many, this was the first time in months and even years, that they had met colleagues in person, making this awards ceremony truly special and memorable.
All the nominees, finalists, and winners of the 2021 awards deserve a massive congratulations for their commitment, hard work and fantastic achievements.
Take a look at the Recognising Redbridge Staff Awards 2021 e-booklet to see the list of nominees, finalists and winners.
Read our Chief Executive’s blog which was published the day after the event. Lesley gives a personal thanks to all those who were involved, including everyone at Redbridge for their dedication and resilience which ensured our core services remained fully operational over the past two years.
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The Redbridge Women’s Network have put together two weeks’ worth of events to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). The events run from Wednesday 2 March to Wednesday 16 March, with the flagship events taking place on the official IWD, Tuesday 8 March.
To find information on upcoming events, please visit the intranet. To add events directly to your calendar, please visit the intranet calendar.
This year’s theme is Break The Bias and we’re asking staff to strike the #breakthebias pose and share how they challenge gender bias in a couple of sentences. If you would like to get involved, simply take a vertical picture of yourself with your arms crossed in a X shape and send your photo and quote to the internal comms inbox by Monday 28 February. Need some inspiration? Please visit the international women’s day page.
Images will be shared internally in a Staff blog and promoted through Staff eNews. We would also like to share photos externally via social media to demonstrate how we’re challenging bias. If you don’t feel comfortable with sharing your image externally, please make this clear in your email.
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Misdirected emails are the number one cause of security incidents reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Sending emails to the wrong recipient, or with the wrong sensitive content, has surged over the last 18 months.
Egress Protect and Prevent acts like a safety net, using machine learning to improve itself every day as it assesses who you communicate with and what you’re sending.
This amazing technology will be rolled out on Thursday 3 March. To benefit, please read the messages that pop up when sending emails.
Check the LBR IT app in Teams to learn more. (The IT App can be found at the top of the panel).
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 Robots are now processing direct payments
After the great success of our previous robotic process automation (RPA) projects, we’ve now automated the process of reconciling income and expenditure for direct payments.
The previous process involved excessive manual work but now a robot goes through the whole process carrying out all the actions. It collects information on the different systems, sends emails, and updates a spreadsheet for staff to check. The new process helps staff by allowing them to be free from these repetitive tasks and gives them time to focus on other complex and rewarding work.
The new system also sends overpayments quickly back to the service. This in turn improves the council’s cash flow.
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 Improving waste collection services with digital technology
Did you know that we’re using new digital technology to help improve waste and recycling services for our residents?
Check out the staff blog from our digital team to read about this efficient new service.
Find out more by visiting Digital Voice.
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Pop-ups will be back from Tuesday 1 March. We’ve stream-lined our pop-up booking process to make it easier for staff. We also now have criteria for what this internal comms channel can be used for. If you’d like to use pop-ups to promote a national campaign or a one-off event that your service or staff equality network is organising, please visit the updated internal comms team intranet pages for more details.
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 Join our Leadership & Management programme
Are you interested in a Level 5 Leadership & Management programme that will provide accreditation with the nationally recognised Chartered Management Institute (CMI)?
The dedicated leadership course will equip you with essential skills, knowledge, and tools to be an effective, confident, and compassionate leader of teams. This leadership programme is open to staff who are current leaders of a team and have responsibility for operational management. Our Redbridge values will be embedded throughout the learning experience.
To find out more information, please visit the intranet where you can find the programme guide and structure.
If you would like to register your interest, please email Anthony Hartigan by 5 pm on Monday 28 February. Information sessions for this Leadership programme will be held by the training provider once all expressions of interest have been received.
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 Coming soon - data skills and literacy development opportunity
Redbridge has an ambitious plan for improving the way we use and collaborate on data across our services and teams. We want to support staff to develop their data skills and help create smarter ways of working.
To help us do this, we first need to assess the functions and current level of skills across the council. We’ll be carrying out a Data Skills Maturity Survey in March, aimed at all those who use data within their roles.
Watch this space, more information is coming soon!
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Staff who are eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme can get £4.25 per week to help buy fresh, frozen, or tinned fruit and vegetables, plain cow’s milk, infant formula and fresh or tinned pulses. Beneficiaries of the scheme can also get free Healthy Start vitamins for women and children.
You are eligible for Healthy Start if you:
- are 10 weeks pregnant
- have a child under the age of four
- receive any of the following benefits: child tax credit, income support, job seekers allowance or universal credit
Please note, the Healthy Start Scheme is changing. If you previously used the Healthy Start Scheme you will need to reapply online to continue receiving help to buy healthy foods.
For more information and to apply, please visit the Healthy Start.
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 Change your story to change your life
Stories help you make sense of your life but when these narratives are incomplete or misleading, they can keep you stuck instead of providing clarity. Psychotherapist and advice columnist, Lori Gottlieb, gives a Ted talk, which shows how to break free from the stories you've been telling.
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 Three steps to get what you want in a negotiation
We negotiate all the time at work – for promotions, flexibility…etc, and we sometimes go into it like it's a battle. In psychologist Ruchi Sinha’s five-minute Ted talk, she advises that it’s not about dominating a situation but crafting a relationship, understanding your needs and the other person's.
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Our employee assistance programme is available 24hrs a day and seven days a week.
If you're struggling at the moment due to your workload and/or uncertainty about the future, our employee assistance programme can offer you support, counselling, and guidance through this emotionally difficult time.
Don’t wait for a crisis to access this support. Users of the programme have given positive feedback with comments such as: “It really helped me” to “I wish I called them earlier” and “I feel so much better now”.
This service is open to staff and their families by self referring. Call 0800 328 1437 or go to the employee assistant website (password Redbridge).
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