West Berkshire council looks set to knock 40% off its facilities bill by 2011 through the use of flexible working practices, a policy that will also make it more sustainable and improve employees' job satisfaction, not to mention the likelihood of making the local authority a favourite of the Audit Commission.
Gazing upon a sea of empty desks can be a painful experience for the manager all too aware of the cost of each workspace in terms of rent (or capital cost), business rates, and the energy to light, heat and air-condition each vacant slot.
Where there is a substantially peripatetic workforce, a combination of desk sharing, working from home and in the field and a management culture based on the achievement of objectives rather than watching-the-clock, make slimming down the office a practical possibility.
The Audit Commission itself, fresh from admonishing local authorities because 80% of English authorities spent more on their offices than they received in sales announced that it had reduced its office requirement by adopting new ways of working, sharing services and utilising new technology – in addition to shedding staff (click here to read Public article).
The London borough of Tower Hamlets already showed in 2008 how it can be done. The borough has received accolades for its accommodation strategy which entailed moving 4,000 staff and reducing its office buildings from 13 to 5, saving £750,000 on facilities costs in the first year and yielding a potential £30million in property sales.
Now West Berkshire council is set on a similar path. Realising that some desks were unoccupied for 60 to 70% of the day, the local authority has introduced a scheme intended to enable 85% of its staff to work flexibly by 2011. Office space needs will be reduced by 40% with a corresponding cut in overheads and the council says that two of its offices have already been consolidated into one new building that houses full-sized desks for fixed employees and smaller desks for flexible workers.
Not everyone at West Berkshire has swapped mahogany for Mondeo and even those that are mobile have different work patterns.
West Berkshire is said to be one of the first in the public sector to use "comprehensive user profiling" and "mobility diagnostics" to build a robust business case and cost model.
The council worked with consultants from mobile phone maker Vodafone who shadowed and interviewed more than 100 staff to establish "day-in-the-life" scenarios and to identify the cultural, technical and training needs implicit in such a change.
The consultants defined three working styles: – "fixed", "home flex" meaning those that can work at home for a portion of the week, and "free" meaning those working mostly outside the office.
The solution is technology dependent and includes laptops, tablets and Blackberry devices but each employee receives the equipment most suited to their role according to the council.
The property savings were clearly persuasive. But West Berkshire's scheme, dubbed "Timelord", will also reduce its carbon footprint because of a 30% reduction in travel as well as cutting its property-related energy requirement.
Other advantages include greater productivity and access to "clients", as well as less tangible benefits such as increased job satisfaction and improved work/life balance which are likely to keep staff turnover costs in check too.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
