FAQ

TW3:Future of Work Frequently Asked Questions

These will be our most frequently asked questions…

Change Champions Workshop: Questions and Answers

Questions	Answers
What timescale should we expect changes to be implemented? E.g. When will the 4th floor be open for staff? When will the AV’s work properly?	Pushing for end of September for the 4th floor to be ready for G&CS, Finance, HR and PH staff. If not fully ready as per designs, it will still be available as workable space. Some meeting rooms are available for booking now but others are currently being used for storage, for the time-being.  There will be a desk booking system introduced (it’s a priority but no certain timescale yet). AV audit and functionality test ongoing so staff are requested not to remove cables etc.  Cafe to be launched end of September which will be a good breakout space and it is hoped to provide some seating on the first floor, outside the conference room too, to supplement the terrace on the 4th floor.
Should we test twice a week?	Government advice is still to test twice a week.
Where have all the lockers been moved to from the 8th floor?	They have been moved south to the 7th floor. If you have anything in lockers and cupboards, it’s still accessible.
Does the FoW support Teams scoping alternative suitably sized rooms to hire in other locations for events such as training?	Bookable space is available in some Libraries, via the Libraries service. Private venue booking is not within the scope of the FoW programme.  We would not encourage people to incur additional accommodation costs when suitable rooms are available in Colindale
Can people do their own searches for touch alternative touch down spaces?	You are welcome to do so but this does not currently form part of the Future of work programme.  However, once again we would not encourage people to incur additional costs unless absolutely necessary
What have managers been told about this programme? Surely, they will ultimately make the decision about working situations.	The Guiding Principles have gone through CMT and shared with senior management at various fortnightly phone calls and emails. All managers should be aware of what the Guiding Principles are and what they are trying to achieve and be developing team principles of their own from them.  The guiding principles have been deliberately written to allow managers to use their discretion to meet service needs. Whilst managers are able to exercise this discretion, they should do so within the overall remit of the guiding principles, and not just “do their own thing”
What if managers have refused to accept the Guiding Principles?	Enquire why they have refused to accept and feedback to the Future of Work programme. You can also advise them to set their own Team principles which they believe will work for their team as a starting point. It must be remembered that the guiding principles were discussed and agreed by CMT, and so have the endorsement of the Chief Executive and directors
Can there be a Guideline and Etiquette for hybrid working i.e. having meetings and coming into the office? E.g. Meeting of 10 with 2 in the office sitting at different desks and 8 at home. The 2 will be talking loud and other people around who are not part of the meeting will not want to listen to this. Another scenario is people coming too close to colleagues without social distancing.	There have been previous comms sent out on respecting others space and that others are in different points in their journey out of lockdown. This will continue to be promoted and include in etiquette guides that are produced.
As everything can be printed to PDF and emailed do we need paper at all as an organisation?	we will still need paper because of how some people work. E.g.  we still need paper for some of our elderly residents that don’t have computers or email.
how about a council wide induction programme for new staff. link per team to arrange an intro/visits?	Brand new onboarding system. People doing mandatory training before they start work in the organisation. Hybrid working and remote management will be part of onboarding.  The new induction programme is being launched in September
the induction bus trip is supposedly very informative….perhaps something similar?	The induction bus trip is being replaced with a virtual trip using drone and other video footage to help illustrate everything happening in the borough.
What is a hybrid culture?	https://barnetcouncil.sharepoint.com/sites/lbbintranet/SiteAssets/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2Flbbintranet%2FSiteAssets%2FSitePages%2FTW3–Future-of-Work%2FTW3-Future-of-Work-Organisational-Guiding-Principles-FINAL%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2Flbbintranet%2FSiteAssets%2FSitePages%2FTW3–Future-of-Work   Guiding principles explain this very well.
Which areas of new policies, improvements, tech apply to Capita and other partners.	Possible set up of Sub- Group for Partners to discuss impact of hybrid workers on partners and how the council can support them.
important to incorporate hybrid working into onboarding – are people aware they can get equipment etc. can be awkward for new employees to ask.	Brand new onboarding system. People doing mandatory training before they start work in the organisation. Hybrid working and remote management will be part of onboarding.
Can cross council and partners health and safety be wrapped up in the new way of working as well. Reducing risk of staff.	Possible sub-committee to be set up to discuss how risk can be reduced for staff.
How do you make a connection with Barnet? E.g. Walking to work, cycling or driving on the main road to the Colindale office doesn’t really make you connect.	Growth and corporate services is piloting a fortnightly scheme “Connecting with Barnet”. Such as opportunity led by one of the teams within the service to do something for the wider department e.g. A visit to Brent Cross. Change champions can suggest this scheme within your departments. Growth and Corporate Services will be able to give you some support if you need. Another suggestion is volunteer days – like litter picking in the parks are a great way to have everyone together in the borough.
There was mention of some meeting rooms being available. How do we book these?	Some meeting rooms are available in Colindale for booking. The process for booking meeting rooms remains the same at present. The process is outlined in the Welcome to Colindale Induction. I have attached the Hyper Link here.  Whilst previously we used Skype we now have Teams so this slide needs to be updated but the process is the same and Teams will automatically populate diaries and links for individuals so step 7 is to be ignored/ need not be followed).      PowerPoint Presentation (waywe.work)
Something to bear in mind if going external for rooms, such as touch down spaces is GDPR implications depending on your training content etc.	Absolutely!  Both GDPR and council policies are applicable regardless of where you are working.  You must always ensure your workspace and surroundings are appropriate for the meeting or training you are holding.
Any updates regarding the parking at RAF from Sep	There are no changes to current parking arrangements.
Why has the organisation changed to hybrid working for staff? Is it to save money?	Future of Work is the programme of projects and activities underway to plan how we will work following the COVID-19 pandemic. It is considered to be an opportunity to learn from the experiences of the last year and also to boldly challenge the pre-pandemic ‘norms’ about both our workplace and our workforce.  If there are opportunities to operate more efficiently, we should explore those.  But fundamentally the programme is not a cost-saving initiative
What input can we have into the IT needed to effectively support mobile working and a less paper intensive council. E.g., People are going into the office to do printing. What is taking time to store massive documents. We need to do this right to keep our staff.	There is an active network of O365 champions that are engaged weekly on the current Digital Workplace Programme. As this phase draws to a close there will wider engagement to understand future needs, through a series of focus groups in September. ‘Digitisation’ of paper-based processes is a theme that has already come out, so would imagine this will be a requirement.
What’s the learning from companies who have been doing hybrid working for years?  Best practice? E.g., From technology front.	The key learning to date is this is not just a technology solution to ensure a great hybrid meeting experience. There is research and case studies of companies like Google, that have really looked at how they reconfigured space, room set up etc. to enable a good hybrid meeting experience. In the meantime, the technology has been updated to Teams, which helps improve the experience.  The London office of Innovation and technology (LOTI) were scheduled to do a wider research piece on this and at a previous FoW mtg we agreed to wait for the outputs of this. I have just chased up timeline.
Do IT have a plan in engaging with staff and how we are using IT and better improve it?	yes, there will be some focus groups in September with frontline staff to do this.
Some staff are wheelchair users, so regarding disabled parking bays outside the office -have disability spaces or drop off zones been incorporated in the revamped front of office plans?	The workplace workstream have allocated blue badge bays for staff outside Colindale on Valentina Avenue and further spaces in Plot 9A. Any staff member who requires a blue badge bay would need to speak with karen.lewis@barnet.gov.uk  who will issue a permit which will allow them to park in any of our green marked bays.

Can we advertise pool cars more and encourage staff to use these? This will be good with incoming ULEZ charge and also beneficial to environment.	Advertising campaigns for the pool cars will be developed over the coming weeks and the number of pool cars available will be also adjusted to meet demand.
Can last staff survey results be analysed on service level? Or please provide the raw data and we will analyse ourselves.	Johnathan S has asked Consultation Team the question but persons responsible are on leave. Update will be provided.
What is the date for staff induction?	Date to be confirmed. Comms will be circulated to staff. The next one will be in October 2021
Can Partners access the POD?	Council employees and Barnet Group can access the POD. BELS will have access to the POD in October. But Re cannot access the POD.
How can we access POD?	POD is accessible via the front page of the intranet.   https://barnet.learningpool.com/login/index.php
Do managers need to do anything with their staff re new Flexible Working Policy apart from letting them know that it exists.	As with all HR policies, managers should ensure that they are familiar with it, and be able to signpost their staff to it.  It would be worth about any particular roles or individuals within the team for whom the policy would be particularly relevant.
Will the flexible working policy apply to Re staff as well?	No, it applies to council employees only. It will be up to the partners to develop their own flexible working policies, if they haven’t already done so.
Why new flexible working policy when we have Team Principles?	As with all of our HR policies, the flexible working policy defines the relationship between the council, as an employer, and its employees.  Although it is not contractual, it does place obligations of managers and staff.  The FoW guiding principles and team principles set out how we want to work as an organisation.  The Flexible Working Policy and guiding principles should be read in conjunction with each other, though, as both will help to support our new ways of working.  Each role is different, so the Flexible Working Policy is not an overarching policy imposed corporately. Local managers have to work with their Teams to ensure what works practically for them and establish their Team Principles.
What if a manager asks his/her admin team to come in but another manager doesn’t ask his/her admin team to come in. Although they have the same job titles, the requirement and nature of the role is different. What if staff asked to come in retaliate?	There will always be a need to balance the desire for consistency across the organisation with giving managers the discretion to make local decisions that reflect the needs of their particular service area.  Business need should always be the primary factor.  Also, job titles and team names are not necessarily an indicator that teams are doing identical things.  The context of the service should always be taken into account.
Will managers be supported corporately if employees challenge managers on flexible working that suits the team?	Yes.  The important thing is that things are decided reasonably, and that the rationale can be justified in accordance with the policy and guiding principles.  We do empower our managers to use their discretion as long as this is exercised reasonably.
Is the 4th floor break out area still there?	The 4th floor collaborative space is currently being re-configured to accommodate staff from Resources, who will be moving down from the 6th floor. The new café, once open will provide space for staff to meet and collaborate, as will the terrace and the Southern Square, in front of the building.  It is also hoped to provide some additional seating outside the conference suite on the 1st floor and to also improve collaborative areas on each of the other floors, during future phases of the FoW programme.
Is the café public space?	The café will be open to any members of the public, in addition to staff.
When will the space planning on the 3rd floor take place?	Once all staff groups allocated to the 3rd floor have ratified their team principles and clarified how they intend to operate and utilise the space, the Workplace programme team will work with change champions to design the space, learning lessons from the new 4th floor layout.
Will we be able to book desk space and if so when?	Subject to affordability, it is intended to have a desk booking system in place, in a number of weeks’ time.
Is the terrace area on the 4th floor still available for staff to use?	Yes, you can use the terrace area on the 4th floor.
Will some of the phone booths on the 4th floor be introduced to the other floors? Will there be new furniture on the other floors?	Once all staff groups have ratified their team principles and clarified how they intend to operate and utilise the space, the Workplace programme team will work with change champions to design the space, learning lessons from the new 4th floor layout.
Is all the furniture accessible? E.g., Can you fit a wheelchair in the phone booths?	All the furniture is wheelchair accessible except for the phone booths, which unfortunately are not. However, meeting booths are fully accessible and are of the same acoustic standards as the phone booths.
Will all of the other floors be getting new storage or are we keeping as is?	Current storage will not change but once all staff groups have ratified their team principles and clarified how they intend to operate and utilise the space, the Workplace programme team will work with change champions to design the space, learning lessons from the new 4th floor layout.
When will the 4th floor be ready?	It will be a phased process based on when the new furniture becomes available. Works started on the 8th September 2021 to prepare the floor, which should be completed by 21st September. Staff should therefore be able to use the space from late September, utilising the old furniture, which will then be replaced as the new items are delivered.
Are there going to be any changes to conference facilities, rooms and the chapman room or they are going to remain as is?	The conference room has a brand-new audio visual (AV) system and the acoustics in the Chapman Room have also been improved. AV equipment in all meeting rooms and on desks has been audited and a programme to rectify faults is underway.
There are still some lockers on the 4th floor, are these going to be moved?	All lockers on the 4th floor will stay on that floor and all lockers on the 6th floor will be brought down to the 4th so that everyone will still have their own locker. Conversion of personal lockers to day lockers is under consideration but no decision will be made without consultation with staff.
Are the kitchens now opened? Is there tea, coffee, milk, etc.	There should be. If not email john-paul.shanahan@barnet.gov.uk
All the water filters could do with a clean before staff go back? Currently the water tastes like drain water.	Filters were changed out and servicing carried out over the last three weeks or so.
Could the Morrisons car park be bookable?	Unfortunately, Morrisons have recently withdrawn the offer to rent any more than two spaces to the council and those spaces are currently already sub-let to members of staff. A number of other pre-bookable parking options are available on the market, which staff will be signposted to, via First Team and the intranet.
Are we in the post covid world? Are the Team Principles short term?	No, the Future of Work programme is all about redefining how the council works into the future, in the “post COVID” world (accepting the fact that COVID will always be with us to some extent).  We may need to evolve and adapt the principles over time, in the light of experience, but the basic assumptions within them will remain for the foreseeable future.
Do blue badge holders have parking spaces?	The council now has more bays outside the Colindale building for blue badge holders. 13 permit bays in Plot 9A for blue badge holders / occupational health users. Another 5 disabled bays on the curtilage of the building with all along Valentina Avenue (3 are located to the side of the reception and 2 at the end of the Loading Bay north east side of the building). So total of 18 parking outside the Colindale office for blue badge holders.
Can parking be booked when booking for desks?	From 1st October 2021, staff parking will revert to the pre-Covid directorate allocations so directorates (via change champions) will need to refresh the lists of business users so we can register them with Facilities Management (FM) and the RAF museum.
Day rate parking good but where?	A number of other pre-bookable parking options are available on the market, which staff will be signposted to, via First Team and the intranet.
What is IT’s provision to make people who work from home’s experience better?	IT have increased capacity in terms of remote working bandwidth and licensing to enable more staff to work at home and increase speed and resilience. A full programme of initiatives has also been implemented through O365 roll out which support home working, (presentation provided at session). Over 1000 laptops have been renewed and operating systems upgraded which all improve the user experience. A future work programme is being developed to ensure networks, systems and processes can continue to be optimised for a hybrid working environment in the longer term.
It can be frustrating when issues are reported, and they are not fixed.	Issues should be fixed, and IT do as much as they can to resolve the root cause of the issue. The council are investigating varying to KPI methodology to improve tracking of first-time resolution.  If they are not being fixed, you can contact elena.timotheou@barnet.gov.uk . The issues must have been logged in the appropriate way prior to doing this.
How will test and trace be implemented in the building? Are we going to have a different QR code for each floor? Or one size fits all?	We have never relied on T&T service to manage workplace infections. There is a protocol for this in place where the line manager is responsible for identifying any close contacts and reporting that.
How do we deal with colleagues who don’t follow covid rules? E.g., staff who do not wear mask when they need to.	Workplaces are subject to risk assessments and control measures in order to manage health and safety risk, this includes risk from COVID-19. Staff are required to follow any measures introduced arising out of these assessments, as with any other work instruction. people are not following these measures when needed and they are cautioned but still refuse, you can escalate to their managers or HR. It is worth noting that from HR’s perspective, employers cannot impose vaccination on staff.
Are employees (including Re Ltd staff) permitted to work from the office now? There are some members of my team who would prefer this as their working arrangements (for well-being reasons) but I got the impression from the previous session that the message continues to be work from home where you are able to do so, with attendance at the office only being for the reasons set out in the published Guiding Principles. Can this be clarified.	I don’t think your points contradict each other. The guiding principles state that attendance at the office is permitted where it’s necessary to ensure physical or emotional wellbeing (this should not assume full-time attendance at the office unless circumstances are exceptional) or where a worker is unable to work at home or another location due to domestic circumstances (this should not assume full-time attendance at the office unless circumstances are exceptional). It is the case that we do not foresee any teams returning to five days working in the office per week just because they feel like it, however. The aim of this programme and the guiding principles is to create a hybrid working model which incorporates both remote working and in-office collaboration. As stated, if for wellbeing reasons in-office working more frequently is considered necessary, it is down to that person’s line manager to agree.   As a manager, it is important to regularly discuss wellbeing with staff, but also to bear in mind that staff have a responsibility to look after their own wellbeing.  There is a lot that people can do other than relying on coming into the office every day!
On Team Principles, our team have not yet set these out but fully intend to do so. Along with the overarching LBB Guiding Principles, it was said that these are the principles by which we should be working to now. I appreciate the team principles are intended to form part of a live document and to therefore be updated as circumstances change but it’s not clear whether these are to be checked or signed off by anyone. This may lead to wide variances in how teams have interpreted the guiding principles (i.e., some teams working from the office regularly whilst others working mostly remotely). Can you offer any further advice on this?	The programme is not resourced to check every team’s team principles, but we feel that enough scope has been given within the principles that individual directorates and teams within directorates should be able to make their own plans that take into account business need, service delivery requirements and staff preferences. The principles have been agreed at CMT level and I think we would expect that directors of services bring this up with team and service managers to ensure some level of consistency. Of course, we are talking about human nature, so there will be variances in how the principles are interpreted across teams. I would suggest that any questions about this are raised with the team and we will do what we can to escalate to director level or assist in forming principles with you.
Currently they we being told to come into the office to collect parking permits and we have expressed that this is time consuming for staff since most of them live in the outskirts of North Barnet and further afield? Since the future of work programme is about promoting hybrid working, is there a way that community staff can access/book the parking permit online instead of physically coming into the office to collect it?	Essential vouchers are for use by staff making professional visits to households in the borough. Your team should contact the parking client team at the mailbox below to request for essential service vouchers. These are a daily, scratchcard voucher valid to park in any controlled parking zone in the borough. When requesting for parking vouchers, you will need to state the address you want the vouchers sent to and the parking client tea can arrange to post vouchers out to the required address. All this information should be provided in your email to the mailbox below at the time of your request and they can arrange to post vouchers out to the required address. parking.clientteam@barnet.gov.uk
Touch down spaces- regards to the use of possible hubs across the borough. E.g.  Is the refuse depot opposite North London Business Park an option for staff that visit residents in the community to use currently as a touch down space?  Or if there is any room at Barnet hospital? Either of these spaces will be required once a week for staff who live in the outskirts of North Barnet and further afield.	Touch down spaces for staff are currently being reviewed, comms will be sent to all staff as and when touch down locations are available.

Are the Guiding principles the latest ones? If so, I was a bit surprised by the statement that people ‘should only attend the office if they meet certain criteria’ – my / our understanding is that people should feel free to come and use the office if they wish and it works for them? Have I got that wrong / is there a rationale for this? Could I be sent / signposted to all the latest FoW docs?	Yes, these are the agreed Guiding Principles, and staff should only really be coming in for one of the reasons set out in the principles (and subject to the locally agreed team principles) – but these do deliberately leave plenty of room for discretion as we didn’t want to be too prescriptive.  But generally speaking, people shouldn’t really be coming in just to sit at a desk all day unless it is necessary either for their own health & wellbeing, or because it’s necessary for collaboration etc.  And their managers shouldn’t be requiring them to.
Staff have shared concerns about travelling to the office, in particular because they are worried about catching Covid on public transport – as we know not everyone is adhering to the mask wearing policy on this. Is there an HR line on how we should be treating this if someone should be coming into the office? Is it different if people are clinically vulnerable (whether self-diagnosed or otherwise)? Similarly, is there a line on how managers should deal with people refusing reasonable asks to be in the office?	We’ll be putting some guidance out in the next day or so on what to do if someone basically refuses to come in.  The line is that no-one can refuse a reasonable request to come into the office – what is reasonable should be with reference to the guiding principles.  In theory, refusal to attend the office could be a disciplinary matter, but obviously that is a last resort, and we would encourage managers to try and resolve these situations with sensitive dialogue.  It’s different for people who are CEV, who should continue working from home if possible.
Could you confirm the lateral flow testing requirements for those coming into the office?	It is not mandatory for staff to undertake LFT to come in the office- this is in line with the latest government guidance on working safely during coronavirus.
People have raised queries about the mask wearing in the office e.g., it seems odd to wear masks in communal areas and not when sitting near people in office / meeting rooms. Also, that security staff aren’t always aligning with that policy (although that seemed to be better when I was in yesterday!). Just to flag in case we should look at this policy going forward.	LBB’s position is that to continue with face covering in the communal and confined space such as lift. As we move away from Covid response to safer ways of working- we are looking at safer ways of working in the office and at the workstation (sitting side by side) and additional measure where face to face sitting happens.
Staff have raised concerns about bike theft if cycling in, and people seem to think there have been bike thefts around the office – I assume linked to above point if people are more likely to want to cycle to avoid public transport – the suggestion was for lockable bike storage area – is there a view on current bike storage options / level of security / are there any plans to enhance those?	We are not aware of any recent increase in bike theft in the office area. Bike racks are provided in the office undercroft, by the service entrance to the office, to which bicycles can be secured. Plans are underway to potentially enclose this area to make it even more secure, but this will take some time to implement. Folding bicycle storage is available inside Colindale office, and can be accessed through FM. Secure cycle parking for LBB staff is also available in the Barnet and Southgate College campus, over the road from the office and ‘bikehangar’ parking is available on Grahame Park Way, for key holders.