concepts to be promoted amongst senior managers and peer groups by consultants rather than a familiar team of in-house specialists and these dialogues proved very successful in allowing the EPT to advance its BWoW transformation of the Property Services office space.
However, when seeking to implement the pilot scheme, there were marked differences between the approach of the consultants and the EPT as to how a successful demonstration of the BWoW principles might be achieved. By way of a specific example, the consultants suggested that desk-sharing behaviours might be best be developed by removing desks to create a layout with an inbuilt ratio of staff : desks. Perhaps being a little too cautious, the EPT was concerned that staff who had shown the least enthusiasm for the project might react poorly to not having a desk immediately upon arrival in the office with the potential for some highly negative feedback being spread throughout the organisation before the pilot had been given a chance to develop. As a consequence and at variance with the advice received from the consultants, the EPT designed the new offices on the basis of a desk for every member of staff. Desk-sharing was established by inviting another ten staff from other areas (including the consultants themselves) to work wherever spare desks were available. Core staff quickly became used to the appearance of ‘unfamiliar neighbours’ sitting next to them and the principles of desk-sharing became established as ‘normal’ practice. This allowed data to be collected and the EPT to propose a ‘safe’ Ealing desk-sharing ratio of 5:4 for the roll-out.
These working relationships with consultants established a pattern that was repeated throughout the entire BWoW development process with the exception of the refurbishment of Perceval House where, as discussed earlier, broader service change management principles were being considered. Consultants were brought in by the EPT at key development stages to assist in identifying responses to new challenges and to advise on methods of implementation drawn from their experience (often outside of the public sector).
The
EPT was thus able to rely upon proven expertise and then modify it to fit the ‘Ealing case’. A specific example relates to the process of ‘measurement’ discussed earlier. Occupation management consultants working in industry were engaged to identify effective methods of recording and analysing occupancy data.
Less successful EPT/ consultant collaborations have included a “business centre” on the ground floor of Perceval House to accommodate partner organisations. This has never been used as intended as, has subsequently been learned, these partner organisations wish to be located within the ‘host’ Council service rather than at ‘arm’s length’. The spatial implication of this proposal left the refurbished Perceval House without a key component, the Housing Resource Centre (HRC), which the EPT was obliged to ‘retro-fit’ into another set of unused spaces with a consequence that some of the Council’s most vulnerable and potentially challenging customers have been obliged to cross the route to the building’s loading bay in order to reach the HRC reception. Due in great measure to the quality of Ealing’s HRC staff and vigilant security, the installation has proved a success but still within a less than ideal situation.
In general, however, the experience of working with consultants has largely been a positive one but it can be reported that most of the truly innovative features of BWoW in terms of occupancy, flexible working and customer interface initiatives have come from dialogue with Ealing’s own staff. In the experience of the EPT local authorities seeking to make substantive improvements in their use of office space would do well, in the first instance, to challenge their staff to develop responses to a set of proposals rather than to seek to apply consultant models adapted from other businesses.
‘Final’ pilot study and roll-out
The continuing processes of occupancy measurement and dialogue with accommodation champions, coupled with some emerging challenges (eg. the re-introduction of housing staff from the now defunct ALMO) has driven further refinement of the BWoW model. Arising from design and consultation, a new pilot study with proposals for wider implementation have been developed by the EPT in what might be considered a, ‘final’ phase, of the BWoW strategy. In this model, the full benefits of Ealing’s new ICT strategy (adoption of the so-called, “thin client” mode of ICT delivery) are combined with advanced levels of remote working to create occupation densities within Perceval House that, for ergonomic reasons, are unlikely to be increased.
In it’s latest Their experience and integrity were of
paramount importance in promoting confidence amongst senior managers given the wide-ranging implications of their findings. The data, once obtained, was then developed by the EPT as a basis for apportioning space under the ‘re- stack’ proposals. Having obtained sufficient knowledge of the techniques of measurement, analysis and consultation as they were applied to Ealing’s accommodation model, the EPT was able to undertake its own investigations to understand the effectiveness of the re-stack, propose minor improvements and to develop a model of regular measurement to support the ‘continuous improvement’ objectives outlined above. In a similar vein, the proposals for ‘accommodation champions’ and the consultation methodology that has served the EPT so well during the various phases of the BWoW development arose from consultant input but have been adapted by the EPT over time to ensure changing personnel within the departments does not impact negatively upon progress. Accommodation matters are reported and discussed at the Council’s Joint Safety Committee; a forum that engages with all staff side representatives.
THE TERRIER - Autumn 2011
set of observations and measurement of patterns of working the EPT were able to demonstrate the suitability of a flexible, 1200mm wide desking solution to replace the ‘single-person’ 1600mm wide worktops selected during the refurbishment of Perceval House. To keep costs to a minimum, all of the existing desking infrastructure (frame, legs, fittings, cable management, etc.) were re-used but the worktops needed to be replaced. Whilst much of the redundant material is being recycled through community furniture workshops it is perhaps a graphic illustration of the error of selecting a desk type that promoted single-person use and the belief that, once installed, these workspace layouts would remain unchanged. The linear arrangement of desks were not modified as they had performed reasonably well (if occasionally requiring an unnecessarily long walk to share a confidence with the person sitting opposite !) and to fundamentally alter or discard them would have generated immense disruption and cost.
The
new desktops arrangements created an immediate increase in occupation density within teams of over 30%.
To test the assumptions of this new model, Property Services staff were again chosen to be the pilot group with the addition of the Council’s commercial total facilities management (TFM)
11
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64