FEATURE
FOSTERING A DIFFERENT CULTURE
Embracing office transitions following COVID-19 should be high on the business agenda, suggests Stephen Edgar, Donna Fitzpatrick and Maeve Dunne of ETL.
The Naylor Report highlights how NHS Trusts could generate capital by reducing lettable and saleable assets to reinvest in patient care and improve existing estates. The process of transforming the way a Trust operates is likely to be accelerated by COVID-19 as it has shown many people that they can work flexibly and remotely whilst maintaining a full-speed approach.
Lack of utilisation and flexibility
within office spaces Traditionally the support services of NHS Trusts are accommodated in large open plan areas, with organically grown workspaces and are generally co-located with the clinical buildings, with large amounts of storage and often decades of accumulated notes, reports and papers. These sites are often owned or leased by a Trust, but are not suitable for clinical activity, ranging from late 20th century office builds, to pre-1945 heritage buildings.
The nature of the services delivered from these facilities, means utilisation rate can be between 45% and 65%. Inefficient working environments are not conducive to productive staff delivering high class outputs, expected of NHS providers. Office locations can often suffer from a lack of natural light, poor historical maintenance, lack of air conditioning, poor Wi-Fi coverage and limited workspace options. This has been shown to reduce the productivity of employees and reduces wellbeing.
The utilisation of the space and lack of flexibility can lead to further inefficiencies. Staff can be located over several
floors that are arranged by function, which reduces opportunities to integrate. Often office geography and physical constraints prevent an organisation’s ability to innovate and introduce new ways of working. For teams to fully integrate with others and improve productivity, most staff should be able to work as flexibly and efficiently from any Wi-Fi enabled office space, home, or site.
Slow uptake of mobile technology within the sector has had a major influence on the ability to transform support services. To truly realise flexible working, investment is needed in Wi-Fi to support mobile working, a reliable network with ubiquitous connectivity, process automation software, collaboration solutions and software that enables productive working.
COVID-19 is accelerating the need for office spaces to be revisited, not only to make them safe for staff, but also in the light of changing attitudes to flexible working. The necessity of home working demonstrated its success and has forced investment in ICT infrastructure. The opportunity for the NHS to take advantage of the ‘new normal’ has never been greater to reduce costs associated with office space whilst improving staff wellbeing and productivity.
Wellbeing and productivity Vibrant and modern environments have been proven to increase staff happiness and improve productivity. The
34 | TOMORROW’S FM
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