Smarter Working is not just about where you work from but also about how we make best use of our assets, communicate and work with a shared purpose. We will build on the learning and experience that has already taken place through Covid and at the end of the project we aim to be able to celebrate the successful transition towards the vision, in essence, that people have the working environment they need in which to enjoy doing their jobs well:

The Vision for Smarter Working in Moray Council is that “Moray Council will create progressive, dynamic and sustainable working environments that empower our workforce to succeed and deliver excellent services, using technologies and workstyles that enhance communication, collaboration and improve wellbeing”

To achieve the vision the Smarter Working Strategic Objectives have been determined as:-

• Learning and Growth

• Develop the organisational culture, skills and environment to embrace and embed flexible and hybrid working
• Improve organisational resilience
• 
  Workforce
• Improve employee motivation, morale and wellbeing
• Attract and retain quality, creative, motivated and productive staff
• 
  Process
• Provide seamless access to sustainable, modern working environments which support delivery of high quality, efficient and effective services
• Reduce the environmental footprint of our working practices
• 
  Financial
• Increase efficiency and effectiveness of utilisation of functional spaces within Moray Council office accommodation, reducing the cost of running the council by better use of assets

The target for heads of service of 50% FTE = number of desks for service was agreed by Senior Management team in September 2022. The target is the same for all Heads of Service. The hybrid working norm is circa two days in the office, three at home as outlined in the Flexible Working Policy and is in line with the provision of equipment in rooms during Covid. However it is understood that different services and individuals will have different requirements and this will be accommodated in space allocations, with the 50% FTE target providing a margin to accommodate these differing needs.

There has been a lot of investment already during Covid-19 pandemic in terms of rolling out laptops, phones and other personal ICT equipment to staff. The Council has approved budget for hybrid meeting equipment and the Wi-Fi expansion for meeting rooms and break out areas in the HQ campus. Further requests for investment will be made to the Council as the need is identified and will require to be supported by appropriate evidence, option appraisals and assessment of risks.

Standards and principles for embedding hybrid working are set out here and will be used by all services.

Intranet page found under the Most Popular tile on the front page of the interchange. This will develop as the project progresses.

Hours of work are dependent on the service being provided. Office opening hours are 8:45 to 17:00 and front facing services are expected to provide a service during these hours. Other services that are not front facing may be able to operate different hours following discussion and agreement with manager.

Whilst is it recognised that there is the potential for increased costs for heating and lighting It is anticipated that there will be offsets for individuals with reduced cost and times for travel to work and the benefits associated with working at home. Where individuals are not able to accommodate any associated costs then they should discuss the matter, in confidence, with their line manager.

Anyone feeling under pressure or unable to function effectively should discuss with their line manager. There is also the employee assistance programme “time for talking” where you can discuss any issues confidentially and can be provided with counselling if required by Time for Talking

Lone worker policy and guidance has been revised and services should update their working practices and protocols to take into consideration any changes for hybrid working.

Managers need to put in place what works for the service in light of the policy and guidance in the same way they did prior to Covid where people went directly to site from home and vice versa.

Individuals should be able to be trusted and should take personal responsibility to work effectively for the hours they are contracted. Managers will continue to monitor delivery of service outcomes and where performance is not what is expected will take appropriate action as per Council policy and procedures. This does not change if someone is working in the office, in the community or at home.

Issues related to Travel and Subsistence are covered under the existing Travel and Subsistence Policy. In general terms, only out of pocket expenditure will be eligible for claim i.e. travel to a work location that is further from ones home than their contractual place of work. Further guidance can be found in the Travel and Subsistence Policy which has been framed to align with HMRC practice

Some services request that new staff base themselves in the office for an initial period so that they can familiarise themselves with how the team operates and learn from colleagues in the office. It will be dependent on the service and the individual to identify what is required to help new staff integrate effectively.

The Office etiquette has been reviewed and sets out the approach that should be adopted by all staff to show respect and have courtesy towards each other and our place of work to make our working environments pleasant to be in. A meeting etiquette is being developed to provide guidance on organizing and running meetings and will be available here when ready.

Laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset are the standard items. Services may have specific additional requirements that can be addressed. Items such as risers should be procured through your manager.

Speak to your line manager and if necessary complete DSE workstation assessment. This will help identify what is required and where it can be sourced and your manager will assist with this. Any requests for software or additional ICT equipment should be logged on the ICT support desk.

People are requested to stop removing equipment and cables. ICT are working to reinstate all existing docking stations and will roll out more as the Smarter Working project progresses. Spare kit will be collected by ICT.

Hybrid meeting equipment is being tested and will be provided once approval and procurement process have been completed. It is hoped that they will be operational by the end of May 2023. Training sessions will be advertised.

Yes they will be involved as the project progresses and hybrid meeting equipment is rolled out and progress on O365 moves to applications.

List of digital champions at May 2023 is shown here

The training for MS Teams was created, published and advertised back in 2021 and has been available ever since via Clive.

It includes the following: -

• What is Microsoft Teams?
• Setup and customize your team – (currently this functionality is dependent on your permissions levels)
• Collaborate in Teams and Channels
• Creating posts and messages
• Chats and Calls
• Uploading and Finding Files – (currently this functionality is not currently available but is planned for)
• Meetings – how to join meetings, meeting tips, screen share etc
• Audio Conferencing
• Breakout Rooms
• Fault Reporting

Due to the way that Clive is configured, we cannot provide a hyperlink directly to the module. Instead, we need the user to log into their personal account in Clive (LearnPro) and then work through the steps below to access the module.

Link to Clive - http://interchange.moray.gov.uk/int_standard/Page_107125.html

Link to notes on how to navigate to Microsoft Teams training in Clive

There will be additional training developed as applications are rolled out as part of the Office 365 project.

The Office 365 including Microsoft teams project page provides further information

Attendance at meetings should be considered as part of your working day and you should play an active part in a meeting ensuring that you have read any papers beforehand and are prepared in order to get the best out of the meeting.

Individuals need to manage their time with support from managers to assist with prioritisation where the requests for meetings exceed capacity.

People setting meetings should review attendees’ calendars and ensure time is allowed between meetings in the same way as before we used teams we needed time to move meeting rooms in between.

The Organisational Development team are working on a “Meetings Etiquette” which will be communicated once approved. It will include guidance on aspects such as:-

1. purpose of meetings should be specified in invitation so that individuals can determine if they are the most appropriate person to attend
2. chairs of meetings should ensure that they run to time and stay focused on the agenda.
3. agendas should be set that will fit the available time

Each team and service should have business continuity plans that will outline the steps required during any disruption in power or connectivity.

Any disruption to normal service should be reported to the ICT support desk in order that analysis of the problem can be undertaken. If ICT are not made aware of problems or issues they cannot take action to rectify them.

There are a variety of services provided by ICT from network, application support to telephony and it would not be possible to provide full coverage for extended hours with the number of staff available. Some ICT services do provide out of hours support for example carrying out upgrades when services are less busy. A trial of extending support from 8:00 to 18:00 was undertaken during Covid but demand was minimal.

It is appreciated that disruption to connectivity and applications impacts on service delivery so ICT communicate and provide updates on any significant issues they are aware of via Interchange.

Services should also ensure they have updated their business continuity arrangements to cope with short interruptions.

Call priorities are assigned based on the importance of the particular ICT component and the overall impact of the incident.

It is acknowledged that a significant backlog built up during the pandemic and this was exacerbated by a shortage of staff in the ICT Support Team. Generally speaking, the ICT Section is keeping up with the resolution of current calls and is working through the backlog.

The Sunrise Servicedesk portal enables customers to monitor their own calls and interact with ICT.

It is recommended that a wired connection be used when sitting at a desk for the best connection. Microsoft Teams does work differently on the corporate network. ICT will be looking to identify if there are underlying issues and whether these can be addressed. It is very helpful that if you experience difficulties report via the ICT support desk as the more information there is the easier it is to identify the issue.

It should be noted that there are sometimes issues caused by the regular Teams updates. This is dictated by Microsoft and is outside the control of the ICT Section.

In addition, there are also issues with Microsoft’s own infrastructure, and this can affect MS Teams. Again, this is outside the control of the ICT Section.

Currently services can manage this through liaison with colleague in the office. As we implement the new MFD contract across the Council new opportunities will become available to meet changing printing requirements. More information on this will be made available as implementation progresses.

Larger scale printing requirements can be directed to the central copy shop, Please contact printorders@moray.gov.uk.

A few individuals are currently without laptops but this is being worked on. The residual requirement will be addressed when working with the relevant teams as we progress the Hybrid working implementation and services have highlighted a need.

One option is for this type of call to be received by the contact centre instead and then directed appropriately per service specifications.

There is also the potential to address this by looking at the use of Softphones via the existing telephony solution. Raise a call with the ICT support desk for further specific advice.

Requests for new services/systems should be raised through the ICT gateway process.

ICT can and do provide guidance on mailbox management upon request. Generally this happens once a user’s mailbox is full. Please follow link for guidance.

ICT do not support the archiving of emails as a rule as the resulting file that is created can often become corrupted. ICT would recommend mailbox management over archiving.

ICT can and do provide guidance on reducing the size of attachments when requested.

Plans of the HQ and Annexe showing where various rooms are located can be found on the interchange page at http://interchange.moray.gov.uk/int_standard/Page_107858.html.

Initially hybrid meeting equipment will be available in HQ campus meeting rooms as follows:-

Small meeting rooms (2-5) in HQ room 236 and 301a

Large meeting rooms (5-12) in HQ room 200a and 239, in Annexe meeting room 3, 5 and 7.

Map showing location of rooms in HQ and Annexe is here

Small meeting rooms will have a camera, speaker and monitor.

Larger meeting rooms will have a wide angle camera, TV screen and wireless keyboard/mouse.

Services will be allocated desk spaces and will determine how best to use them. Meeting rooms will be booked via the corporate booking system. There will be generic hot desks available to provide some additional flexibility.

Yes – the annexe is now operational for all staff with breakout tables reinstated and wifi available in all break out areas. All desks are not yet fully provisioned with ICT equipment but this will change once the service requirements returns have been reviewed and plans agreed for future space allocations.

Informal meetings can be held at break out areas in HQ and Annexe.

Storage solutions currently remain as they were. They will be reviewed following engagement with services and identification of service requirements as it is envisaged there will be a reduction in the need for storage of paperwork as more people use electronic filing now. It is recognised that if more people are using the same space there may be an increase in personal storage requirements, but this is dependent on the service delivered and the individual.