Smarter Working Update - August 2023
Smarter Working - office moves
The team brief issued on 28 July advised that heads of service have now agreed in principle the areas for their services to be located in the HQ campus. Discussions are now underway to draw up a sequence and schedule for office moves and this will be shared with services directly and put on Interchange once dates are confirmed.
The moves will start in September with notice given to allow time for people to box up essential items for moving, or have a further clear out of anything no longer needed.
The earlier you start the easier it will be to get everyone moved on schedule:
- Review your paper files – do you access them regularly?
- Do you need to clear out? – Confidential waste bags can be provided over and above normal usage. If you need normal paper bin facilities we can provide a blue bin.
- Broken chairs/furniture – let us know as we need to dispose of it appropriately – smarterworking@moray.gov.uk.
Furniture Moves
This will be minimised to save time, disruption and cost. Chairs will move with you and any specific items for individuals relating to work place assessments. Equipment will be moved and set up by ICT and desks, cabinets and cupboards will largely remain in place.
Personal Storage
The Council has a clear desk policy and when sharing desks with colleagues it allows for a more pleasant atmosphere if spaces are clear of clutter and cleaned regularly. Consider what needs you have for storage and discuss with your team how you will meet these needs, for example can you share pedestals? Or create a central mug shelf etc?. If you have other particular requirements these will be incorporated into the office move process and should have been flagged during initial smarter working returns, but do discuss this with your line manager in the first instance.
Team Storage
This will be provided as requested previously – it may be different cupboards/cabinets to what you currently use to reduce large furniture moves, but it will meet functional needs.
Early Adopters
Thank you to all those who participated in the early adopter exercise. Feedback was really helpful and informed the approach for space allocation. There will be a final survey for any other comments and to close this phase of the process.
Meeting Rooms
These should be fully functional in the HQ campus now for wifi and hybrid meeting equipment so if you encounter any issues please log with ICT as appropriate.
Please do not remove any equipment from these rooms and leave them clean and tidy for the comfort of all.
Telephone book update
As part of the office moves we will be updating the details on the phone books (on Interchange and Outlook) – this will assist in knowing where people are located. You don’t need to submit information, we’ll make sure this is correct and the updates made once the move is complete. After that it will be the responsibility of services to update both phone books if details change. There will also be site plans on Interchange showing where on the HQ campus all the services are based.
Intranet page
Updates to the smarter working Interchange page will be available soon – check back regularly for further updates.
Organisational Development (OD)
The OD team have been updating existing and developing new resources and training to support embedding hybrid working. These will be available soon via the interchange – look out for the announcement on interchange.