This article looks at a trend sweeping the UK public sector currently. Investment in flexible and remote working infrastructure by local authorities is delivering significant cost savings, improved services and added value for money for the general public.
The need for local government to mobilise:
Reduced operating costs - The key result of effective remote and flexible working strategy within any organisation is significant cost savings.
Flexibility - on the move teams need to stay in touch and work collaboratively without the need for frequent return trips to the office.
Accommodation - a desire by local government to reduce as far as possible the overhead of legacy civic buildings. Large numbers of councils currently let or actually own numerous office buildings across the country - which amounts to tied up assets which could - if not required following the adoption of remote working - be sold, producing capital for more prudent use.
External drivers - A combination of UK government initiatives (see projectnomd.com) actively promoting remote and flexible working combined with EU regulation requiring that facilities to provide home working as an option for certain types of work have created a pressing need.
Getting it right
Providing the right resources for remote working staff
It is important to pay focused attention to the real communication needs of the staff being targeted for remote working deployment. A wealth of technology is now available for use by out of office staff, and the temptation is to equip the latest and greatest gadgets for remote workers - whereas the real area that needs to be understood and supported are the business processes and procedural responsibilities being
Meeting remote staff needs
Our TeamR methodology for remote working adoption is focused around ensuring that remote teams have the three key basic needs met. These needs are communication, collaboration and control. Without a clear strategy in place enduring that all three are provided, a remote team will not be effectively deployed and is likely to revert to office based working practices following significant expense, time and effort.
Access to Information
One common issue with all organisation is the distribution of duplicate, unmanaged data. The administration effort of the complexity caused by this duplication of data can itself be overwhelming, and distributes teams just compounds the problem. The approach that we find most effective is to adopt centralised organisational data with secure 'point of need' access to it from mobile devices by field workers.
Concerns
Security of public citizen data
There will always be justifiable concern expressed with regards to the security of mobile access solution. These issues can be addressed today though the use of encryption , secure connections and dedicated telephony services, and while it has to be admitted these solutions are not perfect today, this is an area constantly under continuous improvement and review by technology vendors.
Adherence to official business processes
Much of the function of public bodies is run under the guidelines of governmental or legal frameworks. It is important to ensure that workflows being carried out by remote staff still fall subject to due diligence in this regard. The requirement for controls to ensure that the workflow being done within a team is following due procedures could benefit from a work flow automation tool- which segments the whole flow of business down into manageable chunks and orchestrates the flow of information around the team.
Traceability of changes.. Who did what and why?
Audited compliance is becoming an everyday aspect of an increasing number of public service bodies. There exists a legal and institutional need for traceability of individual pieces of work, finalised decisions and formally prepared documents to
Summary:
Remote and flexible working give public sector organisations real opportunities to reduce operating overheads while increasing staff efficiency. The adoption of such practices required thought, planning and expert knowledge in order for them to be effective.
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