Council considers homeworking
Council considers homeworking
A council in the north of England is considering closing its main offices and employing people on a work from home basis.
Calderdale Council has conducted a trial in which it states that homeworking was a successful working model. As a result, it is considering closing its Northgate House headquarters and sourcing a premises that would only provide office space for seven in every ten suitable staff.
The move is largely being driven by a need to cut costs. As the government aims to reduce the budget deficit, public sector establishments around the UK are being forced to lower their expenses and Calderdale Council is no exception.
However, employing a large number of workers at home requires a strong network as any delays and problems could prevent people from accessing important files and information held on the company's intranet. Leased lines are one option for organisations like the council to consider for a smooth switch over from office to homeworking.
The London 2012 Travel Advice for Business team recently told City AM that businesses should be looking into secure private networks in order to provide their employees with the option to work from home during the London Olympics. “You can also create a secure private network, so employees can access the intranet and internally hosted files and data from home. Broadband internet access is essential and audio conferencing facilities can be useful, so staff can continue to communicate remotely with colleagues and external contacts from home,” the travel advice teams informed the paper.
Calderdale is not the first council to take advantage of new technology to cut costs. Earlier this year, Hillingdon Council took steps to replace its existing desktop infrastructure with a cloud computing model. The council explained that the move will free up its IT department from the costs and hassle of many installation and maintenance requirements.
Other practicalities have already been thought out and Councillor David Kirton, who compiled a report on the possibility of homeworking for council employees, explained that teams would ideally share the available desks and split their time between working from home and heading in to the office when required.
He also remarked on the fact that management would require something of a shake-up, the Halifax Courier reported. Managers would no longer place such an emphasis on hours worked, but would instead start to monitor the work produced instead of the time spent.
Mr Kirton added that Northgate House and the council need to work with the "massively changing" face of business to ensure that the organisation is able to serve the community.
