Agenda item

The Interim Head of People and Property Services submitted a report on the Council’s Home Working Policy.  The change suggested in the policy, required employees to provide a phone number to their Line Manager where they can be contacted when working remotely. 

Councillor P Ruffles raised the issue of personal privacy with regard to home inspections and queried the extent to which the employer should intrude regarding a check of the home working environment.  The Chairman stated that a 10% sample of home workers would be visited by a Safety Liaison Officer to establish that the environment complied with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Guidance.  The Interim Head of People and Property Services explained how the inspection process would be applied in terms of regular home workers, including how they managed confidential information and those who might work from home on an ad hoc basis, e.g. on a specific project.

In response to a query from Councillor N Wilson, the Interim Head of People and Property explained the Council’s approach should an inspection of home worker’s working arrangement fail health and safety requirements.  It was noted that there was still sufficient office space to accommodate staff “in house”. 

The Chairman referred to the PDR process as a tool and process in monitoring whether health and safety and other requirements had been complied with.  The Director of Finance and Support Services referred to the number of home workers within Revenues and Benefits service and of the fact that they frequently managed a 100% return of their PDRs.

Councillor J Ranger commented that Home Workers should attend the office regularly and suggested that the word “ideally” contained in the paragraph headed “Contact and Communication” (second bullet point of Essential Reference Paper “B” the report now submitted) be deleted.  This was supported. 

Councillor Ranger also suggested that employees be given maximum flexibility in terms of their working patterns adding that, if an employee wanted to work 10 hours in a day, and provided they complied with working directives in terms of breaks, they should be allowed to do so.  This was supported.  The Interim Head of People and Property Services explained that the flexibility would depend on the type of job, i.e. customer facing staff would always be needed during office hours and it would depend on Business need.

In response to a query from Councillor J Thornton regarding the number of home workers, the Interim Head of People and Property Services suggested that this was around 10% of the workforce but undertook to provide the information specifically and let him know. 

In response to a question regarding the “drivers” associated with the home working initiative, the Director of Finance and Support Services explained to background to the Council’s introduction of Home Working in terms of the “Changing the Way We Work” Strategy from the viewpoint of accommodation, flexibility and the use of time in a more productive manner.

In response to a query from Councillor N Wilson regarding the Home Working Policy’s next review, the Interim Head of People and Property Services agreed to include this on the cycle of policies for review.

The Committee supported the report, as now amended.

RESOLVED – that the revised policy, as now amended, be approved.