HAMPSHIRE WORKSTYLE
Flexible Smarter Working
Manager’s Guide 
E-Learning Version
1
Index
1. Your role as a manager ................................................................................... 3
2. Working with your team to make it happen ................................................... 4
a) Running Change Sessions with your Team: ................................................. 4
b) Developing a “team charter” .......................................................................... 5
3. Supporting different kinds of workers ........................................................... 6
4. Collaborating with other managers ................................................................ 7
a) Working with other managers in your building: .............................................. 7
b) Learning from other Managers: ..................................................................... 7
5. Supporting your team to work flexibly:.......................................................... 8
a) Deciding whether members of my team can work at home: .......................... 8
b) Choosing the right flexible IT access: ............................................................ 9
6. Issues to Consider with your Team:............................................................. 10
a) Health & Safety issues : .............................................................................. 10
b) Team / Communication Issues: ................................................................... 11
c) Space / Office Issues: ................................................................................. 12
d) Business / Customer Issues: ....................................................................... 13
e) Management Practice & Managing Performance: ....................................... 14
f) Special Management Issues: ...................................................................... 15
7. Where to get further support ........................................................................ 17
a) Hantsnet Sources: ....................................................................................... 17
b) People to go to for Support: ........................................................................ 17
Appendix 1: Managers Checklist ........................................................................ 18
2
1. Your role as a manager
Key Messages:

Your own behaviour has a huge impact on your team …. So make it
a constructive one. “You are your message”

It is your job to facilitate and ensure successful change to FSW with
your team

You will need to change the way you do things …. Go with it & go for
it!

You may need to challenge sometimes … if this is difficult for you,
get some support – it is readily available.

You will need to be clear about the core needs of your business as
they must always take priority … but can they be provided for in
different ways?
Your role is critical to the success of Flexible Smarter Working (FSW). As in
everything else, your team will take its lead from you, therefore your top
priority needs be to make sure you are modelling FSW yourself, both in terms
of your attitude, the way you behave and the way you work with your team.
This could be your biggest challenge!
The core needs of your business must always take priority BUT do not
assume the only way to achieve them is how you have always done – be
willing and open to challenge about how things are done but be clear about
priorities.
Research1 has shown that the same competencies are required for
managing workers at a distance (one aspect of FSW) as face-to-face or colocated, however they need to be exercised more skilfully. For example you
will need to be able to:





Manage by outcomes or results rather than by how much someone is in
the office (presentee-ism)
o Know how to tell if someone is doing a good job by what they
deliver
Trust your staff to do their jobs well when you can’t see them
Pay more attention to communication
Lead by example
Coach staff individually to develop alternative ways of working
As a manager your team expect you to act with confidence and credibility
when leading them into this or any other change and you have responsibility
for maintaining your own learning to ensure you are effective in your role.
One great source of learning are fellow managers who have already been
through the process. You can also find further support at the end of this
document.
1The
Managing Tomorrow’s Worker (MTW) project, final report based on research work carried out between
February 2004 and March 2005.
3
2. Working with your team to make it happen
Key Messages:

Work with your team – don’t try to do it for them

Make sure your team are clear about the direction of travel, the
reasons and the benefits

Don’t pretend it will be plain sailing … listen to and face up to the
challenges emerging for the team

Believe and trust in your team’s capacity to find positive solutions

Work through things with people and work together
Moving to FSW will require a review of team management and working
arrangements. These should be discussed and planned with the team, and
the subsequent sections of this report outline the key areas you will need to
consider. Here are some tips about how:
a) Running Change Sessions with your Team:
A typical outline for this kind of activity (both one-to-one and with the
team) will include:
▪
Check the team understand the direction of travel, why this is the
case and what the benefits can be.
 If necessary some input from you about why this is happening
and your commitment to the outcome (FSW), the process of
getting there and to supporting them as a team.
▪
Clarify the needs of the business and what therefore needs to be
ensured
▪
Listen to their issues and concerns:
 Provide an opportunity for staff to surface their questions and
concerns. These should be seen to have had paid attention to
them. Its helpful to recognise that people will be at different
stages at different times and will move round the change curve
at different speeds (see below). You will have to repeat the
same messages several times and in different ways for different
staff and colleagues to ensure success.
▪
Group their concerns and questions into themes:
 These are very likely to be the areas covered in this guidance
however there may be more that you identify that are not part of
this guidance. Record the different themes then start to address
each one. Depending upon how many there are this will
probably take several iterations, working down into the detail so
may take more than one session to work through.
 Make sure you explore together what is underlying the
concern then keep positive and solution focussed
4

Try not to solve things for staff and get them to come up
with solutions
▪
If solutions require more factual understanding do admit if you don’t
know the answer and commit to finding out.
▪
Summarize what you have agreed as solutions:

What you will do

What staff / the team will do

What you will take to work with other people (other teams / your
manager etc)
▪
Set up times to review how it is going:

Remember it will not be plain sailing but stick at it and take the
same approach to solving problems as they arise
b) Developing a “team charter”
This may be worth considering as a way of agreeing things together –
make sure everyone is involved, supported and updated. This might
well be subject of continual review and revision, with a more formal
review date being set. It might cover the following headings:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
This is who we are
This is what we do
This is why we do it
This is how we aim to do it
This is what we promise one another
This is what we have achieved
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3. Supporting different kinds of workers
Everyone should work smarter and be flexible however we have identified
three different types of worker in relation to flexible working:
A
Office Focussed :
Spends 80% or more time working at a
workstation
B
Liaison Focussed : Often at the same location but spends over 20%
of time away from workstation
C
Mobile worker :
Spends more than 50% of time away from office
building – out and about
Many teams include at least two of these types of workers. Every kind of
worker can be flexible and this will translate differently for each team
depending upon the essential operational requirements of the service and
this needs to be managed within the team with the leadership of the
manager.
The needs of the business must always be paramount and within these the
following may be helpful to understand the possible diversity in the focus of
flexibility and outlines some of the challenges each may bring.
Flexibility Focus
A
B
C
Potential Challenges

Clear desk at end of day to aid
paper management and in case
not in next day

Try sitting at different desks to
show willing and get a different
perspective on life

Work in the ‘heads down’ area or
at home if tasks require it

Clear desk & turn workstation off
when leaving desk for more than
30 minutes

Work where you are meeting /
liaising to save time and energy
on travel

Keep outlook diary up to date
(with how to contact you too)

Know the ‘drop in’ sites so you
can work elsewhere when that
would save on time & travel

Use technology to give you
remote access

Keeping outlook diary up to date
6

Tendency to be territorial and
‘colonise desks’

Needs to understand ‘smart’
reasons for clear desk

May feel disadvantaged in
terms of flexible patterns IF
they provide office cover so
explain business drivers.

Planning ahead to take
papers you need

Clear & sort papers at the
end of day so they do not pile
up

Find a ‘heads down’ place
when liaison is not the priority

Keeping in touch with team &
managers

Asking for support when they
need it

Demonstrating outputs
4.
Collaborating with other managers
Key messages:

Relationships and behaviours between teams affect atmosphere and
so motivation at work

Having an ‘our space’ approach to the floor and building makes the
environment more flexible and friendly

‘Heads down’ time can be working in a space with people you know
less

Notice colleagues whose teams have successfully adopted FSW;
find out what they do and copy them
a)
Working with other managers in your building:
An important aspect of collaboration is where managers from different
departments or sections are sharing the same floor or building. What
can you and what you will need to do together to make this work?
b)
Learning from other Managers:
There is a significant amount of expertise and experience building up in
HCC around FSW. As well as looking to formal guidance, such as this
document and the Workstyle website, other managers who have been
through the process already are a great source of information and
support. Some questions you might ask colleagues are:
▪
▪
▪
▪
What’s FSW like for you now – Find out the positives and negatives
for them, their teams and their customers?
What went well in the process of moving to FSW?
If you could go through the process again, what would you do
differently?
What are the key lessons you’ve learnt?
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5.
Supporting your team to work flexibly:
a) Deciding whether members of my team can work at home:
There are two questions you need to answer and balance:
Question 1) “Would it be possible to deliver our service/ my business if
some people worked out of the office?”
Question 2) “Would the quality of life of people in my team be improved
by enabling them to work from home when it is suitable to the business
and desirable to them?”
If the answer to the first question is ‘no’ then the second question does
not override it BUT be sure that you have really considered all the
factors.
The answer to question 1 may be:
 an active ‘yes’ in that it may advantage the business OR
 a passive ‘yes’ in that it would be possible to do it without the business
suffering –
If the answer to Question 1 is either kind of ‘yes’ it makes Question 2
very important to consider:
In considering the answers to Questions 1 & 2 above some of the things
you need to consider are:
a) Is it possible to provide for the needs of your customers if people
work at home?
 Who are your customers (may be internal colleagues or external
to the organisation)?
 How do they usually get in touch (phone, email or face to face)?
 What is the balance of methods & could customers
reasonably be expected to use other means than face to
face at least part of the time?
 When do your customers need to be in contact with your team?
 Are there times when there is less demand or demand can
reasonably be managed?
 Is there a way to provide the necessary customer contact by use
of a duty function or a rota (and use of phones & computers) to
enable people to have more flexibility in where they work?
b) Are there elements of your team’s roles that could benefit from
having time away from the demands of the office environment? (i.e.
thinking, report writing, preparation, data input or processes)
c) Might being able to work a wider range of hours elsewhere mean
people are able to work more efficiently:

If they are out at other locations would being able to work at
home before or after this mean they travel less or fit more into
less time?
d) What might the personal benefits be for individuals? These might
include:
8

Saving money on travel

Avoiding wasting leave time waiting for deliveries etc when you
are free to do work but just not free to leave the house

For team members with a disability/sensory impairment will
working at home ensure a better adapted working environment

Making it more possible to balance working hours around family
responsibilities (i.e. choosing to work at home before dropping
children at school in the morning or after feeding a dependent
relative in the evening)
e) Which people want to work at home? People may not have the
technology or desire to work at home – they could consider using
drop-in if this gave some of the advantages without the difficulties
they might experience
f)
b)
How clear am I being about entitlements & expectations? Make sure
everyone has the same understanding about:
 What is expected of them by you with regard to checking when
it is okay to work at home
 How they need to be contactable and what you expect about
letting people know where they are
 The fact that business needs come first so if something
changes they may need to revise their working arrangements
Choosing the right flexible IT access:
If you decide that it is possible, even desirable, to enable your team to work
at home on occasions then there are further considerations when putting it
into practice:
 What I.T. do they need?
o Do they need Passport or can they use OWA?
 The attached grid (Appendix 2) will help you work out which
is most suited for any of your staff who do want to work from
home on a regular basis
o What security considerations are relevant i.e. will the lone working
policy be relevant
o What Health and safety considerations need to be borne in mind to
ensure safe working practices at home?
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6.
Issues to Consider with your Team:
Appendix 1 contains a ‘Managers Checklist’ which is something for you to use
with your team. It prompts you to look together at the issues which may impact
your team, business or customers when moving to Flexible Smarter Working. It
is useful even if you are not moving to a newly designed FSW environment but
it is especially important if you are. Remember the needs of your business
are always paramount so be clear what they are.
The far right hand column is for you to note those issues you do need to
consider as a team. There are no ‘one size fits all’ type answers as each
business team will have a slightly different ‘take’ on the issues as every team
will have their own business requirements and way of managing things that they
have developed over time, however, the notes below are to help you
understand, think about the issues and find the ways of working that suit you.
It is important to remember that when / if you are working in a wider FSW
environment you may need to develop some solutions with other managers so
that everyone in the same room is operating to the same principles – these are
not all ‘single team’ issues, again it will depend upon your situation.
a) Health & Safety issues :
▪
DSE Assessment:
 If people have special needs that really mean the need to have a
bespoke workstation you should know about this already. The
intention would be that small equipment such as wrist supports,
flexible height screens and even flexible height desks are available in
a flexible office. This does mean that everyone will need to get used
to taking responsibility for making the small adaptations needed when
they sit at a new workstation. Training on how to do this is available in
Learn IT as part of the IT Induction – it is wise for everyone to do this
so maybe check that your team does.
 If there are people who already have known issues then this should
be picked up with your project team as part of the office design and if
and when new issues arise you can arrange for a DSE Assessment.
▪
Lone Working:
 If your team currently has to operate a lone working policy because
team members go out into people’s homes, or other vulnerable
situations then it is important to revisit this arrangement to ensure that
people working at home, out of the office or with different work
patterns will not put anyone at additional risk. Solutions may involve a
form of ‘duty management’ or simply the diversion of phones but a
system that will work needs to be determined.
 The other time when ‘lone working’ may be an issue will be if people
choose to work unusual hours and so are left in buildings late on their
own. If this is a possibility for some of your team it will be important to
raise this with the Facilities Management for the building.
10
b) Team / Communication Issues:
One of the areas people are often concerned about when moving to FSW
environments is the impact this might have on their team, its dynamics and
communications. This is an area where talking to each other and solving
problems together is really important as you may need to revise the way you
work, which people may not relish, but only you as a team can find the best
way to make it work over time. Always be clear what the needs of your
business are to start with as these must act as the boundary to creativity
but remember there may be new ways to achieve them open to you. The
types of issue you may want to consider include:
▪
Knowing where people are:
 If your team do not already keep outlook diaries up to date with where
they are and contact details it will be important for them to start to do
so – so that people can find them when they need to (i.e. for work or if
a personal call or emergency comes in)
▪
Keeping in touch with each other in the team:
 This is not an issue for all teams but if the nature of your work is that
they need to work together and keep good contact with each other
then it is worth considering if you need to put in any extra ways of
keeping in touch such as use of text messaging or just meeting up
more often – it does not have to be in the main office.
▪
Information Sharing:
 Again IF the nature of your business is such that sharing information
is important or adds a lot of value then you need to review how this
will happen in the future – formally or informally. Formally may mean
well focused information sharing meetings, regular conference calls or
agreed days in the office; informally may mean agreeing to a once a
week phone call or even a blog / online forum or instant messaging.
▪
Team Support:
 If your team works in a high pressure situation or with clients who are
demanding, vulnerable or emotionally draining then you will need to
look at how you will support each other – this may link to any of the
headings above in terms of possible solutions. It is important to define
where the most support comes from; the manager to individuals or the
team to each other, as this will suggest different strategies.
▪
Team Meetings:
 Collaboration between teams can be important for team meeting
schedules, as frequently the most pressure on a FSW office space is
when several teams have their team days on the same day. Try to
ensure that different teams on the same floor meet on different days
OR perhaps consider:
 Using some of the drop-in facilities for your team meetings if they
also have meeting rooms available
 Trying conference calls
 Using a community based meeting place
11
c) Space / Office Issues:
▪
Team and Individual Storage:
 Paper tends to expand to fit the space available… and then some!
This is one of the reasons why a clear desk policy is important.
Getting into the habit of sorting out papers and ‘weeding them’ as you
go along is one of the best ways of ensuring the office space does not
lose its flexibility because it has been overtaken by storage. It is
important the team understands this and individuals take responsibility
for managing their own paperwork.
 Of course paper will still be necessary so your team needs to decide
how it is going to make best use of the space it has available and how
you are going to use the corporate storage / archiving system to
support you with those files you do not need to access every day.
 Every team member needs some space in the team storage then
make sure you have some ground-rules about no-one keeping papers
in their personal storage lockers as there is a risk others will not be
able to access them if they are not around. i.e. off sick / working
elsewhere.
▪
Managing Noise:
 This is one best talked about beforehand and managed together. You
will need to get a balance between having it quiet enough for people
to take phone calls or concentrate (not everyone finds this easy in
distracting environments) and having it feel relaxed enough for people
to laugh and enjoy work – working in a mausoleum is not pleasant for
most people. It may be something you need to consider with the wider
team but collecting ideas is a good move. The sorts of things you may
want to consider include:
▪

A way to flag up or signal when making a call you need quiet for or
dealing with a sensitive issue that does not need laughing in the
background. This could even be a flag.

Having an end of the office that is for more quiet working

Individuals feeling free to go and work in a quieter space or room
(or location) when they need to get their head down
Housekeeping:
 Everyone has different standards about tidiness and even cleanliness
but it can be a great source of conflict if shared areas are not kept
clean and tidy by a few – you need to work with your teams to ensure
that everyone understands it is their responsibility not to just keep
things tidy to their own standards but to the ‘highest common
denominator’. This is not just about applying protocols but about
people seeing why it is important and showing care for each other by
taking responsibility. It also reduces the costs on cleaning
12
▪
Reducing costs and carbon footprint:
 One of the important ways we can save money – that may ultimately
save jobs – is to reduce our energy and resource use. Get into good
habits in turning things off (i.e. monitors). Work together in your team
to agree the individual and team things you can do – then work as a
floor and building to agree what you can all do. See the myth busters
on the website linked at the end for things you can do.
d) Business / Customer Issues:
▪
What IT do people need?
 You will have seen the section on flexible IT but also consider what
other types of flexible technology people really need, such as mobile
phones:
▪

Don’t give people more technology than they will use (i.e. a PDA
rather than a mobile may not be necessary)

Explore shared email accounts or use of Hantsfile – there are a
number of options that could may have a benefit
Managing phone calls & diversions:
 See the link to Learn IT in at the back of this guidance which tells you
more about what the phones can do. However, you need to think
about the needs of your business and what systems or protocols you
need to put in place to ensure that people trying to get in touch do not
just end up with answer phones. You will need to decide what
approach will work best for your team including:
▪

Manual Transfer: diverting your number to another phone which
may be a landline (i.e. at home) or a mobile.

Cover paths: an automatic diversion to another pre-determined
number if the phone is not answered or is busy

Pick Up Groups: two or more extensions that can be programmed
to be able to answer another phone

Group mailbox: like an answering machine for a group of
extensions.

Individual Mailboxes: answer phones set for individual numbers
Making sure your customers do not get a worse deal:
 Whether your customers are internal, professionals from other
organisations or members of the public one of the things many people
say they are worried about in moving to FSW is that it will
disadvantage their customers. Talk together about what the possible
disadvantages might be and think about how to remove them. If you
need help then ask your senior manager if there is any other similar
team in another area that has worked on these issues.
13
▪
Managing office / business cover:
 IF your team has to deal with crises, customers, clients or partners on
an ‘as needs’ basis this may mean you have a certain number of
people available and on hand to deal with such issues. You need to
review what this need is, how many people of what kind are required
and at what times.
 Can the office be covered remotely sometimes or not? You will need
to discuss with your team how this can best be managed - aim to
agree to a system that is as fair as it can be. Be clear whether, why
and when you really need a physical presence in the office.
▪
Working with Reception:
 IF you are going to be in a building with a managed reception,
especially if you will have members of the public coming to it, you
need to help make it possible to run smoothly and be manageable.
This means you need to make sure you keep Reception informed
when you are expecting visitors for appointments and give them lists
of attendees and a contact person for when several people are turning
up for meetings – especially if they involve members of the public
 If any of your visitors need careful management it will also be vital that
you inform Reception about this too and provide them with any
support needed.
▪
Working with Facilities Management (FM):
 IF your building now has new FM procedures you also need to review
whether you need to change any of your business processes to adapt
to that. This is likely to give you new opportunities to streamline but
may make more work IF you don’t adjust.
e) Management Practice & Managing Performance:
▪
Workload Allocation:
 Some businesses operate by having work tasks that come in on paper
and are distributed by putting things in people’s pigeon holes or intrays. If this, or any similar issues do apply to your team you need to
explore how these can be done differently and flag any needs up to
the project team working on the building plans.
▪
Workload Management:
 Some managers rely very much on seeing their staff to get a feel for
workload. It is no less important to manage workload in a FSW culture
but you may need to put in place other ways to flag up some issues. It
may be a good opportunity to talk through with your team and/or
individual about how they would best like to flag these types of issue
with you. If you do not have regular catch-up meetings with individual
staff you may want to consider this as a way of touching base.
14
▪
Managing performance:
 Many managers have learned to manage performance by observation
relying on their presence in the office – this is often known as
‘presenteeism’. Whilst it often feels easier for managers it also can put
a lot of limitations on how people work and can make staff feel at best
restricted and at worse un-trusted. Over that last few years there has
been a lot more emphasis placed on the need to manage by
‘outcomes’ – this can be a valuable thing to talk to your staff about as
it essentially is about being clear what you want them to achieve and
agreeing together how it can most productively be measured.
f) Special Management Issues:
There are situations where, on a short term basis, more contact with staff is
important therefore FSW working needs to be applied intelligently because
there will be times when flexibility is not the priority. For example, if you are:
▪
▪
▪
Inducting new staff
Managing performance issues:
Managing staff under particular pressure:
In these cases the priority is different and it is perfectly reasonable to
supervise staff more closely within these circumstances. You may need to
staff working more closely with you or a member of your team for a period of
time.
In considering the right approach for individual situations guidance is
available in a number of places and forms (see section on support). You will
need to think through the issues beforehand.
When managing performance issues you must be clear what you need and
expect in the way of outcomes before entering into a management
conversation with the individual AND in all of the situations above discussion
and agreement with the individual concerned about what is needed and why
it is critical. You should also consider being clear and sensitive with the team
that there are special short term arrangements in place so as to avoid
misunderstandings and perceptions that FSW is suddenly not acceptable.
You may find Situational Leadership model below useful:
Staff Commitment & Confidence
High
DIRECTING
DELEGATING
COACHING
SUPPORTING
High
Staff Competence
15
This matrix model sets out different styles of leadership within four quadrants and
maps them against two axis of staff performance: competence and confidence
and/or commitment.
Style
Directing
Coaching
Supporting
Delegating
What it looks like
Defining roles/tasks, close
supervision, making
decisions, one-way
communication.
Defining roles/tasks, but
encouraging suggestions
and input. Communication
more two-way, though
decisions made by the
manager.
Routine decisions passed
down. Manager facilitation
and involvement, but not
controlling
Staff decide on the level of
manager involvement in
decisions and problemsolving
Where it’s useful
Staff confidence is high, but
competence is low e.g. a new
starter.
Competence is growing, but
confidence is low e.g.
established member of staff
taking on a new task or way
of working
Competence is higher, but
confidence is variable e.g.
member of staff needs
support in decision making
Competence and confidence
is high, e.g. fully performing
member of a team; someone
ready for promotion/bigger
responsibilities.
Embedded in the framework is the idea of directive or supportive leadership –
generally the lower someone’s competence the more directive you may need to be
but confidence is also a factor. If you choose the wrong style, then you are likely to
demotivate and get poorer performance, e.g. if you choose an habitually directive
style with a high performing member of your team, they are likely to feel patronised
and won’t both to take initiative. If you choose a delegating style with a new starter,
they will flounder.
16
7.
Where to get further support
a) Hantsnet Sources:
Phones – how to use:
http://learnit.hants.gov.uk/learnit/castle-telephone-service/guide-checklistcastle-tel-service/learnit-guide-checklist-castle-tel-service-calls/cts-usingcall.htm
Phones – what they do:
http://learnit.hants.gov.uk/learnit/castle-telephone-service/guide-checklistcastle-tel-service/learnit-guide-checklist-castle-tel-service-tips/ctsadministrators.htm
Management Competences & development materials:
http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/hr-competencyframeworkcoreskillsandknowledge.htm
Learn IT Induction:
http://learnit.hants.gov.uk/learnit/it-induction.htm
HR Site for Flexible Patterns of work:
http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/hampshireworkstyle/fwportal/hw-flexibleworkingworkmoreflexibly/hw-flexibleworking-flexibletime.htm
b) People to go to for Support:
Aside from all the information above if you are part of a project to implement FSW
in your workplace the following avenues of support will be open to you … the
ongoing one is always available:
SUPPORT AVENUES
BEFORE
Project Team
Your Manager
Departmental Leads:

Adult Services:

Children’s Services:

DURING
As above
ONGOING
Your Manager:
Departmental Links:
Departmental HR:
Facilities Manager:
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1: Managers Checklist
Moving to Flexible Smarter Working:
These are issues that you may need to think about with your team in preparation for moving into a Flexible Smarter Working
environment. Each team / business is different so they may not all be issues for you but this is to help you identify which areas are
challenges for your team so that you can work together with your team to find the best ways to adapt. Use the right hand column to
identify those that may be issues for your team
There may also be other areas which have not been covered – you and your team are the best people to identify and solve them.
The Issue
What is this?
DSE – Assessment &
special needs
Having got everyone to do the Learn IT Induction with DSE element then make sure
everyone knows how to adjust a workstation for their needs… especially any new chairs.
Lone working in a FSW
team
Do you have people ‘lone working’ out of the office – will the way you are managing it now
need to change if others work more flexibly too?
Managing team
communication:
This could include:
Individual & Team storage
How will you together use your team storage? What will everyone do to keep storage &
paperwork from building up so you continue to fit into your team allocation?
Managing Noise
What ideas will you put forward on your floor about getting the right balance between
spaces where people are interacting / discussing and having some for quieter working?
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




An Issue
for us?
Knowing where people are (when they are working out of the office)
People talking to each other (keeping in touch)
Information sharing (formal and informal)
Team support (including for particular roles such as trainees)
Team meetings
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Appendix 1
Housekeeping
How will you ensure that everyone takes responsibility for keeping the team and shared
areas tidy and well looked after?
Reducing costs and carbon
footprints
The Facilities Management (FM) function will help with saving energy and resources but
what does your team need to do differently to reduce energy costs and the use of
unnecessary resources?
What IT do people need ?
Who needs Passport etc to enable them to work at home and is there any specialist IT that
would support FSW for your team?
Managing phone calls and
How will people get in touch with you when you are working elsewhere – how do you need
diversions in a flexible team to set up the phone system so that people will not just keep getting the answer phone?
Making sure your
customers do not get a
worse deal
Will working more flexibly affect your service delivery at all or the way in which customers
get in contact with you? You need to think about any issues that might arise and how you
will deal with them so that service to customers (internal and external) is just as good as it
was, if not better. What office cover do you need and how will you ensure it?
Managing office or
business cover
Does your team have to provide cover for on the spot customer needs / problem solving or
to manage crises? Do you have to ensure office cover? How can this be managed fairly?
Managing meetings &
visitors with Reception
How will you keep the new FM managed reception informed about who you are expecting
for meetings and advise them about any issues they need to manage?
Adjusting to your new
building or FM function
If your building or having an FM function is new then there will be a number of changes to
get used to both in the way you do things and in terms of decision making about the
building; who is in it, how it is used and how it is run and maintained. Make sure you are
clear about the new protocols and any ways you need to adjust how you do things so that
you gain the benefits and use it well?
Managing work allocation
Do you currently allocate work using people’s desks / in-trays or pigeon holes? How will
this work if everyone does not have static ones or there are not enough?
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Appendix 1
Workload management
How will you know if people have too much work? Or too little?
Managing performance
If you are going to manage more by outputs than by people being visibly present what
does this mean you, the team and individuals need to do differently?
Managing pressure
If your team is dealing with high pressure or emotionally draining situations what will
individuals and the manager do to ensure the manager knows when extra support is
needed and is able to give it?
Do you have any special management Situations?
As a manager you also need to be aware of whether you have any of the following special situations which may mean for those
individuals you may need to have a short term agreement to a different way of working which may not be so flexible. Have you got
any of the following situations which might warrant this:

New staff – i.e. induction in a FSW environment needs a plan to ensure people do not just feel lost and detached

Performance Issues – if you are actively managing someone’s performance this may need to impact on how you operate FSW
with them for a while

Staff under particular pressure – if someone has something particular going on which means they need more support than usual
(or others) then you may need to see them more often.
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