Leeds City Council employees to have ‘less formal’ workplaces in future

The authority had sent 8,000 members of staff home to work since the beginning of the pandemic in March, and claims the positive response to the changes among its staff mean workplaces should be ‘remodelled’ to include ‘less formal’ desk space.

According to a survey taken by Leeds City Council among its homeworking employees back in June, 68 per cent of staff said they felt happy working from home, while 14 per cent said they were not. It added that nine out of 10 members of staff said they had enough contact with colleagues and management, while more than a third said their wellbeing had improved since working from home.

Dozens of the council’s main operational buildings closed following the start of the pandemic, while office space was reduced in larger buildings such as Merrion House in the city centre and Kernel House in Seacroft.

A report, set to go before a scrutiny committee next week, states the majority of the 60 buildings which remain closed were community centres.

It added: “Whilst increased levels of home working will become embedded, the work from home survey and wider industry reports has identified that many staff will look to our workspace to support collaboration, face to face interactions and training and development.

“As such, our workspaces will need to be remodelled to respond to need and ensure that spaces are as flexible as possible with less formal desk space. We are therefore seeking to identify how new areas of collaboration space can be brought forward and the appropriate balance between different types of workspace environments or zones can be achieved.”

It added such workspace zones would be split into: “Collaboration/huddle/events”; “Group work/meeting space”; desk space for quiet working; and areas for confidential work or telephone calls.

The report added: “Ultimately, our spaces need to provide as much flexibility as possible in the ways they can be used but also allowing staff the opportunity to work more flexibly across all of our buildings which brings with it the potential for reduced travel demand/cost, time savings, and more effective service delivery.”

It added that work was taking place to remodel offices within Merrion House by spring 2021, with a “rapid phased roll out across our broader retained estate”.

The report will be discussed at a meeting of Leeds City Council’s Resources and Strategy Scrutiny Board on Monday, November 16.