Checklist

Engagement and communication

Training staff to embrace change

In some instances, involving your staff is the law. The Information & Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 states that any changes directly affecting staff should be discussed with them. In addition, it’s important to provide training for different members of staff so it really works for you, and them.
Make sure you include:

    • Successful homeworking tips and tricks
    • Training around IT security and confidentiality in the office
    • Training for virtual collaborative tools such as SharePoint
    • Etiquettes and protocols, such as ‘no eating at your desk’ or ‘no camping’
    • Training for management on how to ‘manage by results’

Communicating Activity Based Working

Design a change management programme to communicate the key messages to staff and give your employees a channel to give feedback. Things to include are

    • Key message index
    • Change champions (trained by you)
    • Use existing channels – intranets, emails, posters etc.
    • Programme with milestones
    • Risk register: perceived barriers and how you are going to deal with them

Engaging stakeholders

A move to activity based working requires a total change in culture so it’s important to involve all your stakeholders.
Some key groups that will need to be involved include:

    • Unions
    • Regulators
    • Parent company
    • Board members
    • Department heads

Innovative ways to create buy-in

    • Use technology to your advantage and set up an online forum or extranet. It’s a great way of letting your employees voice their opinions, and provides an ideal place to show off designs as the project progresses
    • Hold workshops to present ideas to staff and get their feedback
    • Create a regular newsletter for staff, and keep them up to date

Follow-up research

It’s important to constantly review your business’s needs in order to maintain the positive effects of activity based working.

    • Staff opinion survey to see how your staff are getting on with the new space
    • Observation study to see how different areas are being used
    • Post occupancy utilisation study

Measure the success

It’s important to measure the success of the project against the goals set out in your business case. Some areas to measure and shout about are:

    • Property cost savings
    • Energy savings and carbon reduction
    • Reduced travel time
    • Savings from printing costs
    • Recruitment and retention figures
    • Staff satisfaction

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