This update continues the focus on how we can support you during this current national lockdown. It includes a number of colleague suggestions, which I thank you for and should you have any more please do forward these.
I do hope you are managing in this current phase, which in many ways is similar, but distinctly different from the previous national lockdowns. The challenges around balancing work-life in general alongside the additional pressure of home-schooling, in particular, seems to be the most difficult from the feedback I have received. Whether this is because it’s yet another lockdown round, it’s the darkness of winter, or the additional requirements being placed by schools on the parental/care support around online learning, it clearly feels more difficult to the previous lockdown’s even the first in March.
We are supporting colleagues who are in discussions around their eligibility for key worker status, recognising that this is challenging situation, including teachers and schools, for all concerned. If this is an issue for you, please pick it up with your line manager and HR business partner if you have not already done so.
I would like to stress the existing work flexibilities that are available to you to explore with your manager in helping to balance your work and home commitments during this time. I know that your needs will be specific to your individual circumstances, therefore I am stressing the importance of you discussing your individual circumstances with your line manager. If you feel a reasonable request is being denied, please also know you can reach out to your HR business partner to review this situation. You might also want to consider reaching out to the EDI Network for parents and carers.
In addition to the above we are also introducing a lockdown device loan scheme for parents/carers who are home schooling and struggling due to not having enough devices. If you are in this situation please email homelaptop@growthco.uk with your needs and we will try to support this. We are also seeking to clarify how colleagues may access additional 3G data provision for their children via the national schemes and will update on this shortly. If for any reason you are in possession of more than one company owned computing device could you please return it to the IT Department at Lee House where it can be re-purposed. No explanation is needed, and postage will be reimbursed.
Another colleague suggestion we are rolling out is to provide a GC-wide protected timeslot within which you can organise your own team health/social event. Therefore between 1 – 3pm every Wednesday there will be no internal meetings held across GC. Clearly, we cannot control external demands in every instance, and this will provide every team with the protected time and space to help your overall wellness – it could be some joint exercise activity/challenge or some social discussion. For colleagues delivering front line services to individuals, please discuss with your manager how this is best organised with regards to existing appointments. Here are a few examples of what teams are already doing and we would like to hear of more to provide inspiration for others.
You may also be reading about ‘mass’ testing and vaccination roll out with opportunities to volunteer. This may seem like an additional demand on your time but I also know that many colleagues find purpose and benefit in volunteering at this time of need. I’d like to remind you of our volunteering policy, which provides you with two volunteering days and here you will find links to some key sites on which you can register your interest – although you are very welcome to choose others closer to your interests.
As I have said previously, your contribution and efforts at this time are immense, humbling and need to be recognised. Our Valued Star and Performance Star Awards are now back up and running and please do make use of them. In future emails we will be giving Group wide recognition to these colleagues.
During this month each Business Unit will be holding a webinar and these will be used to enable ongoing discussion about the flexibilities we can offer to support you with over the next few weeks. You can read more about the support we can offer here.
Finally, in the all staff webinar late last year Vicky Barton, Director of HR and Organisation Development, talked about our future way of working and earlier this week mentioned the importance of your feedback and input from our Investors in People (IIP) assessment. In addition to the IIP focus groups and individual interviews, we will be sending you a survey soon to help shape what our future way of working looks like as well as working closely with business areas.
Keep well and if any other ideas on how to support please forward.