Get Back

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

You, like me, will have no-doubt heard the recent directive from some of our government MPs, that everyone should get back to the office, as soon as possible. Certain journalists have also suggested home-working is just a ‘remainer-cult’ (while writing the article WFH). So go figure. I have read Lord Sugar is also a fan of getting everyone back into their old workplaces too. That’s clearly from a bloke with a big office portfolio. That may be affecting his personal thinking, or it might be that he cannot connect his Amstrad at home to the interweb for downstreaming.

Of course not everyone has been lucky enough to be able to do their job from home from a computer screen, or have a suitable space there to efficiently perform to a similar level. Good connectivity of course is essential, plus reasonable ability to access and use the same systems and applications etc, that were used originally in the past. WFH potentially reduces car use, use of fuel, carbon footprint and reduction of pollution, if we can practically manage it.

I think the tech generally got introduced within the first two months (March & April 2020) of Covid19 lockdown, as there was no alternative to introducing Teams, Zoom etc for many, otherwise organisations could not operate at all. We all had to adapt quick to a new normal. Organisations on old versions of solutions, suddenly woke up to the problems these created for staff WFH.

Its hard to determine what the motivation is for the current rush back, is it that all those sandwich shops, cafes, train companies etc are feeling the pinch? Maybe it’s that we still have a problem in some quarters, seeing that work is something we do, not necessarily a place to go. Seeing employees nine to five in an office can feel reassuring, although that does not equate to knowing how much actual work staff are really doing.

JRM setting the standard for in-office productivity

If managers cannot measure the work throughput and being completed, then that is poor management, if present in an office or working from home. There are many examples of MP’s being present in the House Of Commons, clearly not doing anything productive. Lounging around or watching porn on their smartphone or tablets.

So do people want to ‘get back to normal’ and have things all face to face again? I would guess not, although in some situations do work much better that way. One example is software demos, I would always want to meet the bidders in real life, particularly if spending hundreds of thousands of pounds. In the quite rare situations where I personally have been able to ‘do things the old way again’, its worked well. Even sitting in the odd motorway traffic jam has not really irritated me, as I am no longer doing it every single day.

If staff have worked from home for a couple of years, maybe they don’t see the point of hours stuck back on the journey in/back, sardine packed peak time trains, office gossip, meetings where disrespectful staff arrive late or leave early. Its crazy to rush back to presenteeism, rather than doing the best to complete the work needed. Its great at times to actually be together with colleagues IRL, to bounce ideas off them and collaborate. That is one particular thing we cannot lose.

Cartoonist Matt's take on it

Not having staff workload monitored is the same problem for WFH as when present in the office. If workload is not being controlled at home, its not likely to change overnight when offices are filled again.

A lot of local and council services have degraded over the last two years. Some of this might be down to staff vacancies, cutbacks or perhaps working from home not properly managed. I was chatting to a friend last week, trying to obtain a death certificate from her city council. These are generally issued to a target of a week. Already 9 days on and unable to progress funeral, probate etc, this is being blamed on ‘Working From Home’ apparently.  

Is WFH turning into a convenient scapegoat, maybe taking over from ‘Sorry, our computer system is not very good and that’s slowing everything down’ ?

Would you accept a cut in pay if we choose longer term working from home? How much might it be worth to you?

Another example last week was on an LBC piece on Passport issue delays. Nick Farrari hit out at the Director General of the Passport Office, saying “This woman is on the thick end of £200k pa, she doesn’t go into work and thousands of Brits are desperately waiting for their passports”. Does he think she might abandon her Peloton, slippers & jogging pants, go into the office and start knocking some of the nice new blue ones out herself personally? Does anyone actually have any evidence at all that she is unable to effectively do her job at home? That in fact is the only criteria that really matters for this.

Has your organisation got the ability to really monitor what work is being done, different types of interactions, whether that is one or more physical offices, at home or a hybrid of both? That is the key to where the right place physically, for each member of staff.

If we can help your organisation with any aspect of transformation issues/procurement, please just get in touch, for a chat over a brew. I will bring the chocolate Hobnobs 😉

       Related Post: Bring It Back - What will the New Normal look like?

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

The Beatles – Get Back.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

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. . . . . . . . . . . .

Bring It Back

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

There is definitely light at the end of the Covid19 Coronavirus tunnel in the UK. Of that, there is no doubt, the NHS vaccine rollout is moving apace and notwithstanding vaccine passports to get to the bar of my local fave CAMRA real ale watering hole, we might be entering a ‘newer normal’.

Many of us have been working from home, Teams, Zoom, Hangouts, Bluejeans (WTF?) all mastered and significant ICT infrastructure put into play. Having completed 12 years of transformation in just about 12 months, what will the newer normal probably look like?

Well, its unlikely to look like the old normal, in my humble opinion. This is backed up by some of the academics in this area and some of the surveys made on the effect, pros and cons of working from home (WFH) on us all.

It has of course for many in management, put a focus on how work we all do is measured. We used to very much have an ‘input based view’ and I know a few places where at the start of 2020, this still was the norm. IE if bottoms are on seats between core hours, the ‘input’ is there, so most likely the work is being done. Well, as we all know, there are productive bottoms and sometimes lazy bums…

Output based management, in contrast focuses on the work that gets completed. The more switched on organisations have used this to great effect, where homeworkers clear x days work, in x days, regardless of when they do so, time of day they do so, or if they are performing it in a onesie. Frankly, if its being done, we are fulfilling our contract of employment, are we not.

Not having to get dressed or washed so often is having a terrible effect on deodorant sales, the arse of which has dropped out.  How long are your roll-ons now lasting?

Taking a commute out of most working days, saves us an hour or more. Most of us can be productive straight after that first early morning latte or that camomile tea, avoiding the traffic jams, road rage or wasted time. The boffins estimate this represents a 6%+ pay rise effectively and we seem to like it. Personally when I chat with work colleagues, we all agree we have a little new appreciation for the commute. 25% of it was useful thinking and composure time.  We all agree we would lose the remaining 75% natch!

Even with Zoom/Teams its not the same from home as being in the office space, collaborating and being creative. Many employers are realising this and prefer when staff are in ‘actual’ office days, more collaborative, new ideas work and events, get more from staff. Surveys seem to suggest that 2-3 days in the office may be the norm going forward, although clearly personal preferences will vary.

Younger staff, over half of university graduates, or employees with cramped or limited space at home clearly prefer a race back to office working. Parents with families, quite often the opposite. In China, it has been found that staff not spending enough time in the office are at a disadvantage for promotion and advancement. Being less visible is a disadvantage, even when output based management is in play. Just one aspect that HR perhaps need to be aware of, for the ‘newer normal’.

On the HR front clearly for the newer normal, there might have to be consideration made for staff who can no longer be offered working from home. Should we consider compensating those? Also, will our health and safety policy need to be extended to our homes when working there?

Who would have thought that ICT would perhaps be the least of our concerns?

Related Post: Big or small, and I have worked with providers with 34 up to 30,000 homes, its complex

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Bring It Back - McAlmont & Butler.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

File Under: #HomesForBritain,#HousingDAY,#InternetOfTenants,#Shout,#UKHousing, 07854655009, 1st Touch,1stTouch,360,365Agile,3squared,4Js, ACL,ALMO,AMS,AX,Aareon,Abritas,Academy,Accuserv,Accuserve,Active Housing,ActiveH,ActiveHousing,Acutence,Advanced,Agile,Agile365,AirWatch,Alfresco,Alignment,Allpay,Amazon Web Services,Anite,Apex,App,ArchHouse,Archouse,Asprey e-state pro,Asset Management,Associates,Aurora,Average IT Costs,AWI SX Integration Toolkit,AWS, BI,BO,BPR,BancTec,BigChange,Blockwise,BluTek,Bluebox,Blueprint,Browser Applications,Business Objects,Business Planning,Business Process Review,Business social networking, CACI,Capita One Housing,CBL,CCS IT Keystone CCSIT,CEDRM,CHICS,CHR,CIH,CMS,COA,CORE,CPL,CRM,CRM2013,CRS,CTI,CTX,Cadcorp,Capita,CapitaOne,Capita One,Capital Management,Cashflow,Castle,Castleton,Castleton Technology,Cedar Open Accounts,Cerrus,Change,Charges,Chartered Institute Of Housing,Cheaper Housing IT,Chics, Citrix,Civica,Civica CTX,Civica Cx,Civica Genero,Civica Saffron,Clearview,Clik,Cloud Dialogs,CloudDialogs,Coactiva,Codeman,Comino,Commontime,Community Reward Services,Company,Competitive Dialogue process,Component Accounting,Consilium,Consolidation, Consultancy,Consultant,Consultants,Contact Manager,Context,Contractor Systems,CorVu,Cost Reductions,Covalent,Crystal Reports,Customer Relationship Management,Cx, DRS,Deeplake,Designer Software,Development Systems,Director,Document,Documotive,Docuware,Dynamic AI,DynamicAI,Dynamics 365,D365,Dynamics365, ECMK,EDM,EDRMS,ERP,ESRI,Elmhurst,Enghouse Interactive,England,English,EnterpriseBI,Estatecraft,Etive,Exhibition,Exponential-e, Facebook,Factorwise,Field Service management,Finance,Financial Systems,Financials,Footprint,Forms,Freezes,Fusion,Firmstep, Gas Tag,G-Cloud,Goss Interactive,GCloud,GDPR,GGP,GIS,GasTag,Genero,GeoSolveIT,Getting best from,GoTonySmith,Grasp,Grip,Group Apex,Granicus,GOSS HFI (Housing Financials interface),HG,HRA,Hardware,Hitachi Systems,Hitex,HomeMaster,Hometeam,HouSys,House,Housemark,Housemark survey,Housing,Housing Contact,Housing Group,Housing Insight,Housing Management,Housing Management Consultant,Housing Partners,Housing Portfolio Management System,Hub Asset Management,Homeswapper,Housing jigsaw, Housing Support Pro,HousingIT,HousingSupportPro,HyperOptic, IMS,IT,IT Budget,IT Training,ITIL,Impact Response,In,In4,IEG4,In4Systems Promaster,InfoBoss,InHouse,InMotion,InMotion2015,InMotion2016,InfoBoss,Infoflow,Information,Information Technology,Information@Work components,Informix,Innovation, Informetis,Inphase,Inside Housing,Insight,Internet Portal,Internetalia,Invu,Ireland,Irish,itLab, Keyfax,Keylogic,Keypera,Keystone,Kirona,Kypera, Landlord,Ledgers,Linkedin,Liquid,Locality,Localz,Liberty, M3,MAVIS,MD,MDM,MI,MIS,MIS-AMS,MISCS,MRI,MS Dynamics,MRI,MS Dynamics CRM2011,Microsoft365,microsoft 365,MWL,Management,Management Server,Manifest,Measuring,Mebus,Microsoft Dynamics 365,Microsoft dynamics GP 2013,Miracle,MobileIron,Mobysoft,Monopoly board images and pictures,Montal,Mr Void,MriEngage,MrVoid,MRI Socialhousing,MRISocialhousing, NDL,NINTEX,NINTEX workflow,NPS,NPS ASSIST,NPS Housing,NPS Job Manager Mobile,NROSH,Natural,Neighbourhoods and Communities,Nintexworkflow,Northgate,Northgate Codeman,Northgate Public Services,Notice,Netcall,Netcall Liberty,NEC Software Solutions OA,OGC Buying Solutions,OJEU Limits,ORS,Ohms,OmFax,Omniledger,One,OneAdvanced,OneServe,Open source,OpenContractor,OpenHousing,Opti-time,Options,Optitime,Oracle,Orchard,Outsource and outsourcing,OutSystems, PIMMS,PIMSS Data,PM,PRINCE2,Paloma,Pamwin,PanConnect,People Value,Peoplevalue,PfH,Pick,PlanForm,Planned maintenance,Plenfific,Plus,Portfolio Management System,PowerObjects,Pro,Pro-Points,Prodo,Progress,Promaster,Propoints,Proval,Providers,Pyramid, QL,QuantSpark,Qube,QLX,Qlikview,QueryView,Queryview reporting,Quiss, RM865,ROCC,RPs,RSL,Rave,ReAct,Reality,RedkiteCRM,Red Olive,Registered,Registered Social,Rent 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. . . . . . . . . . . .

Home And Dry

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @hotpixUK
or LinkedIn here uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/


You will have no doubt read that news item last week about how Yahoo have banned working from home (WFH). Marissa Mayer would clearly like to see those employees clocking in and out, being visible around the place.

It does make me wonder if the Yahoo offices look anything like those scenes over at Google. You know, a bit like at Bromford Housing Group; crash areas, open plan kitchens, leather sofas, booths where you can update Facebook, Twitter, PInterest and other social media. That approach makes your work environment look more like a home environment, the theory being that as employees, the line between the two becomes blurred and we spend longer at work (hopefully working!). Admittedly Google HQ (at least the London one) has more video games, more designer furniture and antique lampshades that any (forward thinking) RSL I have ever visited. Check it out here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/9461561/Inside-Googles-quirky-new-London-headquarters.html?frame=2303595

Reading behind the Yahoo headline however, the reality is more like 200 or so out of 12,000 employees who used to exclusively work from home. Well does this penalise honest workers who have carved out a fair work-life balance while going their roles well OR reveal the amount of shirking that happens when you work from home? When exactly should WFH be appropriate?

For many that is down to organisational culture, how well employees are managed, monitored and what kind of IT infrastructure supports them. That last point is crucial. If an employee can adequately work at home or on the move with full access to systems, documents and files, they can take full use of virtually everything they have at their fingertips in the office. Can you say that of your systems? How many documents are still the subject of an office paper chase?

In an age where EE are offering 4G at £42 a month, it’s a sad fact that many places we have social housing, there is seldom decent 3G. WiFi is a great way to get around this. One RSL I work with have put this in to many schemes, with a view to tackling Digital Exclusion. While residents pay a small service charge for this, it’s ideal for travelling staff who can get on to Citrix Receiver on a tablet/ipad or laptop. This means their full desktop is available when sitting with residents.

I have experienced traditional environments where working from home was allowed. In one case a programmer was perceived to have abused that privilege. As a punishment, all working from home was banned with some disappointing and discouraging consequences. In my experience where working from home has been successful (particularly in the IT area) people can be best managed in a goal based way. I.E. ‘products’ (in the PRINCE2 definition) of some kind should be delivered for a set time or date. The employee can then arrange their home day however they wish in order to hit that deadline. Thus you can fit the school run, a bit of shopping, waiting for that delivery or whatever around your day as long as you deliver. WFH is often relevant just for certain roles, projects or positions at different times. It’s important to make that point clearly to staff to remove ambiguity. They also need to act responsibly and fairly while in a work role.

Justifying WFH can be done based on many factors. Better for people and the environment, perceived greater efficiency, reduction in mileage claims where staff travel direct to sites (not via the office) etc. Provision of decent systems, Citrix/Terminal Services, hardware and data connections obviously introduce costs. Many organisations are allowing or encouraging BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). This can cut costs and make WFH much more convenient for staff. Access to systems needs then to be controlled and also deployment of apps etc on those users devices.

I work very much like that currently and more inclined to work way more hours than is perhaps healthy. I do miss the opportunity to ‘collaborate’ in a traditional office environment. That was one aspect cited by Mayer and a particular thing she wanted to achieve. It is enjoyable being out however and I do like being in business attire when on site. Anyone who knows me well will know my extensive tie collection, one that would allow me to work in one place and not wear the same tie again for over 6 years, if I had a mind to. The nice thing is when the shirt and tie is replaced with t-shirt and jeans, there is a psychological break from work to home. I know then when to stop!

Read on to: What's stopping us getting more mobile?

You can link with me on LinkedIn here - uk.linkedin.com/pub/tony-smith-bsc-hons-acih/a/979/351/ It would be great to connect !

Gerry Rafferty - Home and Dry.


(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009

PS If there are subjects you might like me to tackle on this blog, please get in touch and let me know!

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