Rutland spaces pilot conclusions

Alongside the benefits established for staff and for the operational effectiveness of departments, it was recognised that long-term changes in working patterns could provide an opportunity to help the University to realise the space efficiency savings needed to significantly reduce our cost base and support our carbon reduction obligations.

During phase 1 of the Dynamic Working arrangements, a pilot took place across Rutland and Hazlerigg to establish the types of spaces needed to help facilitate Dynamic Working.  This included evaluating how shared desk arrangements could be best utilised, cataloguing changing equipment needs, measuring the usage of meeting rooms, understanding the need for alternative workspaces and the setting up of a group to gather feedback on how Dynamic Working was working operationally.

The following summarises the pilot, the lessons learned, and the next steps required.

Aspects trialled through the pilot

• A ‘Dynamic Working Operational Group’ was established with representatives from Hazlerigg and Rutland, as a forum for providing feedback on practical issues with the implementation of Dynamic Working.
• Open access was provided to all meeting rooms directly situated off corridors in Hazlerigg and Rutland so that they could be bookable by all occupants of both buildings.
• Six ‘hot desks’ were setup in Rutland 1.15 and three ‘quiet working’ workstations in Rutland 1.15A.
• Several meeting rooms were equipped with a monitor, keyboard and mouse to trial their suitability as ‘Teams’ rooms.
• The Finance office and Change Team operated shared desk set ups in their respective spaces, facilitated by colleagues in IT, using a combination of docking stations and docking monitors.

Lessons learnt

IT equipment

• The provision of desktop computers limited the practicality of Dynamic Working for a number of colleagues, this was addressed through the issuing of laptops.
• The use of shared workstations identified the need for simple connectivity to monitors. This was best achieved through individual docking monitors with one cable to deliver both power and transfer visuals and audio. The use of a standard Dell dock also provided suitable connectivity.
• Headsets were reported as necessary for all staff working in shared office environments. As the number of staff on campus increased, taking Teams calls in shared office areas was reported as being a concern for many staff.

Meeting rooms

• Opening up meeting rooms across both buildings did not lead to staff reporting that they could not get access to a meeting room.
• The increased number of Teams calls led to an increase in requirement for different types of meeting room provision including ‘short-stay’ rooms for taking quick calls as well as rooms for taking scheduled Teams meetings.
• A provision of an additional screen for teams meetings was shown to improve the experience for staff taking Teams calls in meeting rooms, especially when needing to work on documents during the call.

Hot desking and quiet working areas

• The usage of these areas was limited in the first instance but steadily increased as the number of colleagues on campus increased and in particular by colleagues trialling shared desk set ups
• A key requirement identified was the ease of connectivity to the equipment.

Shared desk setups

• Allocated storage for individual staff members to store personal items was highlighted as a necessary requirement.
• A mechanism for identifying when a desk is in use was necessary. This was achieved with a simple sign with the person’s name on it that was placed on a desk when in use.
• A desk booking system was not required within either of the shared desk spaces for the rooms to operate effectively.
• Overflow spaces were required for Teams wanting to have certain days with all staff members in.

Next steps

Due to the continued COVID occupancy restrictions the pilot was not able to collate data on the appropriate allocation ratio of desks to FTE or properly understand the number of supporting spaces (such as teams meeting rooms) required. Establishing the appropriate balance of individual workstation requirements against flexible shareable furniture was also out of scope of this initial pilot.

The work of the Dynamic Working group is now being continued by ‘Project Workplace’ as one of the enabling projects of the new University Strategy. This group will oversee any further changes based on the initial learning of the pilot, this will include looking into the suitability of current meeting provision in terms of quantity and equipment within, as well as the development of the current desk sharing and quiet working areas.