28th April 2021
Julie Chell, Chief People Officer at Civica, looks at what’s helped people move through the pandemic and what our future workplace looks like
It’s an understatement to say that we’ve all learned so much in the past 12 months. As a people team, we’ve tackled situations we couldn’t ever have imagined pre-pandemic. We’ve supported our employees through the highs and lows of balancing work and family life, home-schooling, caring for loved ones and coping with increasing mental health and wellbeing issues.
Speaking as a leader in Civica, my role throughout this has been to inspire a shared vision, lay out a clear strategy and lead by example. Below I’ll share some of the ways we’ve supported our people since the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, what worked and where we’re looking to go next. While there’s still some uncertainty over the pandemic and its impact globally, it’s vital that we communicate clearly, listen to our people, while putting the needs of our customers at the heart of our plans too.
Communicate and support
With most of our people currently working remotely, it’s been vital to keep in touch as much as possible. Alongside our usual communications, we continue to run regular pulse surveys to find the real high and low points. These surveys have proved invaluable in our decision making, guiding us to offer the right support and communications. They have also shown us where to praise people in the business. For example, we’ve found that the vast majority have appreciated the flexibility shown by our leaders throughout the pandemic and we’ve been clear in passing the thanks on.
Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen how the pandemic has affected people’s mental health, feelings of isolation and inability to ‘switch off’ as the boundaries between home and work life blur together. We’ve acted on this swiftly, with regular training, communications and tips on mental health, reminders about access to our Mental Health Champions around the business and regular webinars to get people talking.
Looking around our business, I’m still amazed by how well we continue to adapt and evolve in response to this changing landscape. Since last March, not only has our business carried on regardless, but we’ve also acquired and integrated several new businesses, and virtually-onboarded more than 250 new colleagues. We continue to offer a wide range of training through our Civica Academy. We’ve switched all our training to virtual sessions for the time being and have seen some real advantages from this: we can reach more people, it’s easier for them to attend, it offers better inclusion for our neuro-divergent colleagues and even improves our carbon footprint.
Inspiring creativity
As people specialists, a key element to our role is to breakdown siloes and boost collaboration across the organisation. Not only is this important when it comes to day-to-day activities, such as virtual Teams calls, but also when looking at the bigger picture, such as what should the long-term remote working strategy be. Without in-person brainstorming sessions, we need to support creative thoughts while working from home by researching and keeping up to date on the latest collaboration tools.
For us, we’ve invested in online tools to create a space for collaboration. We also started doing a range of ‘drop in’ sessions where people can join colleagues for a virtual work-out, mindfulness sessions, virtual coffee and book club discussions. By dedicating some time out of their day focused on creativity, employees are more likely to return to work feeling refreshed. This gives them the space they need to ‘switch off’, which often leads to an increase in ideas and inspiration. Meanwhile, our NorthStar innovation lab allows colleagues to collaborate virtually, suggesting ideas and working on innovation in the latest tech. It’s up to the People team to ensure employees have the right balance of tools that enable them to work efficiently but also encourage time out and a healthy work-life balance.
Let’s look forward
As we eventually emerge from the pandemic, we’re continuing to listen carefully and make the right decisions at the right time across the Civica Group. While there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution, we can look at adapting our work practices in response to how our people prefer to work.
From listening to our people, we know most of our colleagues want to adopt a more blended working approach - dividing their work week between various locations, including home, clients and Civica facilities. We’ll work collectively to ensure our customer needs continue to be met, and plan ahead to ensure we're making the most of our time onsite, connecting with colleagues and building and nurturing relationships.
We know that a flexible workplace is crucial for us to attract and keep the best people at Civica. So we’re aiming to allow as many people as possible to build flexibility into their work life to support them in balancing their personal/family commitments alongside the needs of our customers and business. We also want our colleagues to own their personal development; and the brilliant feeling of empowerment that can bring. We’ll have a greater emphasis on blended learning – combining the very best of both virtual and face-to-face training to enable wider networking and collaboration.
It’s been a tough time for all of us in so many ways, but we’ve all learned so much too. By continuing to listen, check and respond in the best way, we’ll ensure all of our people and our unique Civica culture remains strong – as this post-pandemic world of work evolves.