Embracing Change
Nicola Reeves Group HR Director
Where there’s change, there’s also an opportunity to make things better and COVID-19 gave us the cause to completely rethink the way we work. When we moved into lockdown, we were lucky enough to have the network infrastructure to be able to go seamlessly from the office to home and everything ‘worked’. However, while the technology was there to make that happen, like most industries we were faced with a new challenge – how to look after an entire company; remotely. The challenges were new and varied, which meant we needed to react quickly to change, creating and adapting as we went along. This was all made possible because of the huge trust we place in our people and their constant commitment to us, which has been so evident throughout the past year. They have continued to deliver the right outcomes for the business, for our teams and for our customers regardless of where they have been working.
Smart ways of working As restrictions eased, we began a phased return to our offices for those that wanted to or needed to, we introduced what we called our ‘Smart Ways of Working’ principles. This new policy gave our people a choice on how much time they spent working in the office, at home, or at any other suitable location. This was the result of a company-wide collaborative approach.
It meant any change to our way of working was only going to be made with the involvement and contribution of our people, as well as the full support of our executive team.
