ke Bank’s s people is idends
SYNC NI MAGAZINE
25
What is clear is that the pandemic has influenced employee priorities and employers need to collaborate more than ever with their employees to shape what is right for them. The shift to home working has been very positive for some but we must also appreciate this is not the case for all.
q Many of your frontline
staff, such as those in branches, have been in the workplace throughout the pandemic. What approach are you taking to bringing others back? Yes, for over a year now we have been working together to keep each other, our families and our customers safe from the virus, whilst continuing to provide a first class service.
Primarily we want to ensure people are healthy and happy. Our Better Ways of Working framework is based on colleagues doing at least one day in the office, two days at home and the rest is up to them. We wanted to allow the opportunity for people to reconnect with their teams and have changed how we’re using office space to allow for greater collaboration. There are aspects of work that are better achieved by spending time together, however there are also productivity benefits realised in concentrated time working from home and employees are more than capable of making those decisions in choosing how and where to work. One of the challenges with home working can be