# data[].attributes.headline
Having a choice is good especially with poor health

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Having a choice is good especially with poor health

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Working from home has really helped me to be able to get on with my work while having a chronic health condition. It allows me to solely focus on getting my work done.

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I have personally found an overall productivity increase due to my own home computer setup.
I own a large monitor and my work has me using multiple tabs and windows. The increased screen real estate has really made my job a lot easier to do.
I also find staff discussions which happen regularly in the office can be distracting and often have to sit with headphones on all day. This is down to the open plan office and was a complaint I made prior to its implementation. These discussions now happen in teams and I can choose to engage in them at the time or check them at a later on.
On the downside there have been occasional issues with the VPN, although these often resolve quickly. I have also had some issues relating to my laptop which is particularly old and which requires me to input a extremely long restore code every time I restart it.

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I was new to CMD and the main library before the pandemic, so the online meetings have really helped create a sense of who people are.

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I would much rather have a desk I can call my own for a number of reasons, e.g. it's nice to have a routine and know where you're sitting, it feels more hygienic and covid safe. Also, some teams and individuals need specialist equipment, e.g. barcode scanners, OH equipment. It would also be nice to be sit with fellow team members to help answer queries, etc, rather than be spread out across an office.

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Generally, I don't think home working has greatly affected my personal productivity. Workloads increased as we adapted our workflows to provide a better service. The loss of the commute help to provide a better work/life balance, although I found it easy to work longer hours than necessary as there was no commute home at the end of the day.

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Some people seemed better equipped to work at home than others, which affected individuals productivity, e.g. better home work spaces, good home PCs/laptops, good broadband connections etc. I feel everyone was left to fend for themselves. There could have been a more coordinated approach from LS/University to help the transition to remote working.

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In some aspects, communication has improved - more frequent 1-2-1s & team meetings, and Teams has helped to share information  across groups and allow interaction between team members. In other areas, communication has been lacking, particularly from senior management within CMD. Queries can take longer to answer working remotely as you can no longer visit someone at their desk to explain/demonstrate in response to questions. Email and even chats on Teams can make answering queries cumbersome.

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Poor internet connection/wifi caused some frustration  and affected productivity initially, as did not necessarily having the best laptop/home office set up.  The biggest challenge by far was training staff remotely. Working remotely  made this process much more difficult and impacted on productivity.

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I think it is helpful to know where you are going to be sitting, more efficient as you can go straight there and get started, and reduces stress as you know what you are coming into.
It might be useful to have some sort of bubbling system going forward, so if teams are hybrid working, have specific days when they come in, and they always sit at the same desk and with their team mates.
If people need assistive tech or special desk arrangements, do we need a team who can set things up ready to go when the staff member arrives?

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On a good day I can be extremely productive, but so much is going on, we are in a pandemic!  Those times when i am juggling work with homeschooling/caring is stressful, and cannot fully concentrate as i feel i am going to be disturbed at any minute.  And this can happen at short notice which is frustrating when you have work planned and things in your diary.

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This seems fundamentally unworkable in the Library context, especially for ground floor staff - too many teams have specialist equipment, non-standard software that is installed on specific machines, or special setups to accommodate health/disability needs. Many teams also need to confer on procedures and this will be hugely disruptive if they have to run across the office every time. I think this idea should be discarded completely for CMD.

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Our team ended up very disconnected and had to add more meetings to compensate. Conferring on small issues takes longer as it's unclear when people are available, and you have to wait for them to type a reply. Communication with immediate colleagues and line manager is okay but barely hear from anyone else unless there is a specific issue. All communication is task-focussed so have lost track of the broader context - e.g. in the office senior colleagues might chat about their work while we wait for someone who is late for a meeting. Everything feels like it's on a need-to-know basis when remote - restricted to info that is directly relevant to my own tasks.

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I have found it almost impossible to concentrate while WFH and my work output has decreased dramatically. I am much more easily distracted in my living space, I also don't have a lot of space and find the presence of work equipment very intrusive. I am extremely restless and find it hard to stay at my desk as I no longer have enough movement from place to place in my day. This is frustrating and depressing for me as I'm no longer able to do my job to the same standard.

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I would like to see hybrid working becoming the "new normal". I had been told for years that my band could not and would not be allowed to work from home. However, throughout the whole of the pandemic myself and fellow colleagues have shown that we are able to very successfully, if not better than when we were in the office.

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For me, WFH has been a disaster and I would like to be back on campus ASAP, but some people feel the opposite and everything in between - staff must be allowed to make their own choices on this, a top-down approach imposing fixed ratios will upset everyone.

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Being able to adopt hybrid working, completely working from home or completely working in the office - it depends on the individual - impacts mental and physical health massively.

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This doesn't work. It doesn't feel covid safe or safe from any other virus/bacteria despite the cleaning process in place currently. There is nowhere to put all of the equipment that is necessary for your role. You have to spend a lot of time collecting equipment and making sure that the desk is set up correctly for your needs.

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All staff should be listened to on their opinion about hybrid working. How it works for them personally and the business needs. For some it works really well and should be continued whilst for others it doesn't work and don't enjoy it. Having a blanket policy may create a lot of resentment.

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In some areas communication has increased and improved, for example 121s and team meetings via Teams.
Communication from higher grades however has decreased and has led to the feeling that my team has been forgotten about and the work we have been doing is not valued.

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Despite work and home life all being in the same place whilst working from home. I have a much better work-life balance as I am less tired, less anxious about travel etc. I have been able to work from home whilst I have my boiler serviced, or plumbing fixed for example - something I would have previously had to take annual leave for, meaning I can use my annual leave for more well-being orientated activities. Therefore, my mental health has improved. This has meant my work productivity has also improved.

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I feel I have achieved more in a calmer and less busy environment being at home

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Sometimes go for several days without any communication from team leader/other team members so no feeling of belonging to a team.

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My productivity has increased. I do not have to worry about commuting 2-6 hours a day or whether the trains are not working or delayed. I don't have to take half a day off for medical appointments just to ensure that I get there in time. I can modify my working environment to suit me better than a large open plan office i.e. temperature, lighting and noise.

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We have been forced to develop new behaviours

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We have been forced to develop new behaviours

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The biggest difference has been that communication has become more formalised, in place of less structured conversation that occurred in the office.

Team meetings and 1-1 frequency have been increased in order to maintain contact between team members and line managers/direct reports.

On the whole this has been positive but there's a downside in that more time is spent in meetings and not performing expected duties. Some colleagues have found being taken away from their work as quite disruptive.

A new balance will need to be struck once we introduce Hybrid working.

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I don't arrive at the office completely fed up after disastrous train journeys and exhausted. the same is true when arriving back home after disrupted train journeys. hence can be more productive when home working. One in the future fears long delayed journeys in overcrowded trains as one would have to be more on one's guard about catching infections etc.

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I have felt that at times the university has been a little 1950s in its attitude pre-Covid- all about presentism. Home working for admin staff seemed to be totally frowned upon. Well we haven't been present for over 12 months - the sky has not fallen in, all jobs (and more) have been done remotely and staff in my team were not furloughed and expected to work (mostly with our own equipment) from day one of lockdown. Which we did - we went through the difficult time of adjustment and many bought their own equipment etc to improve working. I hope this experience brings about a sea change in working culture. Many companies have seen that a lot can be done remotely and have learnt to trust staff to get the job done. Time for the university to take that on board - and hybrid working would make us even more resilient going forward should further such dramatic lockdowns etc are imposed upon us.

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I agree with previous comments around presenteeism, Hybrid working is the answer to this issue by allowing staff to work from home while unwell. The alternative would be either sickness absence when it may not be required or being pressured into coming into the office while unwell.

Library Services should create the framework for Hybrid working but individual teams should be allowed to implement as they see fit. Discussions between line managers and direct reports should inform how a team could work, within reason.

Teams should be allowed to use Hybrid working as they see fit and not be influenced or led by other teams who may take a different position (e.g. the uneven use of flexi time across the department).

LS should ensure that staff who engage with Hybrid working are not stigmatised or discriminated against, this type of working should be accepted as 'normal' as soon as possible.

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All my work is spent being at a PC, whether that be at home or in the office. The main difference is I am more motivated at home to get the job done - far too many distractions and unnecessary social chats in the office. Some of course need the social chats - others don't.

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Some people require adjustable desk, special chairs, monitors etc. This needs to be considered for hotdesking.

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It is interesting in our team that sick leave has been virtually non-existent during lockdown. We think this is because people often fear the journey when ill to campus and being on show to everyone when ill - which of course doesn't happen when home working.

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All staff should be able to work from home if needed rather than taking Annual Leave for emergency issues, e.g waiting for boiler repairs.

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Some teams have specialist equipment

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Not very COVID safe

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Would need to invest in hardware for staff who are working home.

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The ability to work from home makes us more Covid resilient

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Hybrid working should consider personal as well business needs. CMD staff were expected to work from day one of lockdown and have done so throughout to keep the university going. Now is the time for the University to consider the efforts staff went to and consider their needs going forward.

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There should be an element of choice of the number of days people would like to work from home

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As communication and conversation was not approved of in the ground office floor  (we had been told to take a lot of queries/conversations into a private room – away from our pcs – great help that was!)  - it is wrong to think socialisation and communication has decreased since remote working – it has increased as remote conversations have not impeded in anyway other people’s need to concentrate in silence. Returning to an office of 80 plus would immediately stifle the improvements to communication in my view.

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People aren't comfortable constantly swapping desks. A lot of jobs take a lot of setting up, time lost and productivity lost setting up in the morning. People like their own space.

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Decisions on Hybrid working should be taken from Team line managers. Trust should be given to teams.

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This would allow more flexible approach to working.

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Investigate how teams can work together to cover on campus work and allow for home working.

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Look at workflows to assist with hybrid working for all teams.

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very little communication from team leaders.

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Difficult for some teams to work from home. There should be some tasks that could be done at home for those teams to allow flexibility.

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Would want to retain control of diaries, and not have sudden short notice changes, as may have planned the day and would be additional stress to make immediate changes.

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Difficult due to several people working at home.

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Some people have left and this has left large gaps in certain teams. Has left people with quite narrow focus, exaggerated gaps in knowledge between teams, there should be more opportunities to work between teams and collaborate. A rota to work between different teams might be an idea.

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generally feel positive to have the option of hybrid working.
and to be trusted and still do a good job.
how do we conquer the guilt?

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these no longer happen. we took them for-granted before. helpful for shared understanding, experience sharing, community building and generating ideas - which sometimes seems easier when in motion!

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Disparity of communication between divisions

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Disparity of communication between divisions

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Communication by senior management has not been good in CM. Especially when compared to LCS, who seem to have regular communications and meetings and involve staff in conversations, that didn't feel the case in CM. Very little acknowledgement from senior management of work we do, particularly in all staff emails. CMD staff feel forgotten. Important functions that have kept library going like e-resources, reading lists and ILL have barely been mentioned.

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Hybrid working makes this more achievable.

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Hearing problems make in-person meetings difficult, requiring assistive tech. However, meetings online require no assistive tech at all, which makes it easier. Also, acoustics in open plan offices make it difficult to manage hearing problems - working from home removes this issue.

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Lack of communication on cases in the library

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Lack of communication on cases in the library

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Numbers on cases in the library has been poorly communicated.

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Relies on self-motivation.  need to be in the correct frame of mind.  Quality versus quantity, time spent in the wrong mindset in front of the laptop is a waste, need to get the balance right and look after wellbeing for creative tasks.

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Some staff were left to their own devises for long periods. Added to sense of isolation.

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Easier to connect with people on different floors usually, for example. Better communication online, due to poor internet connection in office.

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Able to speak more freely in an online environment, potential for people to overhear you is gone. Can create divides between groups if you don't regularly speak to them. Some have more regular, focused conversations with their managers. Private conversations can be kept that way.

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Some jobs look very different in remote working world, some roles completely redefined.

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Would be good to keep a mix, has been effective for certain teams more than others.

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Providing equipment for working from home wasn't particularly well handled. Expense of buying home equipment, new laptops. Some people struggled with old laptops, poor internet. Struggle to get software for remote desktop.

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More time at work, less travelling, less distractions from open plan office. Improved productivity, less stress from travelling. Stress of parking. Some loss of productivity in CM, all focused on the office, not easy to work form home, stress of not having much to focus on - for a long period. Lack of separation from office space and home space, makes it harder to concentrate sometimes, effects mental health.

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Commuting to the Library for me takes 2+ hours, often in heavy traffic, so not having that every day has been in some ways beneficial personally as I've not felt as tired by the time I get to my desk, or once I step away, which has helped with being able to concentrate or perform my job well.

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Not seeing colleagues at all in person who you would usually be sat near to every work day has had a big impact. Microsoft Teams has been really useful helping to bridge that gap, although it cannot replace it. Adoption of Teams across Library Services has taken a while, though in recent months this has begun to increase, but there is a lot more untapped potential and features that could be used to help support hybrid and agile modes of working. For example, the ability to screen share during a meeting so you can show a colleague any weird errors in Alma that are hard to describe, or during training so colleagues can follow the steps of a task, such as the process of how to place an order, in real-time, as if they were watching the screen over someone's shoulder as they demonstrate it.

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Whether Teams, Zoom or something else, many of us were underconfident with video meeting formats and have gained a lot of experience!

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I thought it might be useful to add that homeworking has been really helpful in managing chronic pain related illnesses (e.g. endometriosis) and I imagine there must be some other colleagues who have found this really helpful. Definitely made me able to work whereas I might have had to have sick days if I'd been in the office.

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It would be very helpful to have an updated chart with all divisions and teams listed and their main contacts, so that you know whom to contact for what. WFH you cannot just walk across the office and ask someone in person, so having a list of contacts would help in that sense.

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Has had a very positive impact on communication and should keep evolving the way we communicate using Teams to make the most of it as a resource. Useful for keeping in touch with individuals and groups, as well as working collaboratively together.

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Can have quick catch ups on Teams easily without having to book a room or disturb others

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Not everyone is on Teams all the time so it is difficult to discuss something straightaway when required.

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Delivering training online has been well received and there is a feeling that it has removed barriers for some attendees (e.g. those not based in Birmingham and able to come to campus normally). Would favour a hybrid approach to delivery to keep the benefits found in last 12 months, i.e. have some face-to-face sessions and some online sessions.

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Not having your own space to work in can only be a bad thing. Not sure how not knowing where you will sit from one office visit to the next can be good for motivation.

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PCs tend to perform very poorly with large numbers of user accounts and also may need to install software on a large number of different PCs. Laptop provision is therefore essential to make this work.

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- very difficult to manage equipment for specific tasks, especially when doing multiple tasks with physical stock
- seems sterile - can't personalise desks etc.
- hygiene issues? Sharing desks and equipment is less hygienic.
- if we have to do this, would prefer team areas rather than hot-desking over the whole office.
- causes issues if people have special adjustments - screen setups, tables etc.

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Fixed days and proportions for WFH / on campus unlikely to be the best approach. Need to be trusted to work out the best approach for teams and individuals - e.g. one week you all might want to be in on the same day for a team meeting, another week you might want to WFH more to focus on a project.

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How would the culture of desk sharing work? For example, if individuals have a preferred desk, how do you stop the 'creep' of individuals always gravitating towards the same desk and other people feeling awkward about occupying that desk.

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If booking system remains to book specific desks, is that sustainable and a good use of time in the long term?

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- would like to work hybrid but not always possible depending on type of job.
- would like a choice for everyone, but depends on type of work and personal feelings - a lot of work that can't be done from home has just stopped which isn't sustainable.
- Huge range of feelings even within one team - some would be happy 100% remote, some would consider leaving if forced to do any work remotely, some would like different combinations or schedules.

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- Harder to get hold of manager, things take longer to resolve.
- Hard to get information.

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If you don't have a dedicated desk, how would you get access to a pedastal for storage etc?
Also, where individuals require specialist equipment, e.g. a specific chair, or raised desk or assistive equipment - how would that be catered for?

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Have both heard and experienced a wide variety of both positive and negative effects on individual mental health associated with working from home. No-one is the same, and whether working from home positively or adversely affects mental health overall is not often determined by any single aspect; it's like an equation, you add up all the positives and negatives individually to get a balance, but that can also change on a daily basis, and sometimes the result will favour working on campus - if you can't balance the equation, then in turn this generally has a negative effect on mental health and, by extension, productivity. The opportunity for hybrid working is a chance for us to be able to balance our own individual equations between the two, which can help us maintain wellbeing and work better overall as a service.

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This is not something that I would expect to have to do when I return to the office.

From a Line manager perspective, the suggestion that my team would be scattered across the office is not a positive one. I strongly believe that hot desking would only have a negative affect on my team and our ability to perform our work

DSE self assessments - would we need to perform a new assessment every day? Who would be available to assist with the subsequent increase in DSE admin?

Cleaning and maintenance - I would not be comfortable with sharing my desk. I maintained a clean and tidy work space pre-COVID because I took responsibility for it and also our immediate area of the office. I would quickly resent having to clean up after colleagues who did not do the same.

Team phone - how would we be able to maintain a team phone without permanent desks?

Team specific hardware and software - would we be expected to install/setup our hardware/software on different PCs every day? We were supplied with additional monitors before we left last March. Would I be expected to carry a monitor with me to and from work every day, and then install and remove it every day?

Communication - forcing my team to work separate from their colleagues would reduce the spontaneous QA sessions that arose as part of our work. I would resist anything that puts up barriers to this necessary communication, in addition to the already present problem of some colleagues attempting to police conversation amongst different teams.

Instead of 'Agile working' I would prefer that all of our pre-COVID desks are made available to us again. Any decisions on how my team use our pre-COVID desks should then be taken by myself and my line manager, with the needs and requirements of my direct reports in mind.

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Equipment is really important. Provision of laptops is really uneven and varies by role/grade. Very important an equitable approach is taken to this.

# data[].attributes.body
Moving from one to the other (i.e. working from home for the first time or going back to the office after a long time) can be very challenging

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Some teams require specific equipment (e.g. RFID tagger) or software to be installed in order to perform their duties, so having access to a dedicated cluster of PCs that are for one team only is more helpful in this context.

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Sometimes a lot easier to pop by someone's desk rather than send an email

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- Some hated it - much less productive at home.
- Some found it okay for first few months but noticed negative impact over time.
- Some found it hard to settle into but productivity improved once they were used to it.
- Some found hard to judge due to external stress - unclear what was work-related.
- Some tasks easier and some tasks harder.
- Big individual variation; some people focus much easier at home, some much more distractible.
- needing phone for VPN means easy to get distracted by it.
- Lack of commute means more time available, can manage energy better e.g. have a lie down on breaks.
- Some people working longer hours.

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Being able to focus on one thing without your train of thought being interrupted has helped a lot.

# data[].attributes.body
Some meetings function well in an online setting, though there are some experiences where meeting face-to-face would have been preferable, i.e. access to a whiteboard, poster paper etc. So, the key thing is weighing up what format works most effectively for the type of meeting you're conducting.

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Transporting laptop and other equipment between home and the office.

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Best of both worlds - can be at home, distraction free, to perform individual duties of the job. However, hybrid allows for time in the office for physical, team, or group work in terms of meetings etc.
Having to have ad hoc conversations or personal/private conversations is easier to arrange with the virtual option (e.g. don't have to book a meeting room or find a private space, or take a trip to a separate office environment that you're less familiar with).