Working from home proving popular

A LARGE proportion of council staff are keen to continue to work from home for all or part of the week, according to a recent internal survey.

It comes as a new home working policy is being put in place for staff.

Human resources manager Denise Bell told a meeting of Shetland Islands Council’s policy and resources committee on Monday that hundreds of staff have been required to work from home during the pandemic.

This was around 10 per cent of the council workforce, she said, with many still working remotely today.

The council recently undertook a survey of staff, with most expressing a desire to continue to work from home in the future for all or some of the time.

The council has had a temporary home working protocol in place since June.

“Since then we’ve carried out further work in order to review the existing arrangements that are in place, and to consider more permanent options for flexible working arrangements that include home working,” Bell said.

This has led to the home working policy, which “builds on the existing flexible working policy that the council has had in place for some years”, Bell said.

Councillors on the policy and resources committee approved the home working framework, with the policy set to come into force from April.