BACK TO WORK
September is when many
organisations predict that
their staff will return to
the office. Jill Hawkins
explores how this can be
achieved safely
any large corporations
are expecting that half
of their employees will
be back to the office
in September according to a CNBC
survey, while various pieces of
industry research state that
between 30% and 80% of agencies
expect to follow suit. Opening an
office again is not as simple as
introducing hand sanitiser and
removing desks; the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) is carrying
out spot checks on the businesses
that have reopened since the UK
went into lockdown and in June
alone they undertook nearly 4,000
checks.
Sam Wilson of specialist
sustainability consultancy Syntiro
Associates has been working with
creative agencies to ensure that
their offices and their staff are
ready for the return. “Creative
agencies have a particularly unique
way of working,” comments Wilson.
“Creative and client service teams
rely on close collaboration,
conversations and team working,
and that presents its own unique
challenges for office working that
meets guidelines.”
Wilson advises that agencies
need to properly examine and
challenge the ‘why’ before jumping
straight into the ‘when’ and ‘how’.
“A return to the office is along two
key dimensions,” she says. “The
first dimension is to consider what
you want to achieve, and this will
no doubt be a hybrid model of
office and home working. This is an
exciting opportunity to bake-in
sustainability through reducing
travel and emissions, reducing use
of resource and providing flexible
working arrangements which are
supportive of diverse talent and
needs. There is a real opportunity
here for agencies to show the way
to brands and gain real competitive
advantage by doing so.”
It is essential to ask staff for
their input on what they want and
need. “Government guidelines
state that staff should be consulted
so you must make sure that you
have gauged their appetite for
35
returning to Back to Work
the office and
addressed any
concerns they may have.”
Wilson advises agencies on how
to build a Strategic Roadmap as an
essential part of the return to office
process. “You need to know where
you want to get to before you
devise your plan and undertake
your risk assessment; your
destination may not be where you
assumed it would be.
“Leadership teams must not
leave these issues to the facilities
management or ops people alone,”
says Wilson. “We are considering
and changing the way that the life
blood of an agency works, its
people and talent, so it is
fundamental that these decisions
involve the leadership team, HR
and every department. You need to
find out what each team needs to
be able to do their jobs. Ultimately
the risk assessment has to take
this into account so it’s best to get
those people involved from the
outset.
“The second dimension, and
most obvious step is around
creating a healthy and safe
environment that is compliant and
effective, that meets regulations,
manages risk and meets insurance
demands but is also an appropriate
one in which people can work and
give their best,” comments Wilson.
Havas Group’s UK headquarters
(Havas KX) is situated at Pancras
Square, King’s Cross and houses
around 2,000 employees working
across 26 different creative,
advertising, experiential, integrated
or media agencies and
organisations.
“We opened Havas KX on the 1
June to all staff, but we are bringing
everyone back in stages,” says Joe
Nettleton, who is head of facilities
for Havas Group. “Our initial risk
assessment was based on bringing
about 30% of our staff (about 600
people) back across all
businesses. The building services
team came in for two weeks in
order to prepare the building and
apply all of the new signage and
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