Lockdown revives plans to sell States property

On Monday, the island is expected to move to stage three of the lockdown exit, known as the Bailiwick bubble, but many civil servants have been told to keep working from home.

States chief executive Paul Whitfield, pictured, has written to all staff outlining that entering stage three will not mean a wholesale return to the workplace.

‘We are continuing to evaluate and trial new ways of working with greater use of technology and remote working, which have the potential to bring about several benefits, including improving work/life balance for many and also the ability for us to reduce the size of the States of Guernsey estate, thereby generating financial returns.

‘The return to the workplace therefore presents us with an opportunity to start to embed those new working practices, something that started after last year’s lockdown and has proved successful in several areas.

‘We can now build on those early successes and learn from that experience.’

The idea is that in the first month of stage three, rotational working schedules will be drawn up so that all staff are not in attendance in the workplace every day.

The exception to this will be team or section meetings – and the nature of some roles will require those people to be in the office all of the time.

‘Rotas will need to be arranged to suit the requirements of the business, but suggested patterns that have worked well include one week in the office/one week elsewhere or two days in the office/three days elsewhere.

‘Please try to ensure, as far as possible, that one-to-ones and team meetings take place face-to-face, as these conversations do not always lend themselves to being conducted via Teams.

‘Of course, whether staff are in the office or working elsewhere, regular contact from line managers remains important from a welfare perspective, as does the need to set objectives and monitor outputs.’

A further update on ‘next steps’ has been promised within a month of entering stage three.

Mr Whitfield also thanked his staff for their response to the second wave of infection and said they were able to exit lockdown with optimism.