Councils now have the opportunity to save on overheads, amenities, parking provision and travel time wasted by providing the option of staff working from home. Maybe staff are already working from their homes – but Council is not covered for problems with OHS requirements, injuries and so forth.
“It is easy to introduce a system with safeguards on performance and OHS covered,” said Erica Goodsir, Corporate Development Manager at Pittwater Council.
Other Councils can now make use of the Implementation Package Pittwater Council has recently developed. Pittwater recognises that the premises it currently occupies may soon be too large and expensive because the staff will not be there all the time.
“Think of rental space, parking space, amenities for staff – canteens, toilets, furniture and equipment that may lie idle half of the day,” Erica continued. “Think of the traffic and transport problems and travel time. How much time, cost and effort is expended just getting to work and occupying the space?
“How often have staff taken leave because they are injured and cannot travel to work? Travelling to work in Sydney during the Olympic Games for many staff is likely to be impossible within reasonable timeframes and recently the floods cut many rural Council staff off. Working from home can solve some of these problems too.
“If you want fully productive staff fresh for the day’s work, introduce a Working from Home program – but don’t reinvent the wheel.”
She said that Pittwater Council can provide a complete policy and implementation package as is, or customised to your requirements. Council offers consultancy, training and OHS inspections. Assistance with performance agreements and identification of suitable types of project based work is also available.
“Don’t leave this in the too hard basket – think to the future and your costs and change things now,” Erica said.
For further information contact Erica Goodsir at Pittwater Council, telephone (02) 9970 7222 or email erica_goodsir@pittwater.nsw.gov.au
