Smarter working and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused seismic shifts in how we live, including how we work. Traditional, inflexible models of working – based primarily around the physical office and within strict working hours – became impossible almost overnight. Companies around the world had to find new ways of working – at speed and scale – to ensure business continuity.

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Smarter working has been a hot topic in people management and office design for years, yet for many organisations it took this ‘enforced experiment’ of employees having to work from home to fast-track the technological and cultural changes needed to unlock its true potential. And this is not a short-term solution. Few would expect life after lockdown to return to normal, and many organisations – having found the ‘experiment’ to be successful – are now exploring how to embed and enable smarter working in the longer term.

NHS Property Services joins this planning process and hopes to use our expertise in office management and design to expand smarter working across the organisation and beyond – supporting our NHS and public sector partners as we adapt to the ‘new normal’. Back in December, before the pandemic had hit most of the world, Kate Richardson – Head of our National Office Programme – ran a webinar and wrote a blog on the topic, outlining the benefits of smarter working, key steps to implementing it, and sharing some case studies from our work with the NHS.

Despite not covering the impact of COVID-19, these core principles remain true, and we hope it proves of some use to our customers and partners in these uncertain times.

The National Office team are constantly building their expertise in delivering more efficient and smarter working spaces and would love to support on new projects across the NHS. If you have any questions or would like to discuss a project, please get in touch via our Customer Service team.