Pulse Survey

Wellbeing, Work and Covid-19 final report

Integrated Evidence Group, Knowledge & Evidence

· Melody Rhydderch, Lead Specialist Advisor, Behavioural Insights

· Richard Cardwell, Lead Specialist Statistician

· Luke Maggs, Lead Specialist, Operational Research

· David Blaines, Specialist Advisor, Evaluation

· Holly Butterworth, Specialist Advisor, Futures & Innovation

Contents

· Summary Insights

· Summary findings – an overview

· Health and wellbeing

· We like these

· We find these difficult

· Here are our suggestions

· Barriers and Enablers to returning to work place

· Things we would like to keep and additional comments

o Things we would like to keep

o Additional comments

The ‘How’ of ongoing organisational transformation is Honesty, Openness & Willingness, each of which have been demonstrated throughout this survey by all. Thank-you to each person who completed it.

Summary Insights

· About half of us are finding it easy to work from home and just under half are uncomfortable about returning to the work place in the future.

· Most us have found flexibility to work at home and in working patterns helpful now and wish to retain this in a post Covid-19 future n>600.

· Work-life balance is overall positive but impacted by other issues such as childcare, technology, workspace.

· Childcare was the second most frequently raised issue causing difficulty in working experience n> 400 across survey responses. Running out of annual leave, having to do reduced hours and increased stress are mentioned.

· Those who are shielding are small in number but feel concern now and about future (without vaccine).

· Practical workspace and technology issues are also frequently raised as important to consider as home working looks set to continue, though ICT is praised.

· Clear communications & guidance are valued – but we recognise the importance that ‘one size will not fit all’ to solutions. In addition, there does seem to be a varied interpretation of existing guidance from comments included here.

· Small numbers of us have felt like accessing professional help for health, but more of us than that group, have commented on the impact of Covid-19 situation on our health.

Summary findings – an overview

1350 responses

Health and wellbeing

Health & Wellbeing during Covid-19:

· Some people are struggling

· NRW support is valued

· Wellbeing hour is appreciated

· Effect on Wellbeing is mixed

· Work-life balance is overall good – some mixed views

· Wellbeing activities – some good examples

Working Under Covid-19 Now

We like these:

· Flexible working hours

· Lack of work travel

· Lower financial commitments

· More family-time

· Quiet/no distractions

· Lack of travel

· Good technology

· Supportive line management

· Twice weekly bulletin

We find these difficult:

· Childcare

· Lack of Face to Face with Colleague

· Lack of appropriate working space from home

· Carer commitments

· Technology – practical difficulties

· It is hard not site-working

· Workloads are high

· New starters experience practical difficulties

· Concentration & motivation

Here are our suggestions:

· Technology: can we have some hardware & software to help at home

· Workloads – reduce & reprioritise

· Work flexibility good but sometimes hard for Team Leaders to manage

· We would like to continue home working at the moment.

· More consistent approach to work space issues.

· Clearer guidance and more understanding for those of us with childcare issues.

· Communications are good – but can we have more on specific issues raised in this section.

· Line managers perceived overall well

· We would like to return to Site-working.

· Reduce volume of Skypes with breaks between & within.

· New Starters – e-learning (in progress already by NRW).

· Communicate promptly & clearly.

Barriers & Enablers to returning to the work place

Barriers	Enablers
· Exposure to Covid-19 · Lack of SD (social distance) · Spreading Covid-19 to colleagues · Organising childcare · Exposure whilst commuting · Safety/cleaning/SD · Shielding · Childcare · Working from home · Wellbeing	· Vaccine · Limit numbers people · Nightly deep cleans · Staggering hours/shifts · Government guidance · Safety/cleaning/SD · Issues related to Covid-19 · Office space · Working from home · No hot desking · Guidance

Things would like to keep in the future and additional general comments

Things we would like to keep for the future        

· Working from home as default

· Wish to keep flexible arrangements re hours or place of work

· Keep travel to a minimum

· Technology – we proved we can do it

· Seeing our colleagues -we miss them

· Those of us who are shielding are concerned about future & lack of vaccine

Additional comments:

· Working at home now has positives

· Teamwork now has been good

· Travel now – good not to do it

· Flexible working now- positives

· Technology – it is enabling us to work from home

· Childcare is difficult (comments placed in ‘We find these difficult)

Health and Wellbeing

· Some people are struggling

· NRW support is good

· Wellbeing hour is appreciated

· Effect on Wellbeing is mixed

· Work-life balance is overall good – some mixed views

· Wellbeing activities – some good examples

Although 50% of us are finding it easy to carry out our roles, 26% of us are finding it difficult. Likewise, 34% of us are feeling comfortable about returning to a work place in the future, whilst 45% of us are feeling uncomfortable. Common mental health issues and physical health issues were discussed by some of us in the survey. Those of us who felt the need to seek help found the following difficult: Being new starters, high workloads, can’t do usual roles (e.g. site-work), reduced mental health, poor work-life balance. Those of us who said we were struggling, whether or not we accessed help said we were experiencing increased anxiety, a sense of isolation, lack of concentration and physical pain like back pain connected with our work space at home. Whether we were struggling with our wellbeing or not the majority of those who commented on this find NRW to be supportive during these times. The numbers here are drawn from across the survey.

NRW has been supportive (n>120)

· “To be honest - NRW has been fantastic in its support right throughout the Covid-19 period.”

· “Our IT has been fantastic - thank you to the ICT Team;”

· “I think the organisation has been great at supporting us.  ICT are unsung heroes, as the system worked well from day one of lockdown.”

· “I think NRWs response to Covid 19 and the resulting impact on the health and wellbeing of staff has been poor. Communication to staff and motivation of staff from ET during this period has been lacking.”

Wellbeing hour is appreciated (n= 103)

· “I feel the Wellbeing Hour is something we should keep permanently.”

· “I think that the wellbeing hour is brilliant. It encourages people to work on themselves.”

· “I have found the well-being hour frustrating, I work above contract hours as do many staff within NRW in order to keep on top our workloads, it is impossible to take the extra 1 hour kindly provided as the work still needs to be completed.”

General effect on wellbeing is mixed (n= 292)

· “From my personal point of view working from home has improved my wellbeing no end, I take regular breaks now unlike before, if I feel the need I can get access to fresh air, I feel more relaxed not having to be out the door as before. Overall working from home has been a massive success.”

· “Trying to work whilst also caring for my children and trying to get them to do their schoolwork is awful. It is stressful and makes me feel guilty that neither work nor my children are getting the dedication or attention that they deserve. I can't wait for things to return to some semblance of normality.”

· “Depression due to isolation in lockdown;”

· “Anxieties over the whole situation affecting concentration,”

Work life balance were overall positive – Some mixed views ( n= 82)

· “I am enjoying a better work life balance. Access to green space for lunchtime walk so wellbeing and physical activity improved. Not sitting in traffic to get to the office. Not travelling to meetings. Meetings condensed and more focussed online. Environmental benefits of less road traffic. Wellbeing hour each week.”

· “I know that juggling work and teaching my children isn't an ideal situation. But I actually feel I now have a better work life balance as I am at home more with my children. I regularly felt guilty working full time as I missed out on stuff and some days, I didn't get home until 7pm.”

Well being activities were overall positive (n=14)

·  “I have the opportunity currently to complete 30-minute workout videos every morning, which helps with both my physical and mental wellbeing. My aim is to keep these going when lockdown restrictions are eased and there is potential to return back to an office to work”

· “I am baking and exercising more and spending more time with kids. I wouldn't want to immediately lose the option of working at home, without a period of transition. Being able to step in the garden for lunch, listen to birds sing, listening to music I feel has made my work more efficient and effective, better quality work, better collaboration with others”

We like these

· Flexibility in working hours

· Lack of work travel

· Lower financial commitments

· More family time

· Quiet /no distractions

· Lack of travel

· Good technology

· Supportive line management

· Twice weekly bulletin

The colours in the graph above tell of the possible impact of these issues on how easy or difficult we are finding it to do our jobs.

Quiet/no distractions

· “Quieter working environment.” (Extremely easy)

· “Being able to focus on work without distractions. The office felt very overcrowded it was difficult to concentrate.” (Extremely easy)

· “It’s very quiet compared with open plan office and easier to focus on tasks. Also, being able to pop out into the garden for short breaks from my PC (taking advantage of fine weather!).” (Somewhat easy)

Lack of Travel

· “As I do not need to take my 3-hour daily commute to the office I now have a much better work/life balance.” (Extremely easy)

· Knowing I'm doing my bit to lower the carbon foot print for NRW and personally.” (Somewhat easy)

· “Commute time has been replaced with a local walk before work;” (Somewhat not easy)

· “Time saved commuting. Normally 1 hour 45 each day, less CO2 emissions” (Somewhat not easy)

Good Technology

· “The infrastructure ICT must have has meant changes/upgraded has been tremendous. Helpdesk always contact you if you raise an issue.” (Extremely easy)

· “The ICT infrastructure is very useful. It is brilliant for homeworking but only if you have a docking station / additional monitor.” (Somewhat easy)

· “IT has improved whilst we have been in lockdown to enable better communication via Zoom etc, as time has gone on, we have all become more tech savvy.” (Neutral)

· “ICT systems work very well from home (MyMap, WIRS, COLINS, MyNRW etc) and Skype, mobile and email make it easy to stay in contact with colleagues and customers.” (Somewhat not easy)

Supportive Management

· “NRW and particularly my team leader have both been fantastic throughout the current crisis, providing regular updates, open & impartial support/guidance and flexible working arrangements.” (Somewhat not easy)

We find these difficult

· Childcare commitments are hard

· Lack of Face to Face with Colleague

· Lack of appropriate working space from home

· Carer Commitments

· Technology – practical difficulties

· It is hard not site-working

· Workloads are high

· New starters experience practical difficulties

· Concentration & motivation

Childcare difficulties

· “I'm currently taking my annual leave here and there to take some time off to teach my daughter, and I'm worried that I'll will struggle over the summer and winter Holidays to take time off (childcare again) as I'm slowly running out of leave. I would usually keep them for the school Holidays but not sure that I can this year due to no fault of my own.

· “The situation is unsustainable.  I have 3 children under 8yrs old and my wife works 3 days a week.  On those days it is impossible to care for the children and work.  Even when my wife is caring for the children for 2 days, the house is chaotic, noisy and the space I work in uncomfortable.  I have been very stressed and low about the whole situation.  If this carried on to September and I don't receive some kind of paid parental leave, I can see me getting extremely stressed out and unable to work anyway.”

· “At present I am staggering hours amid childcare of 2 year old, to obtain my 37 hour week, therefore having to sometimes log on over weekend if I've been unable to reach 37 hours.”

The colours in the graph above tell of the possible impact of these issues on how easy or difficult we are fining we are finding it to do our jobs.

Technology – practical difficulties

· “Internet bit slow at home, not having easy printer access.” (Extremely easy))

· “IT and practical difficulties such as working on small laptop, no access to printer, screen too small to manage large documents easily.” (neutral)

· “Poor mobile reception at EE at home - need to use personal phone for work calls.” (Extremely not easy)

It is hard not Site-working

· “Not being allowed to undertake some site work (attendance of low-level incidents and regulatory inspections).” (Somewhat not easy)

· “can't get out on site to do my visits, therefore not producing my work. Once I am able to complete visits, I would be happy to work from home.” (Extremely not easy)

· “Would normally be doing mainly fieldwork.” (Extremely not easy)

Workloads are high

· “The amount and pace of work has increased. this is making it difficult to do my job at this time.” (Somewhat easy)

· “The amount of work, our commitments to our stakeholders and customers hasn't reduced yet our efficiency has reduced significantly.” (somewhat not easy)

· “Significant increase in workload.” (Extremely not easy)

New starters experience practical difficulties

·  “All good apart from training new Duty Officers via Skype not as easy.” (Somewhat easy)

· “Only in role 5 months and I'm still learning and needs loads of support as role is complex.” (Somewhat not easy)

· “New starter in post, makes it difficult to learn the basics through shadowing. A lot of knowledge and skills are not being obtained as not going out onsite inspections or investigation of incidents.” (Extremely not easy)

Concentration & motivation

· “Motivation is variable and sometimes challenging in the face of what’s going on the outside world;” (Neutral)

· “Emotional strain and difficulty concentrating with multiple distractions.;” (Somewhat not easy)

Skype

· “Constant skype meetings with no time to do any work between.” (Extremely not easy)

Here are our suggestions

· Technology - can we have some extra hardware & software to help at home?

· Workload – reduce & reprioritise

· Work flexibility good but sometimes hard for TLs to manage

· We would like to continue home working at the moment.

· More consistent approach to work space issues.

· Clearer guidance and more understanding for those of us with childcare issues.

· Communications are good – but can we have more on specific issues raised in this section.

· Line managers perceived overall well, line managers themselves face challenge of remote managing.

· We would like to return to Site-working.

· Reduce volume of Skypes with breaks between & within.

· New Starters – e-learning (in progress already by NRW).

· Communicate promptly

We answered the question above with suggestions as listed, but it is also the case that many of us said either ‘no comment’ (178) or that everything is working fine (112), rather than making a suggestion. Sometimes we chose to make a general comment instead. 836 general positive/negative comments and suggestions are included here, covering most frequently mentioned in order. When we talk about flexible working here, we are talking about flexibility of working patterns and place and when we are talking about home working – we have referred to that specifically. Both have been included here separately.

Technology – Asking for hardware & software

184 of us talked about technology, 19 were general negative comments, 26 positive comments and 139 suggestions focused on access to hardware, software and internet access:

· “NRW could have helped out more with DSE and equipment. I have had to source mine.”

· “Monitor with a camera built in.  Mandatory video calls.  Provision of a printer.  In future allow a home printer to be used.  I think bulk buying of printers would make them quite cheap.”

· “Please get MS Teams rolled out as quickly. It means we can engage more fully with external partners.   We cannot use Zoom, or GoToMeetings and meetings have been very difficult.”

· “Having additional items at home would be a help. PDF editing or a printer would be a big help in my role”    

· “Perhaps we should consider providing monitors and keyboards for home working for staff as well as in the office. Working for more than an hour or two on a laptop is not safe so prevents many staff working more flexibly. Reduce the webinar overload - too many to attend. Focus on a few not the many.”

· “Just making sure that NRW ICT is more flexible and streamlined when it comes to accessing non NRW online services - by providing the infrastructure to access Zoom conferences for example (I'm not aware of any other platforms in detail but I know this has been raised on Yammer). “

Workload – Please reduce & reprioritise

131 people mentioned workload. 31 were about the level of work and 94 suggested that the level of work be reduced. 6 mentioned that flexible working was difficult to manage as a manager.

· “people need to adjust their expectations on peoples’ capacity at the moment, especially relating to childcare, work seems to have increased more and more, people are expecting instant responses on things, I normally commute 1-2 hours each way every day, I'm not feeling like I suddenly have that time back I'm just working more”

· “Reduce corporate work, ease deadlines, announce that people should slow down and push back non-essential work, where possible and to ask for flexibility and support. Many people in probation so may feel less likely to ask for adjustments.”

· “Ensure staff are not putting pressure on others at this time. This should come from the top, but at the moment, all the different groups and Boards are asking more and more of people when they should be setting an example. They need to ensure people email between reasonable hours and manage expectations. We can't work the same as when we were in the office. While managers are supportive, they can only do so much about the amount of work coming in.”

Work flexibility – all good apart from a few who found flexibility difficult (team leaders)

101 were around the flexibility of work. 6 people made negative comments about flexibility, 35 mentioned the positives of working flexibly in general and 60 suggested that continuing to work flexibly would make things easier for us.

· “I welcome the flexibility the organisation is showing towards colleagues, but this also means that TLs have little control or influence over some colleagues who may be pushing the limits. Personally, I am working longer and harder than pre-covid. With several colleagues working reduced hours because of the limits and challenges imposed by covid, I am picking up additional work that is normally done by them or find work arounds because they can't commit to providing the support role their job involves. I enjoy working and job satisfaction is important to me, but I feel let down when others take advantage, particularly when I, too, am facing additional strain and challenges in my personal life in coping with the impacts of Covid-19.  I feel TLs have been disempowered as they are being advised to be super-flexible at all times. I know my TL feels frustrated at how difficult it is to manage some of the situations. I think clearer boundaries should be set out.”

· NRW has been very flexible in terms of working while looking after children. My line manager has been flexible with working hours and on the ball with respect to managing deadlines.”

· “NRW have been very flexible for me and have been very supportive for the days I have my children on my own and are home schooling them both. This support from NRW is re assuring for me and takes away concerns that I am not working to my normal level.”

Home working – all apart from 2 who have practical issues with it. Also please can it continue for now?

86 mentioned home working, 2 comments were negative, 39 were general positive comments about home working and 45 made suggestions about wanting it to continue in making suggestions here and many more suggested did same in other responses to other parts of survey.

· “Unfortunately, my landlord is becoming more and more difficult to deal with due to working from home and that wasn’t the deal they had agreed to when I moved in. Additionally, I do not have a set-up at home that is conducive to work. Hoping to be able to work from the office again sooner rather than later.”

· “I think that NRW has been very proactive in doing things to make working at home easier.  I can't think of anything further at the moment.”

· “Nothing - I’ve found it quite easy to continue my role at home and actually better in many ways.”

· “Acceptance that it is not necessary for everyone to return to an office to do their job and make it more normal to be working from home for those who wish to do so.”

· “Allow me to work from home more as I do not want to return to public transport, as my daily driving commute is difficult, along with parking.”

Work space – Please can we have a consistent approach?

76 mentioned their workspace at home. 13 negative general comments, 6 positive comments and 57 suggestions around improving the workspace.

· “Overall NRW have been very flexible and helpful with this situation. However, I don't agree with them saying we don't need DSE when working at home. I was sitting on a dining room chair and table for 7 hours a day for the past 10 weeks and found it very uncomfortable. In the end I bought my own desk and chair as I was suffering with severe shoulder and neck pains. The NRW advice to have frequent breaks did nothing in the end.”

· “I feel it'd be helpful if the organisation recognised that sitting at a kitchen table is not a long-term solution. Although I appreciate that there has been cuts in budgets, the organisation can only function as it is now because people are working from inappropriate work stations and footing the bill for the equipment to make their workspace better so that the organisation can continue to function- it is not because the organisation has helped.”

· “NRW have made it easier by allowing me to temporarily take home Office equipment (Monitors, Hub, Keyboard and Work's Chair etc.)”

· “I am fortunate to have a desk at home, and I was allowed to bring all my equipment with me (2 monitors, chair, laptop, keyboard and mouse) I am very comfortable doing my job from home. “

· “Help with more ergonomic equipment to make working at home more comfortable.”

“I would like to have an office chair (desperately), using kitchen chair which is ok for the odd day but not every day? Wireless head phone, Microsoft teams, ability to print to home printer.”

Childcare – Most childcare comments captured in this Q. Suggestions include NRW request for NRW guidance

74 comments were around childcare. 8 comments were positive about how they have been able to manage childcare whilst working, 25 negative about the difficulties of managing childcare whilst working: 41 were suggestions (including: continue to be understanding of those with children, providing clear advice/guidance for those working whilst looking after children, allowing reduced hours to help with childcare):

· “NRW are currently supporting me well at this time. I am not being pressured when I struggle to make my contracted hours due to child care problems and I am being encouraged to make sure I still take time for myself instead of working every spare minute.”

· “The most significant challenge is the daily conflict between working from home, looking after children and home schooling. This is what has impacted upon me. I have had days where my levels of anxiety have been through the roof trying to cope (my wife is a key worker, so I am home alone with the children). The reality is that the schools are not going to return to normal service for quite some time.”

·  “be clear for those with children at home about expectations of work hours/ patterns and impact on pay - currently struggling to fit in working my contracted hours around childcare resulting in feeling overwhelmed at times, starting work very early each day, using lunch an other breaks to complete home-school activities with children then needing to work until late to catch up. Children are beginning to find it more and more difficult being at home, under a lot of emotional stress which means I feel much less efficient in my work and increasingly feeling frustrated as I don’t feel I'm fully delivering for my team but cannot afford to reduce my working hours”

· “People with childcare/carer duties or any other reasons why they are under extra pressure should be able to work at slightly reduced hours, i.e. 24 - 30 hours instead of 37”

Management – comments about managers & from team leaders

58 comments – 33 of which were positive comments about management, 4 negative comments and 21 suggestions (including wanting management/TL to be more communicative, ensure consistency of guidance throughout company

· “I feel that NRW is doing all it can to support staff through this uncertain time.  my line manager has been excellent throughout this period as it can be quite a juggle trying to do work and home school your children, as mine are of an age where they need help.”

· “I think NRW are doing well but I feel I would benefit from more regular focused catch ups with my Team Leader. They are available at present if requested but time feels limited as everyone seems so busy at the moment and I feel guilty for asking for my Team Leaders time when he is juggling his own workload and child care.”

Communications – Its good & can we have more guidance?

Communication 39 comments, – mostly suggestions about having clearer guidance, more guidance or desire for more communication on expectations, ensuring consistency in communication

· “NRW have been great throughout this whole situation. There has been great communication, understanding re; different situations at home, flexible working is encouraged, the wellbeing hour and the continued support of team leaders and manager has been really appreciated and helpful. NRWs approach to working from home, guidance documents for not attending sites etc has also shown a great level of care towards its employees.”

· “Continue to keep us updated with plans and changes.”

· “Some areas of guidance are still grey. The guidance on childcare still states taking leave/unpaid if you have to care for a child. There is no way that some people will be able to cope if that is enforced. Leaving it as line manager's discretion for how to manage it leaves it grey and unstandardised.”

Site working – we would like to return to site-working

Comments around site working – 48 comments mostly about wanting to return to site work

· “Allow us to go back to fieldwork as soon as lockdown relaxation allows rather than write off the whole field season.”

Skype – need to limit and have breaks within & between them

39 include comments about having less skype meetings, or ensuring there are rules for skype e.g. there are adequate breaks etc

· “A limit on number of Skypes, or an organisation wide commitment to a Skype free day once a week (say Friday), so we can all catch up on what we agree to do in meetings. Currently I have no time to take any actions as I'm going from one Skype to another all day.”

· “Emphasising the need for breaks in Skype meetings, reiterating some general guidance about meeting etiquette e.g. time keeping, breaks, perhaps not calling on lync unless prearranged - struggle to find time to complete work.”

New starters & training – E learning and on site suggestions

Difficulties with new workers or people requiring training to do their job – 20 comments

· “Being allowed to physically support trainee officers whilst socially distancing (separate cars if out on site and 2m distancing).”

· “I have recently moved teams and require some relevant training. If we could somehow conduct this training online like our own E-Learning, that would make my job easier.”

Communicate promptly (Although small numbers comment =  <10 – worth including for value)

· “Communicating plans as soon as possible, even before things are set in stone for example line managers were told this week that offices are unlikely to be reopening for at least another month, regardless of Welsh Government decisions - that really helps by taking some of the uncertainty away when awaiting the Government announcements.”

Barriers & Enablers to returning to the work place

Barriers · Exposure to Covid-19 · Lack of Social Distancing · Potentially spreading Covid-19 to colleagues · Organising childcare · Exposure whilst commuting · Lack of Safety/cleaning · Shielding means some of us can’t return · Can’t see any barriers · Childcare · Using public transport · Working from home · Wellbeing – i.e. lack of track + trace

Enablers · Vaccine · Limiting people in the buildings · Nightly deep cleans · Staggering hours and shifts · Government Guidance · Safety/Cleaning/Social distancing · Changes to office space · Reduce hot desking · Allow us to continue to work from home · We would need guidance

We can see that of those of us who said shielding was a barrier, that some us feel particularly uncomfortable about returning to the work place. Childcare, travel, working from home, wellbeing discussed elsewhere in report.

Shielding - Barrier

Shielding (54 comments all neg)

· “I live with someone who is classed as 'vulnerable'. That person is very anxious about catching covid 19. I don't want to put that person more at risk through potential exposure from the work place.” (Somewhat uncomfortable)

Safety/cleaning/ Social distancing - Barriers

74 comments (all expressing concern)

· “I am particularly concerned about the tiny kitchen space in the office. It is used by a large number of staff but the facilities are very limited e.g. there are only two tea towels a day which are soaking wet by mid-morning, there is no draining space, the fridge is often packed full and it is impossible to keep 2m from anyone else using this tiny room” (somewhat uncomfortable)

The qualitative graph above has different colours so that it is clear that how comfortable or uncomfortable we said we feel about returning to work when we mentioned the above issues.

Safety/cleaning/social distancing

45 comments all negative

· “Hand sanitizer available on all floors (at regular distances). Clean utensils to clean our cutlery (the sponges that were disgusting and I think definitely could cause cross-contamination). Consider getting a dishwasher. One-way paths in work - so designated stairwells to go up and downstairs and around the floors).” (Neutral)

Guidance

14 comments all asking for guidance on return to work place

· “Following H&S Guidance on safety from Covid 19 in work place.” (Somewhat comfortable)

· “good guidance on best practice and staff acceptance of that.” (Neutral)

· Independent SAGE committee guidance.” (Very uncomfortable)

Continue Working from home

Working from home (20 comments – i.e. why go in to the office)

· “Continue to work from home where it's appropriate.;” (somewhat uncomfortable)

· “None, I shall continue to work mainly from home as it makes more environmental sense and is good for my work life balance;” (Somewhat uncomfortable)         

Reduce Hotdesking

Hot desking (17 comments – negative about hot desking)

· “Desk space assigned to individuals based on need rather than a ratio of desks to a team, implementing social distancing guidance.” (Somewhat uncomfortable)

Health and Wellbeing comments

Issues related to COVID (vaccine, testing, low levels, treatment, contact tracing, robust evidence, people not coming in ill) (44 comments)

· “contact tracing in place and operational nationally, a all UK wide policy where all devolved government could agree too.” (Somewhat uncomfortable)

Things we would like to keep & additional comments

Health & wellbeing comments are included in the first section of this report. Additional comments capture anything additional about working under Covid-19.

Things we would like to keep

Would like to continue working from home in future

Working from home 313 comments. The majority of these were nearly all about continuing to work from home. 

“Wish to continue with the ability to work at home the vast majority of the time, to continue to benefit from the work life balance benefits that it brings: family time, reduced travel time and cost, including parking costs and reduced personal impact on the environment that working in this way affords, as well as reduced anxiety about the pandemic by being in control of my contacts.”

 “I am really enjoying working from home and don't want to lose the opportunity to do that. My desk set-up here is more comfortable than at the office, there is less noise and fewer distractions, I am eating better than before and exercising more. It would be great to be able to continue this post lockdown, and perhaps only come into the office when required for face-to-face meetings.”

Wish to keep flexible arrangements in future

Wish to keep flexible arrangements – 293 comments

· “The flexibility to work from home more often, maybe once or twice a week, to lessen travel into the office get a good work-life balance. Reduce the number of long-distance meetings by using Skype instead, though I wouldn't want to replace all meeting with digital ones, as you can get a lot extra from meeting people in person.  The lockdown has proved that a lot of jobs can be done remotely, so it would be interesting to see what positive changes can be made to travel to lessen our negative impact on the environment.”

Barrier Travel – we don’t need so much in the future

58 comments suggest this

· “Working from home has made me realise 80% of my work travel was unnecessary. When we do return to 'normal' I would like to see a presumption against travel for internal meetings and that NRW provide clear principles for decision making to ensure a consistent approach across area, teams and departments.”

Technology enabler – we’ve proved we can do it

43 comments

· “I think what this has proved to me is how the technology we now use makes it easy to work from home and more tellingly for me is how redundant office space is for many people”

Seeing Colleagues – we miss them & want to see each other in future

Would like to see colleagues– 30 comments – majority about the benefit of face to face interactions.

· “We mustn't underestimate the value of face to face and the side conversation that takes place at meeting or when working in an office. In the current situation I have felt we have focused more on our teams and the conversations that may have happened with other teams or parts of the organisation when walking around an office or in a meeting have not taken place. Those 'serendipitous' conversations are highly valuable. Currently we only talk with purpose when we call someone because we need something or to check on wellbeing. The contact is very transactional and face to face conversations are hugely valuable.”

Those of us Shielding are concerned for future

· “As I am shielding, I anticipate being at home until there is an effective vaccine”

· “I would like the option to remain working from home until I and my family judge it is safe for me to return to the office. A member of my household is in the shielding category, due to having a chronic respiratory condition. To have that option remain on the table in the coming months would take away a lot of stress for both me and my family.”

Additional comments

Working from home now

75 talked about working at home

· “Working at home has provided more time to spend with the family and do regular exercise.  It has been a challenge to maintain working relationships through face to face meetings particularly with partners.”

· “One positive thing out of this is that I never particularly wanted to work from home, but having been forced into it I can see the benefit when needing quiet for writing reports etc. But it is easier with all my kit at home such as screen and keyboard etc which I would not normally have.”

Teamworking now

29 talked about teamwork (majority positive)

· “I don't want to lose how it has brought colleagues together and how managers have been able to support flexibility and acknowledge that many staff are working under very difficult circumstances but remain committed to doing a good job. This should be recognised and valued.  “

· “For me the biggest and most positive impact has been around information sharing and knowledge exchange- both at a meeting scale, and within teams/projects and departments.  Everyone seems to be talking more and giving it a higher priority.”

· “As part of a dispersed team I have enjoyed the more informal sections of team catch ups it has helped bond the team.”

Not having to travel now

23 talked about the positives of not having to travel

· “I have appreciated the pressure been off for face to face travel and have enjoyed not having the 5.30 am starts to get to Cardiff for 9am meetings.”

· “I appreciate travelling & commuting a lot less, the time, carbon and money it saves is worth the other difficulties homeworking sometimes poses.”

· “I have been able to continue to deliver my role by working from home, which has significantly reduced my travel costs and carbon footprint.”