Location independent working
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This project developed an existing scheme operating within Coventry University’s wholly-owned commercial company (CUE Ltd.) to make it suitable for staff (academic and other) working in faculties and other academic departments.
Executive Summary
Whilst many such staff, particular those in teaching and research roles, conduct part of their work from locations other than their base campus, they do so outside the context of a formalised and developed scheme which recognises the work patterns which are becoming the norm for many employees in other sectors of the economy and are readily embraced by students.
The project developed Location Independent Working (LIW) from the individual, departmental, institutional and societal perspectives. Whilst the drivers and incentives for implementing LIW are different in each domain they, in their different ways, all point towards the significant positive benefits that LIW can bring. A major challenge for the project was to align the cultural change necessary at the different levels to ensure overall success.
LIW applied tried and tested technologies to develop a resilient, workable, high quality flexible working scheme for staff working in academic areas of the university. The early phase of the project assessed the existing LIW scheme to identify and pilot test the developments necessary to render the scheme fit for purpose in the new staffing context. This included the development of draft briefing and training materials, initial user testing, discussion with the major internal stakeholders (faculty management, HR, IT services, estates and staff themselves) and refinement of the project scope in discussion with JISC colleagues.
In the second phase the system was rolled out to a major faculty (Business, Environment and Society) and an academic department (the Centre for Studies of Higher Education) within the university. 4 cohorts of approximately 10 staff in each were recruited to the project. The cohorts were progressively absorbed into the scheme over the life of the project. Participants were informed volunteers who were briefed and trained. They joined the scheme on a 3-month trial basis during which they didn't have access to their campus offices. At the end of the trial they could opt to return to their office and withdraw from the LIW scheme or continue as a scheme participant and, in consequence, give up their office space on a permanent basis. All but one of the pilot participants opted to stay on the scheme at the end of the three month trial.
The evaluation strategy was developed at a very early stage of the project. The overall approach was to involve the evaluators from the outset but to strike a balance between independence for the evaluators but also working with evaluators who had excellent working knowledge of the context of the scheme. This was achieved by contracting one of the university’s independent research groups with evaluation experience and skills to undertake the work. There were 3 main strands to the evaluation work.
- The economic costs and benefits to the individual and the university were estimated and compared
- We identified the non-economic costs and benefits, for example any change in stress levels, time savings, productivity or other issues affecting the quality of life for scheme participants
- We analysed the impact of introduction of LIW on those “immediate” stakeholder groups who might be likely to experience adverse effects, these were the students of LIW staff, colleagues who were not on the scheme and the managers of LIW staff. Finally we examined the wider environmental aspects of introduction of LIW.
The sector will gain from a fully evaluated exemplar of introducing LIW together with the briefing and training materials, guidance on achieving transformational change and the technological advice and tools to support implementation.