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Posted: Thu 16th Jan 2025
Councillors look set to debate if work from home policies should be modified to encourage more office based working at the local authority.
During a media brief this week the Council Leader had remarked that a housing allocation policy was one that was long overdue, ‘like many’, at Wrexham Council. Wrexham.com queried which other policies needed looking and, and was told ‘the list was endless’. We invited just two, and before Cllr Pritchard could reply, Deputy Leader Cllr David A Bithell jumped in and offered to be ‘controversial’.
Cllr Bithell explained, “I think one of the top policies that elected members want reviewing is the ‘modern ways of working’, to look at how many days people work at home and how many days people work in the office. The guidance came from Welsh Government and some people have taken a really dramatic step change, and we are looking at that and are trying to get a balance right.
“Elected members do feel at times the balance needs to be a bit more back in the office. Officers might turn around and say ‘that might not be true’ or, ‘people are working at home and they work in a different way’, but I would say that’s one of the top policies that we are looking at.
The Council Leader said there would be a report coming to the executive board, ‘hopefully in January’, on the subject matter, adding, “We have to take into account the benefits and the negatives from both sides. It is a difficult one, but probably David has picked the right one as number one at this moment in time.”
The interim Chief Exec Alwyn Jones was a bit cooler on the topic, “I think that the policy in terms of work life balance is really important. It’s not just about the location, it is also about the wellbeing of staff, the support that they have, and actually getting that balance correct.
“We shouldn’t make this about in office or out of office, it should be about ongoing support and the balance in terms of being able to deliver the services that we need to do. That is not to say that what we’re doing now is right or wrong. It’s about making sure that we assess it, consider whether it is right.
“Let’s be absolutely clear as well, and the Leader and Deputy Leader won’t disagree with me here. We also have to make sure that it actually attracts staff to Wrexham as well in terms of us being able to recruit as well.
“There is a balance here, in terms of actually getting people being able to spend time with colleagues, being able to get the support they need, being able to deliver the services they need, whilst also the time being able to have a work life balance. So from my perspective, this isn’t just a whether someone is in the office or not.
“It is not that we’re not on the same page, I think we are, it’s just getting the balance.
We asked the elected representatives if they felt the same about councillors attending meetings, or chairing meetings, that it should be in person rather than on zoom.
Cllr Pritchard replied, “No. I think it’s a common sense approach for me. I’ll give you an example, the elected member in Glyn Ceiriog, he’s going to travel all the way to come to a scrutiny committee for an hour and a half, and he has to travel back, by the way he could claim expenses.
“So, because of modernisation and because of Team and Zoom, you can come in through that process. Why wouldn’t you encourage that?
“Also, with regards to myself, I used to go on the train and back to Cardiff for a 45 minutes meeting with a Minister. I’d travel two hours there and two hours back. Madness. So I do those meetings on Teams. I’ve just had a meeting this morning with two Ministers on teams.
“What I would say is, the difference is that with traveling and elected members and officers and staff, I’m all about delivering service. So if working from home has a detrimental impact on the service delivery, I wouldn’t support it.
“That is the debate and conversation we need to have now.”
“This does not affect all our staff, it does not affect the front line in housing, or work on our social housing stock, 99% of the environment department work out of the office.
“I’m addressing this and coming at it from service delivery. We are a public servant. I’m not here to facilitate working from home. I’m here to facilitate and to push service delivery.
“I wouldn’t expect our Chief Exec to work from home. It’s unacceptable. I wouldn’t expect our Chief Officers or Heads of Services to work from home. That’s my opinion.”
No report on working from home or review of ‘modern ways of working’ has yet appeared, but appears imminent.
(Top pic: ASCII art back from when the council banned any form of images coming from the council chamber.)
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