As we move through the phases of our Recovery Route Map, we are seeing more activities starting to take place on our campuses. Currently, we are facilitating access to some buildings for people involved in research, teaching and support services, and as we transition through Phases 3a, 3b and 4, more staff will return to support preparations for the new academic year.

Although the amount of activity on-campus will steadily increase over time, at the moment working from home will remain the default position for many. By continuing with this measure, alongside others such as flexible start/finish times and increased parking provision for private transport, we aim to ease the flow of people to and from the campus at key points.

We want to realise the benefits of agile working and build on what we have learned during this period. Practically, this means many of us will be working sometimes at home and sometimes on campus in the longer term. As it is not possible to provide two fully equipped workstations for all staff, it will be necessary for managers and staff to agree the best approach for their teams.

This may include sharing a smaller number of desks on campus or requesting additional items of hardware for offices, such as keyboards or monitors to replace items taken home to support remote working. Any item to be ordered should be agreed with your line manager and then requested via the Ivanti portal.

 Whilst we’re doing what we can to make sure people can access equipment from their offices, we do understand that working from home for this extended period may be challenging. We would recommend consulting the guidance and support available for teams and managers about remote working on our Remote Working Guide, and the general advice on how to manage flexible working is available in our Flexible Working Policy, which provide information about how best to support long-term remote working in a sustainable way.

If you do need to access campus, either to work or to collect items, please see our Campus Access Protocol for more guidance.


First published: 30 July 2020