Working from home

Summary

The requester asked for departmental breakdowns of government employees working from home, monitoring methods, and return-to-office plans. The Cabinet Office responded that it does not hold central data on the number of remote workers as these are operational decisions, though it outlined existing performance management frameworks and homeworking guidelines.

Key Facts

• The Cabinet Office does not hold central data on the number of employees working from home by department.
• Flexible working arrangements are managerial decisions made at an operational level on a day-to-day basis.
• Performance is monitored using established approaches including KPIs, service levels, and formal appraisal tools.
• Homeworking guidelines are published online and can be used to facilitate a return to the office if arrangements are not mutually beneficial.
• The government is adopting a blended approach to working environments post-Covid 19.

Data Disclosed

• 2020-09-28
• 2020-10-14
• 1489134
• IM1 3PN
• 01624 686244

Original Request

Broken down by department, how many government employees are working from home? What steps, if any, have been taken to monitor the output of these workers? What steps, if any, have been taken to facilitate a return to the office for these workers?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Government Office Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3PN Telephone: (+44) 01624 686244 Website: www.gov.im/co

Our ref: 1489134 14 October 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request received on 28 September 2020 which states:

"Broken down by department, how many government employees are working from home? What steps, if any, have been taken to monitor the output of these workers? What steps, if any, have been taken to facilitate a return to the office for these workers?"

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Cabinet Office does not hold the information that you have requested.

The Isle of Man Government is committed to supporting employees to work flexibly where practical and this includes homeworking. Cabinet Office (OHR) issues guidelines for Departments in relation to homeworking; these are published online - https://hr.gov.im/media/1860/homeworking-guidelines-august-2020-v2-w-pdf- formfinal.pdf

It is not possible to provide the numbers of people in each Department working from home at any one time. This data is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office and flexible working arrangements, including home working, are a managerial decision made at an operational level on a day to day basis. Like many organisations working through Covid 19, we are adopting a more blended approach to our working environments which is likely to include a continuation of more employees spending some or all of their working week working from home. This can offer benefits to our employees, supports climate action and can also enhance the public services we offer to our Island community. With regard to monitoring the output of our employees, there are a range of well established performance management approaches used by managers at all levels to manage our people and their delivery effectively. These include: * Regular measurement of performance against standard service levels, measures against KPI's, quality measures and the delivery of actions against time bound plans * A range of formal performance appraisal tools * Our People Qualities behaviours framework * Professional standards applicable to specific professions All of these are used during individual conversations and/or team meetings and can be

effective in managing performance, regardless of whether the team member is in the office or working remotely. Homeworking arrangements must be agreed and be mutually beneficial to the employee, their role, the team and Department, Board or Office. If that is not the case then the homeworking guidelines referred to above can be used to facilitate a full time return to the office.

Please quote the reference number 1489134 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely