Christchurch and East Dorset Councils win CIPD Award

The Christchurch and East Dorset partnership successfully saw off strong competition from the likes of Sky and Veolia UK to unanimously win the award for Best Change Management Initiative at the awards held on 26 September.

The smarter working project ran from November 2014 to November 2016 and has had a huge impact on the organisation. Prior to smarter working staff worked to core hours, at a fixed desk with very little flexibility about where they were able to work. This lack of flexibility had an impact on customers.

By working smarter the partnership is able to save money helping to protect services and be more sustainable. Smarter working has seen a reduction from 4,000 linear metres of storage and paper files to 400m, the introduction of a digital mailroom and allowed staff to work flexibly and remotely on hybrid computers, which can be used as both a laptop and tablet device. A recent smarter working survey showed that 86% of respondents felt smarter working had a positive impact on them.

Christchurch and East Dorset Councils Chief Executive David McIntosh said: “Rolling out of smarter working was a big challenge, but one that has clearly paid off.

“I am delighted we have received the CIPD award for Best Change Management Initiative and am very proud of all of our staff across the partnership who have worked so hard to make this so successful. Christchurch and East Dorset Councils are grateful to have been recognised by CIPD for the hard work that went into making the smarter working project a success.”

The CIPD Award judges said, “A really exciting strategic change initiative with broader benefits beyond the project. It’s great to see customers at the centre of the project design and to see such strong results. The panel found the employee experience (eg better wellbeing) and outcomes very compelling. It was the unanimous decision of the panel that this was the outstanding entry in the category and our overall winner.”