Clear council desks as efficiency drive starts

8:00am Monday 11th February 2013 in News

Graham Farrant Graham Farrant

THE chief executive of Thurrock Council is having his desk and office taken away from him as part of a major transformation programme at the Civic Offices in Grays.

From Monday Graham Farrant, the council boss who earns a handsome £175,000 a year, pictured right, had to join other officers and directors in a scramble for 38 open-plan desks every day.

A “clear desk policy” means even if the chief executive, who also runs Barking and Dagenham Council, does bag himself a desk one morning, he will not be guaranteed it the next day.

The proposal was announced by Cllr Lynn Worrall, the authority’s portfolio holder for transformation and community, who told councillors the local authority is stuck in the past and she hopes to bring it “kicking and screaming into the 21st century” to make it more efficient.

It is hoped this particular scheme, called better ways of working, will save £800,000 in the next two years and enable the closure of seven operational buildings in that time.

There are plans for 38 desks and five meeting rooms, which will be bookable in advance. The changes will mean 55 staff can work on the fourth floor, rather than the 12 currently occupying the space. Small lockers are also being provided for staff to place their belongings in.

A council spokesman, who is part of the pilot scheme, said: “There will be bookable office space for meetings and some private space as well.

“We move there on Monday. It’s going to be fascinating to see how it works in practice.”

Comments(9)

fletch12107 says...
9:44am Mon 11 Feb 13

Not giving back any of the 175k that he is paid then?

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Cvh says...
9:48am Mon 11 Feb 13

£175k austerity only works for the ratepayer then obscene money

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The Blue Frog says...
10:20am Mon 11 Feb 13

so what happens if he doesn't "bag" a desk? Where does he work from, the car? Pay him all that money but don't provide a proper place to work from. Brilliant idea (not). How does anyone know where eachother are on any given day? Doesn't sound like a sensible working environment to me. Yes, technology means we can be more transient but it doesn't make up for good old organisation and face to face conversation.

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DannyButcher says...
11:16am Mon 11 Feb 13

There's nothing like creating a stable working environment for allowing people to work their best, and this is nothing like that!

I fail to see how causing more hassle to peoples day to day working lives can create a better working environment in any way.

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luckygirl says...
1:56pm Mon 11 Feb 13

This is common practice in London and works - can't see what's wrong with doing this in Thurrock.

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Dave_ says...
2:31pm Mon 11 Feb 13

The majority of people at that level don't need a desk or office as most work using laptops, tablets, smartphones and so on. Also the majority probably aren't in their office or at their desks anyway so it's wasted space, as they work the excecutive myth, looking busy by having meetings for the sake of having meetings.
Our manager is off site 2 or 3 days a week minimum.

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aerobic1 says...
4:29pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Be a good idea to pump some money into saving Cafe4U in Thameside Theatre, helping people with disabilities to train for work skills and serve the community - they do a good job there but need urgent funding to keep open.

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Freddy K says...
4:42pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Nothing new in this, Hot Desking has been around for years and when done correctly can be a very efficient way of working.

So what if you dont get the same desk each day, does that really matter? most Execs are not tied down to their desk 9-5 anyway as they attend meetings both inside and outside of the office environment.

Hopefully TBC have the IT infrastructure to support hot desking like VDI, remote control, VMWare etc

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A Dermot says...
9:04pm Tue 12 Feb 13

aerobic1 wrote:
Be a good idea to pump some money into saving Cafe4U in Thameside Theatre, helping people with disabilities to train for work skills and serve the community - they do a good job there but need urgent funding to keep open.
A good idea would be for more people to use the cafe instead of handing out the begging bowl for more taxpayers cash. More customers means more profit - more profit means no tax payers subsidy.

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