The health and well-being of our people is our first and foremost priority and so, when it became unsustainable to continue keeping our people in our offices all over the world, SThree was quick to make the decision to move to a fully remote, flexible working lifestyle for our employees. The logistics behind this becoming a reality were far from simple, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of our infrastructure delivery manager, Graham Dyer, his team and a few extremely dependable partners, SThree was able to mobilise our workforce incredibly quickly to make the move to home-working. We caught up with Graham to hear first-hand what had to happen to make this possible and what plans are in the pipeline for the return to office phase.
Was flexible working something that SThree had considered beforehand or was this a completely new way of working?
Flexible working was not something that was completely new to SThree. For businesses all over the world, flexibility has become a huge priority – and our leadership team are aware of this. It’s always been something the business has been eager to encourage across our teams. Recently we rolled out a number of programmes to support our people in this – and a big part of this was our laptop rollout.
In 2019, we committed to the roll out of a new flexible working initiative, with the aim of providing all our employees with a laptop, enabling them to work from anywhere with an internet connection. This roll-out was scheduled to take place over a 3-year period. This plan, however, was thrown into fast forward with the onset of coronavirus (COVID-19).
How far through the plan were you when it became apparent that the roll-out was going to have to be accelerated?
Prior to the decision to move to 100% home working, the team and I had deployed around 450 laptops, beginning with our UK based employees. We’d forecasted to do around 1000 laptops a year as there is a lot of work that is required behind the scenes to program the laptops and make them fit for purpose.
How has the plan changed now as a result of COVID-19?
Six weeks on from our company making the decision to move to full home working and we have deployed over 1400 laptops across the UK, Europe, and the USA with another 450 due to be deployed in the coming weeks. This means that we will soon have provided laptops to over two thirds of our workforce in just under 13 months.
That’s an amazing feat! What went in to making this possible?
A lot of hard work! It really was an amazing team effort that enabled this technological transformation to happen. Not only from our own SThree team either but with the help of some extremely dedicated partners. One of the main challenges we had at the very beginning was sourcing laptops, they were in high demand! I phoned upwards of 80 suppliers to try and find the equipment we needed. This was definitely a struggle but thanks to some really helpful partners, we were able to get our hands on the equipment we needed. One partner in particular who I’d like to recognise is Nvoy Technologies, who we worked really closely with to secure 600 of the laptops in the estate which was a huge assistance for us.
As we began to receive equipment, the next challenge that arose was finding a way to deliver the laptops to our employees. With everyone making the move to homeworking very early on, all laptops had to be delivered to home addresses which was a huge logistical challenge. After a few couriers let us down, I turned to our partners, Assisttec, to ask if there was any way they could help us. The response I got was extremely positive, showcasing a company which truly goes above and beyond to support their customers.
Assisttec were able to send out a team of dedicated engineers to the office to help with the set-up of the laptops. The team of engineers then physically drove all over Europe to deliver these essential laptops to SThree employees. I couldn’t have achieved this outcome without them so we’re hugely appreciative of the support that they’ve given us during this challenging time.
What measures were put in place to keep you and the contractors safe when you had to go into the office?
Prior to going into the office building at all, I carried out a comprehensive risk assessment via HR to ensure we had all the measures in place that were required to keep me, my team and the Assisttec engineers safe. We adhered to strict social distancing rules, separating the engineers on different levels of the building. The main reason that I continued to do it was that I knew that there were procedures put in place by SThree to keep us safe. We even enlisted the help of Sainsburys to send us a weekly shop so we didn’t have to leave the office!
Some countries which SThree work in are slowly starting to ease lockdown restrictions, is there a plan already in place for our own people returning to our offices?
We have employees all over the world and are constantly monitoring how each country in which we operate is responding to the current situation. In line with government advice, we’re making the necessary arrangements to move our people back to the office environment, when it is safe to do so, and have already seen some offices make this transition. For those offices, and for all offices which will transition back in the future, it will be a phased return to allow strict social/physical distancing to be maintained with the necessary hygiene and movement rules enforced.
During the initial return to office phase, our employees will be welcomed, but certainly not obliged to return to the office to ensure that everyone feels comfortable with the re-integration.
This has been an amazing achievement showcasing the power of teamwork and strong partnerships. We’re proud to work for a company whose priority is our safety. For more information about the initiatives that have been put in place to keep our clients, contractors, candidates and colleagues safe, check out our blog, or follow us on Linkedin.
This has been an amazing achievement showcasing the power of teamwork and strong partnerships. We’re proud to work for a company whose priority is our safety. For more information about the initiatives that have been put in place to keep our clients, contractors, candidates and colleagues safe, check out our blog, or follow us on Linkedin.