You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Large housing association announces permanent move to homeworking
A housing association that employs 700 people has announced plans to permanently move to a “hybrid working model” and offer loans of up to £10,000 for employees to upgrade their home offices.
Stonewater said that the organisation, which first transitioned to homeworking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will remain predominantly home-based as the country eases out of lockdown, with hubs being set up in Coventry, Reading and Bournemouth.
The organisation is also introducing an interest-free loan of up to £10,000 to support colleagues in creating defined workspaces within their homes.
Loan repayments will be deducted through a colleague’s monthly salary over three to five years.
Stonewater said it was in a good position to transition to homeworking at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to investments it had made in digital transformation prior to 2020.
It has also introduced new digital processes over the past year that include a new virtual sign-up process.
READ MORE
Over the past 12 months the housing association has handed over more than 671 new homes and completed over 200 shared ownership home sales.
Homes have been re-let within 20 days on average, which is five days ahead of the organisation’s target.
Meanwhile, a recent survey of Stonewater’s 700 employees found that 89% wanted to remain working from home.
The hubs being set up in Coventry, Reading and Bournemouth will provide flexible workspaces for co-working, one-to-one meetings and catch-ups.
Colleagues will also be encouraged to network and collaborate across different areas of the business by working locally from social and community spaces.
Nicholas Harris, chief executive at Stonewater, said: “A year ago we had no choice but to quickly move to homeworking when the pandemic took hold. Despite these challenging times, we’ve found new, innovative ways of working that have enabled us to better connect with our customers and provided a customer service that has exceeded targets.
“By adopting a hybrid model, we are able to build on the learnings from the last year and retain the key benefits such as more flexibility and a better work-life balance for colleagues, whilst still being able to deliver on our customer promise.”
