The key to working from any building
We often talk about giving civil servants the ability to ‘work from any building’ but do people understand what it means and know what the benefit is for them?
Colleagues at work in one of the GPA's Whitehall buildings
The Government Property Agency (GPA)’s Chief Technology Officer Kean Jones talks about how GovWifi and shared networks are paving the way for workplace flexibility.
The key idea around ‘work from any building’ is to break the dependency on any one building, trusting and empowering civil servants to work in the place that is the most appropriate for that task, on that day. Departments shouldn’t need to rely on a particular office to offer their people services and neither should anyone need to go to a certain building in order to do their job.
The GPA is putting the customer first, making it easier for civil servants to do their work from the places they need to be, while also enabling departments to shrink or grow the amount of space they need. We’re also helping bring cross-government teams together in the workplace to respond to particular events.
Ease of connection
One way we’re achieving this is with shared networks. Increasing mobility and remote working means it makes a lot of sense to connect to the network in the workplace in a similar way that customers connect in their day to day lives.
GovWifi started life as an easy way to provide guest internet access in government buildings but it has become increasingly important as the way that many civil servants do their work – quite a few organisations working in buildings we own or manage only use GovWifi. It’s a simple process to log in and once that’s done, every time you go to a building enabled with GovWifi it’s usually an instant connection.
A great example of this happening in real life is the Government Hub at 23 Stephenson Street (23SS) in Birmingham. Eight siloed, inefficient government office buildings were closed as civil servants relocated to 23SS. Now more than 1,700 civil servants from 20 government departments work from an office designed to the Government Workplace Design Guide standards.
Access to GovWifi
Departments based at 23SS have access to a single shared network which works together with GovWifi to meet customers’ needs, moving away from complex multiple networks, conflicting signals and numerous support teams. This model of creating a shared network that integrates with GovWifi is used across all Government Hubs.
GovWifi is available in most of the GPA’s buildings including 10 South Colonnade and One Horse Guards Road in London, amongst others. And in Darlington having GovWifi available enabled the GPA to move with speed and efficiency to fit departments’ requirements, so civil servants could move in and get up and running within a few months. At all times the GPA puts the customer first, automating quality checks and carrying out pre and post occupancy surveys to improve and evolve the service it delivers.
A great wifi connection is only one part of the interoperability picture. Access to good audio visual equipment, GovPrint (print from anywhere, pull to any GovPrint device), room booking, GovPass so people can easily access where they need to work, and tools to manage building capacity are all essential parts of the jigsaw.
The ability to ‘work from any building’, with ease of access to everything civil servants need, is vital for a truly flexible workforce, now and in the future.