This initiative emerged from a staff survey taken during the first 2020 COVID-19 lockdown where 83 per cent of staff reported their productivity was the same or better working at home. Great Workplaces was launched with the initial objective to retain remote working productivity and wellbeing gains. It quickly became an initiative about providing our people workplace choice.
The Judges said: While most organisations have had to adapt to remote working during the pandemic, we were impressed by the meticulous process that Far North has taken to make remote working business as usual. Far North’s attention to documenting the actual costs and benefits of the approach also captured our attention. All rural and regional councils could learn from this pragmatic programme for overcoming distance and a multiplicity of locations.
