We are now over 3 months into lockdown and as we consider how business may change drastically in the future, we took the opportunity to reflect on what changes we have experienced as a result of Covid-19 so far. We spoke with our Head of IT, Gezanfar Masud, about how he and his team successfully enabled Morgan Hunt employees to work remotely in only a matter of weeks.
 

The Challenge

Mobilising a centralised workforce of 200 people within an organisation with a culture of office working. Only a handful of staff had ever worked remotely and home based working was usually authorised on a case by case basis with a fairly strict policy. Therefore, for most staff, this was a brand new experience and they had numerous questions around how they access systems, telephony, the CRM etc. In addition to this (because of the fact that Morgan Hunt did not have a mobile workforce) we had very limited resources in the form of loan laptops and mobile phones, which would allow people to work from home.
 
Most people had a laptop at home that was fit for purpose, but many users own Apple Mac’s which was unsupported with our Citrix workspace environment. However, we overcame this technical challenge with a workaround. Morgan Hunt also extended a loan fund for staff to purchase a suitable laptop device to allow them to work from home.
 
Our Managing Director, Dan Taylor, allowed us as the IT experts to lead this project and our COO, Keith Widdowson, was recently appointed and very new to the organisation. Keith had many questions around how people would work remotely and how to access systems etc, he offered good advice regarding collaboration and BCP. Fortunately, by design we have ensured that staff can access systems remotely and most of the necessary ‘how to’ documentation already was available. I had to create new documents for our newer systems i.e. Telephony.
 
Although we communicated to our user base at an early stage via emails and by directing staff to our knowledgebase, the uptake was slow as staff were waiting for direction from the Senior Management Team (SMT). There remained significant uncertainty as to whether or not the office would be closed as the SMT awaited official government guidance.
 
Once the announcement was made, the IT Team had a huge influx of tickets and staff who wanted telephony and remote access set up for them. The team performed admirably to get this done under pressure. We held an IT surgery for all staff to attend and we addressed any questions or configurational issues with devices or user set up.
 

The Solution

We granted users remote access using our External Citrix Gateway. As part of our testing phase a few days beforehand, we asked various teams across our business to work from home to test performance. Feedback was not great to begin with and I engaged with our Citrix experts at Soft Cat who advised that our gateway could not handle 200 users due to bandwidth restrictions. As a result, we invested in a more powerful gateway which can handle the increase in bandwidth and additional traffic. This now offers a seamless and improved user experience. Feedback was positive as the changes were instant.
 
Implementation of the solution was straightforward and the fact that we have inhouse Citrix skills was highly valuable at this time.
 

The Benefits

Decentralizing the workforce was no mere task, but the fact that this is something that us in the IT Team embed in our service design made this process much easier for us to execute. I always knew that we had the capability and tools already in place to do this. Our change was not so much a technological shift, but more of a cultural shift, which was adopted due to the unprecedented situation that we all find ourselves in with this Coronavirus pandemic. In a way, it was a catalyst.
                                                                                                                                           
Our success meant that all Sales and Support staff have access to their full desktops, network resources and telephony via our hosted telephone platform; NFON. Had this occurred 6 months ago, we would have been in a bit of a tight situation and it would certainly have taken longer to deploy. The fact that we mobilised so quickly meant that we potentially had the edge over our competitors who may have been in earlier phases.
 
Continuous service improvement is in the heart of everything that we do. The next phase for me is to roll out or newer Citrix environment which will allow improved collaboration and better performance. I will also be improving the security posture of our environment, which is secure, but we always strive to do more.
 

Lessons & Takeaways

I would have liked to have deployed the mobile telephone app in a staged manner with better testing, however, the timeline did not permit this so we were forced to do a big bang approach. However, that said it has worked for most users. This is still one area that needs some more work to get the service to the high standards that I expect for my user base. I am working tirelessly with our suppliers to achieve this.
 
I think we need to invest in mobile working as a whole and provide our user base with the necessary resources to work outside of Citrix using our VPN. This will allow them to use local resources on their laptops/computers which they currently find challenging due to restrictions that we have imposed within Citrix as a result of security and company policy.
 
All of our suppliers were very supportive and acted professionally to our sometimes reactive demands. This is down to the fact that we treat all of our supplier relationships as a partnership which brings out the best in everyone. Special thanks to BtL, Access Alto, Soft Cat, Blue Saffron and all of my colleagues and staff at Morgan Hunt who have been very supportive throughout.

The College awarded its exclusive recruitment contract for the provision of temporary and permanent staff to Morgan Hunt, a specialist recruiter to the public sector.

The contract was awarded through a tendering process with the Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC). The CPC is a purchasing group designed to ensure organisations, including Further Education Colleges, can engage with suppliers who have already proven themselves to offer best value for money, provide efficiencies and demonstrate sector expertise.
 
Morgan Hunt has a long track record in attracting and finding professionals for Further Education institutions. From operational roles to academic and senior positions. This heritage and deep understanding of hiring for staff across all grades and functions was important for its appointment on this occasion.
 
The College has an enviable reputation as one of London’s most successful colleges and in its most recent Oftsed inspection, the College was judged to be ‘Good’ in all that they do. It was important therefore to continue to access the best staff to uphold their great status and continue its journey to ‘Outstanding’.

Luke O’Neill, Education Director at Morgan Hunt, said; 
“Our recruiting and sourcing teams are not only working to ensure we attract those with the required skills but we are also mindful that we meet the important requirement of ensuring the institution remains as an ‘inclusive college’. We work to attract candidates from neighbourhoods in the proximity of the College to reflect the diverse nature of the local community”.
 
Lynne Griffin, HR Executive at Waltham Forest College adds “Employees are central to our organisation and having the right people in place, underpins our success. Our mission is to deliver outstanding technical and professional learning, which raises aspirations, develops skills and creates futures. Partnering with a specialist recruiter empowers us to efficiently and proactively attract talented people to our organisation”.
 
Lynne further comments; “As a centre of learning and being amongst the top 3 biggest employers within the borough we have an active role to play by offering our students and employees access to opportunities that are both inspiring and beneficial. The College is a great place to work with benefits that appeal to people with different motivations and life circumstances. We work to enhance our employees’ personal development, health, wellbeing and finances. After all, we are located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest who has been awarded the first ever London Borough of Culture, from the Mayor of London”.

On the 9th May 2019, Morgan Hunt welcomed David Beeney, from the mental health consultancy firm ‘Breaking the Silence’ to discuss with HR professionals how to approach offering support for mental health needs within an organisation. With 4 out of 10 suicides reported as unexpected from people who know the victim, poor mental health can go unnoticed until it is too late.

David has first-hand experience of being an employee hiding his struggles with his mental health across a 30 year career in the training sector. He gave real life examples to illustrate just how an employee’s feelings can materialise in non verbal ways. It could be manifest as a person finding it difficult to speak in a public environment, not completing tasks or just doing things differently to their usual style.

The workplace may not be the source of anxiety but may exacerbate feelings of stress or being overwhelmed. Employers have a duty of care and, in most cases, managers within organisations want to help a member of their team but many people mask their problems and fear appearing vulnerable in their professional life. David explained some key ideas around positively helping employees to share their anxiety and advice for HR about working with them to improve wellbeing and offering assistance.
 

What are the signs to look out for?

Nonverbal cues are very important. When individuals feel mentally unwell, they may change their behaviour. It can be avoiding situations, becoming less responsive, appearing distant or not actively listening, for example. If the employee has been in the organisation for an amount of time, changes may be more subtle. 

What we say and how we express ourselves in words also has a role. A person may have become more aggressive or indeed the reverse. They may avoid conversations or keep their interactions short.
 

How do you help without offending?

Prepare managers about the seriousness of mental health. From an organisational perspective, interactive training sessions can help. This is particularly useful to prepare managers for what they perceive as awkward conversations. In this scenario, leaders are taken out of their comfort zone to explore their own vulnerability and conversation techniques to find a common ground for sharing issues that are core to a person’s mental wellbeing.
 

Make mental health an open conversation

Mental fatigue can happen to anyone, so the promotion of any Employee Assistance programmes across a company is vital if this forms part of your employee benefits. Campaigns to raise awareness, with free materials from organisations such as Mind, can also raise awareness of the mental health and reduce the perception of it as a taboo subject.
 

Use the right language 

Employee issues should be escalated to HR where appropriate, so the education of managers is paramount. HR may be able to help in joint discussions using the right language to encourage an employee to share their concerns.
 

What next?

Treat the mental and physical challenges in the same way. Get your leadership teams on board and share the message to encourage employees to be able to alert you to stress before it impacts their lives. Being open about mental health is good for everyone.
 

Here is just some of the excellent feedback we had from previous attendees of David’s Masterclass:  

“Excellent speaker, thoroughly thought provoking, thank you Morgan Hunt for running this”

“Spectacular, inspiring human who has changed my thinking about a way forward with wellbeing in my organisation” 

“Thought provoking and relevant to the workplace” “David was an incredible speaker and the way in which he shared his personal experiences was extremely humbling”