Principles of Working for Supporting Staff Wellbeing
27 Jan 2021
Meetings, Annual Leave and Emails
Meetings
1) Wherever possible we will not book meetings on a Friday to free up time to progress other activities/work;
2) All zoom meetings to have a maximum duration of 2 hours;
3) Wherever possible we will not book meetings between 12pm and 1pm to give colleagues a clear window for their lunch break;
4) To help give colleagues time for a comfort break, to make a drink, stretch their legs etc. between zoom meetings, we will aim to finish all meetings ten minutes early;
5) All managers are asked to review the regular scheduled meetings they are responsible for to check the frequency is appropriate and we are using colleagues’ time wisely for these meetings.
Annual Leave
6) We will continue to encourage colleagues to take their annual leave, and work with teams to agree arrangements locally to enable everyone to take a break at the time that makes the most sense for local business.
7) When colleagues are on annual leave they are encouraged to put in place a deputy, a clear out of office message with an alternative contact, and for senior managers to provide details of how they can be contacted in an emergency. This should enable colleagues to step away from email and meetings and have a proper break.
8) We will gently remind colleagues of our expectations re email etiquette. E.g., make the title relevant, keep it short, be careful about replying to all, consider using other forms of communication etc.
9) We will encourage colleagues not to respond to emails after 12pm on Fridays. This should allow time for clearing of ‘desks’ but with no expectation of a reply before Monday morning.
10) Where possible, for non-urgent matters, colleagues are encouraged not to send emails out of hours. If colleagues are working flexibly because of childcare or other commitments they are encouraged to draft emails and not send, or use the schedule email feature in Outlook.