Transport Scotland home working statistics: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for information regarding employees working from home.

Q. The number of employees in your organisation and, of these, the number able to perform their work remotely (i.e., not those who are front-line workers) and the number who have started returning to in person work.

Q. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, what has your organisational policy to employees working from home vs coming into work in person? Please explain this in terms of change to previous policy and how this has changed over the course of the pandemic.

Q. Did your organisation have enough of the basic equipment needed for transitioning to remote working during the pandemic? If not – how long did it take to provide everyone with the basic equipment (laptops) they required and implement remote-working?

Q. Did you provide further equipment at any point e.g. laptop stands, chairs, desks etc? If so what did you provide and was this based on a specified value (if so, how much was spent per remote worker)?

Q. Has your organisation created a policy for reversing the option for working from home and/or creating new hybrid working patterns, or returning fully to ‘pre-pandemic’ practices? If yes, please provide details of your policy including how many days a week you will be aiming to have employees working in person and by what specific date or date range you are aiming to achieve this.

Q. Has this changed or been delayed considering the government briefing on 29th November regarding the new Omicron Covid variant and updated advice?

Q. Did you consult your employees about their attitudes to returning to in person work? If so, please provide details of their responses (e.g. did you create a survey; if so, how many people responded and what % were in favour or against returning to the office?)

Q. Have you implemented any changes to pay for those working from home and if so, please describe the average change in pay rates and who it applies to. Were these changes implemented immediately or are you, for example, keeping current staff on the same pay but starting new remote employees on a lower rate? On what rational have you made changes to pay?

Response

Q. The number of employees in your organisation and, of these, the number able to perform their work remotely (i.e., not those who are front-line workers) and the number who have started returning to in person work.:

Number of Employees	Of which are able to work from home	Of which have returned to the office on a regular basis
642 as at 30 November	642 as at 30 November	All staff are able to work from an office if there is a business or welfare requirement. Approximately 5% of our staff have at some point chosen to

Q. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, what has your organisational policy to employees working from home vs coming into work in person? Please explain this in terms of change to previous policy and how this has changed over the course of the pandemic.

A. Colleagues were able to work out with the office prior to the pandemic subject to business needs. When the pandemic started, all staff were told to work from home. Offices re-opened to staff in September 2021 for those that required access to conduct critical business, or for wellbeing reasons.

Q. Did your organisation have enough of the basic equipment needed for transitioning to remote working during the pandemic? If not – how long did it take to provide everyone with the basic equipment (laptops) they required and implement remote-working?

A. All staff had laptops prior to the pandemic. A mini-keyboard, mouse and laptop stand were also provided as standard for all those who occasionally worked from home.

Q. Did you provide further equipment at any point e.g. laptop stands, chairs, desks etc? If so what did you provide and was this based on a specified value (if so, how much was spent per remote worker)?

A. Further equipment was offered on request or as a result of Health & Safety advice. Appropriate equipment was provided such as monitors, desks, laptop stands, chairs, keyboards, mice or footrests as required. Much of the kit utilised was taken from existing office supplies. Any additional purchasing was through existing contracts to ensure best value where possible.

Q. Has your organisation created a policy for reversing the option for working from home and/or creating new hybrid working patterns, or returning fully to ‘pre-pandemic’ practices? If yes, please provide details of your policy including how many days a week you will be aiming to have employees working in person and by what specific date or date range you are aiming to achieve this.

A. Transport Scotland are an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government (SG) so we follow SG policies and procedures. Transport Scotland will explore how we implement a hybrid working model within the wider SG policy guidance.

Q. Has this changed or been delayed considering the government briefing on 29th November regarding the new Omicron Covid variant and updated advice?

A. There has been no overall change given the SG policy direction as the continued advice is still to work from home.

Q. Did you consult your employees about their attitudes to returning to in person work? If so, please provide details of their responses (e.g. did you create a survey; if so, how many people responded and what % were in favour or against returning to the office?)

A. Transport Scotland carried out a staff survey (via the Staff Intranet) in June of 2021. All staff were invited to respond to an online survey, to which we received 444 responses, of a headcount of just over 600 staff. 50% of staff expressed that they would prefer to work from home 3-4 days a week in the future. The blended model based on all of the responses and expressed preferences equate to expectation of approx. 50% of staff expecting to work from the office on any given day.

Q. Have you implemented any changes to pay for those working from home and if so, please describe the average change in pay rates and who it applies to. Were these changes implemented immediately or are you, for example, keeping current staff on the same pay but starting new remote employees on a lower rate? On what rational have you made changes to pay?

A. There have been no changes to pay. Transport Scotland fall under the Scottish Government’s main bargaining unit for pay, so any policy changes would need to be implemented by them.

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