Strong focus on productivity and service to be maintained following review

09 July 2025

West Northamptonshire Council will continue to place a strong focus on productivity and delivering good service levels to its communities following the latest regular review of its working practices.

Our new administration recently looked at the successes and challenges of the Council’s West Ways of Working approach. Introduced in 2022 to optimise productivity and desk space and achieve taxpayer savings, this approach sets out staff working arrangements across the organisation and how our offices are operated.

The new administration was understandably keen to understand the context of how staff currently work within the organisation and its successes and challenges. They also wanted to validate for themselves what the benefits or costs would be in having more staff based in the offices.

Senior managers therefore recently provided Cabinet with an full overview of the current arrangements including worker types and mixes, the office optimisation plans and savings and to provide some context around the impacts on the workforce retention, savings and costs if we changed the arrangements and brought more staff back into the office permanently.

That review has now been completed, and the data and findings have been discussed in detail with the administration. Based on what they’ve seen, the Cabinet is happy for the current hybrid working arrangements to continue for now.Anna Earnshaw, Chief Executive of West Northamptonshire Council

West Northamptonshire Council is committed to fostering a modern, inclusive, and high-performing workplace. We continually seek opportunities to support our employees in thriving within hybrid working environments.

As part of our duty of care, we ensure that all staff – whether working from a structured office setting or remotely – are provided with the appropriate tools, guidance, and support to perform their roles effectively.

Our approach is underpinned by the principle that flexible working must align with service delivery standards and good organisational performance. We will therefore regularly review our working practices to ensure they meet the needs of both our workforce and the communities we serve.Cllr Andrew Last, Cabinet Member for HR and Corporate Services