As part of our ongoing Future Workplace research programme, we want to collect and share practices adopted by public sector organisations as they move to a hybrid workplace.

This blog sets out why we have created a survey and database, both accessible to anyone from the wider public sector, in order to better serve the information needs of our members and inform our Future Workplace programme of research.

We warmly invite councils and other public sector organisations to complete the form and make use of the results.

Complete the survey
View the database

Learning in the open

Like all organisations, London boroughs are returning to their offices and making decisions as we speak about adapting their workplaces. They need to be informed about good practices from others and see what’s possible so that they make the best possible choices: avoiding going down undesirable paths, and making the most of the opportunities available to them..

Our original plan was to publish a database of practices alongside the first Future Workplace report, later in 2021. We knew that such a database would be extremely useful for decision-makers, in particular when paired with a high-level report that can draw out key examples in a manner more focused on concise communications for time-scarce government leaders.

Agile research adapts to the learnings it reveals

However, we began to realise that our original research plans needed to change. In our All-Member meeting of October 13th, and as a result of interviews with boroughs in October, it became apparent that LOTI needed to get some of this vital information to our members sooner than planned. Boroughs are making decisions right now. 

Accordingly, we’ve created the form and database above so that any public sector organisation can share what they are doing and learn from others. Although we are focused on London, we want to learn from anywhere and everywhere. Learning from other regions and organisations will provide useful perspective for our members, and we hope will help others, too.

The database is fundamentally a living, growing thing, and completely open for anyone to access – not just decision-makers, but also any researchers curious about what governments are doing in this space. Therefore, the more organisations whose practices can be documented and shared, the more useful the database will be. I will be pushing hard to share the form (and this webpage) around the various networks that I am part of, and with friends and colleagues around the public sector (in the UK and abroad), to capture the practices that we are seeing.

Thank you in advance for sharing what your organisation is doing!

For any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me at sam.nutt@loti.london