Highland Council staff share their views on lockdown, home working and the future in new video series

8th June 2020

Highland Council has been speaking to staff about their wellbeing during the coronavirus lockdown, working from home and how they see their roles developing in the future.

Today, the local authority launched the first in a series of video interviews with staff, who offered honest accounts of how the crisis has affected them and how it has changed their roles.

A random selection of staff were asked to answer questions such as:

How have you been affected? Have you had to work differently?

In terms of productivity and agility have you been able to do the same job as before?

What have been the biggest challenges you have faced?

What have you learned during the lockdown and do have any new skills/hobbies?

What could the Council do to save money in the future?

What do you think the "new normal," will look like?

Staff have showed how they have adapted positively to change, taking on new roles and finding new ways of tackling problems and keeping in touch with colleagues.

This first video features Occupational Health and Safety Wellbeing Trainer, Jim McCreath; Business Analyst, Hannah Kollef; Civil Engineer/Project Manager Steven Grant and Team Lead for the Premier Mental Health Service in Highland, Emma Campbell.

Chief Executive Donna Manson said: "We have had unique challenges since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic that none of us could have predicted or imagined before the last few weeks.

“Yet the kindness, support and compassion by staff across Highland is helping us to cope with these very challenging times."

She added: “These engagement sessions with staff have been a tremendous way of hearing how everyone is getting on, what they have been doing, the changes, the challenges and how staff have been coping.

“I would like to focus on some of these reflections and how this will help everyone with the return to our ‘new normal'. It is the ideas and input from our staff which will help to inform what we could learn as an organisation from this experience going forward.”