Supporting our staff

Our trained and experienced staff remain committed to delivering essential services and we thank them their efforts at a tough time. It has been vitally important that during this time, our teams remain safe and have been given the support, equipment and information necessary to carry out their work safely. For example, additional PCs were built and our IT network extended to enable 2,000 of our staff to home work where possible. Our fleet was also increased by 10% to keep our teams on the road and to better enable social distancing. We also sourced the PPE required to keep staff safe while keeping the power flowing.

To help our staff throughout the initial pandemic outbreak and in adapting work load we have supported individuals with the following:

Mental Health Awareness Week (18-24th May) 

Now more than ever it has been imperative to support the mental health of all within the WPD family as well as those closest to them. This week saw efforts to push for positive changes within work, home, community and in connecting with family and friends surrounding kindness, and we have continued this support with 300 managers receiving mental health training to better support their staff.
 

Mental Health and Returning to the Workspace 

A document was published for guidance to staff for self-care and measures to take when returning to the office including:

• Talk and connect
• Plan and prepare
• Have a return-to-work conversation with your line manager
• Take things one-step at a time
• Monitor and review how you are getting on

In-house and external sources of help are also detailed for extra support should any employee need it, these include mental health first aiders, CBT access, Occupational health teams and Samaritans, MIND, PAPYRUS etc.

To see the document in full, click here.

Social distancing at work

A comprehensive guide for all colleagues was distributed to inform all on how WPD was keeping them safe as well as guidelines and precautions they should take to help minimise risks. This included:

• Hygiene advice
• Social distancing changes to travel & use of company vehicles
• Social distancing in offices and depots
• Social distancing in stores and stock areas
• Social distancing on work sites
• Social distancing for visitors and contractors

For full document and guidance click here. 

FAQ’s for staff

This regularly updated internal document, as you might expect answers all staff queries and gives in depth solutions, precautions and planning on topics such as the ones in the ‘Social Distancing at Work’ document. This allows for risk assessments and in-depth guidance on a plethora of topical questions. The full document includes subsections on but is not limited to general coronavirus advice, WPD specific measures, Impact on works/services for customers, office working, home working and personal circumstances.

Guidance on Face Coverings and hand washing

Posters have been shared both in office and over email and intranet to ensure that staff are up to date and fully aware of government guidelines for proper use of face masks and hand washing.

Coronavirus Symptoms at work

It is imperative that our staff know how to respond if someone in the workplace either reports or exhibits coronavirus symptoms. For this reason, we have a guide to keep all involved calm and enable the situation to be dealt with in the best way possible.