Lockdown Boogie

I’m sat in my ‘inspiration-isolation’ cell at home, looking out onto what is gearing up to be one of the warmest days of the year. The weather’s been incredible, but my work-room faces north and I’m often sat with a blanket around me, looking at people walking-by in shorts and t-shirts. This was thrown into stark relief yesterday when our Chief Executive video-called me. Quick removal of the blanket, fortunately I was ‘decent’ underneath. Pat did, however, ‘beard-shame’ me on the Senior Leadership Team call this morning, with the team then calling out for me to show myself. I haven’t trimmed my beard since lockdown started, wondering if I could get away with things until restrictions were lifted, much like Adam Hill on the Last Leg during the period leading to Brexit. One of my daughters started hacking at it with scissors during our virtual pub-quiz last week; it’s time for it to be cut-back.

This week I want to describe and celebrate some of the team work and support that’s happening across Somerset County Council. We know we’ve got some incredibly talented and creative colleagues and lockdown was never going to stop them. So massive kudos to those who have been having fun with their colleagues, including the virtual dance-offs (social worker superhero theme – I’ve seen the video, it had me laughing out loud), Easter bonnet competition, virtual coffee-mornings, the photo-wall, breathing exercises. Keep them coming, it’s great to see. Also worth a shout-out to the Virtual Pub Quiz. The first one took place last Thursday, with well over 100 people playing on Teams. The Chat function really came into its own, just hilarious! Next one tonight

The fun side of work is essential; we’re social creatures and need that contact. However there’s also the support needed for colleagues who are struggling and we have a range of help available. The calendar on our Working Well site has a good a range of webinars, training programmes, guidance and such like to make it easier to work at home. Sometimes all that’s needed is a quick call, so perhaps have a think about taking 10 minutes to talk with a colleague who you think might need a lift or just fancies a chat. This is our Take Ten idea and we’ve had some lovely feedback from across all services on this.

We’re also working hard with our trade union colleagues on ensuring we’re doing the right thing. I had an hour with them this morning and we covered topics such as PPE, staff testing for Covid-19, redeployment and working shifts during unsocial hours. Really essential stuff that’s being covered and agreed in partnership. In terms of staff testing, we are working across health & social care on testing staff in designated teams, who are in the first 3-days of covid-19 symptoms. Our Public Health colleagues are leading this area, working with our NHS partners on providing tests across a number of locations across the County. These tests will be widened-out to other teams over the coming weeks; they confirm whether someone has Covid-19, not whether they have had it. More on this over the coming days.

Work also continues as normal in many areas. We’re still recruiting and using MS Teams to make some critical appointments. These include five care leavers who will be joining us shortly as apprentices, so absolutely vital work there. Our colleagues aged under 26 have also been diong some work with us, describing what it’s like for them at the moment and how we’re doing as an employer. On a similar note, I’ll be sending out a survey to all staff in the next fortnight, asking what’s worked, what hasn’t, what we need to change as we move through Covid-19. This will really inform how we develop culture across the council and future ways of working.

Another thank you to colleagues who have put themselves forward for redeployment. We’ve filled some interesting assignments, including the emergency care facility in Yeovil, support to registration services, PPE distribution, packing clothes for homeless and women’s refuges, and most recently people to help with Covid-19 contact tracing. In terms of numbers, this means we’ve had about 1500 responses to the survey, 160 roles matched with candidates and we have 30 new requests to fill (as of Tuesday). Great work from across all services here.

That’s all from me for now, blanket back on. Thank you for reading and thank you for keeping the fun going, supporting one another and keeping everything running so well. Top bunch of colleagues.

ps. This was written just before the Government's announcements on wide-scale testing of staff and families