The next few weeks and months will be critical in mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus, while still delivering our services to the community. We will all play a key role.
The public sector leadership have already provided advice about ceasing international and domestic air travel, and about flexible working and leave arrangements for the next few months, for the NSW public sector.
This message is to give even more guidance on how all 400,000 of us can play our role to mitigate the impacts of the virus.
Our frontline people need as much support as possible at this time to keep essential services moving for the NSW community and to manage customer demand on some of our services such as public transport, Service NSW and of course health services. We will undertake even greater levels of cleaning of our workplaces with many resources allocated to this task, and provide special leave arrangements for when you cannot be in your normal place of work delivering services and may not have alternative work to undertake from home.
And we continue messaging to the community the things they can do to minimise the spread, such as washing their hands and coughing or sneezing into their elbow. Doing this is part of having as many precautions as we can to protect those who use our services.
Where areas in the NSW public sector can work flexibly, we should all be familiar with how this can be done. These arrangements should be practised over coming days and weeks – getting us more used to it where it is practical to do so. This does not mean any change to current flexible work policies, it simply means managers should proactively ensure people know what is available to them, and the necessary working from home support is available. If you have not made these preparations, start doing this now.
Working flexibly is about helping take some of the load off our frontline services. It means thinning out the number of people on public transport in the peak periods, by travelling off peak, or working from home. It means less of us placing demands on the health system. It is a practical step to play our role effectively over the coming months while keeping things moving, maintaining our productivity, and continuing to serve our customers and community.
And while some or many of us may be working at home for a short or a longer period over the coming weeks or months, remember to stay close to your team, by phone, email, Skype, teleconferences. Even host events and meetings in a flexible manner – necessity being the mother of all invention, be creative.
All executives and managers should double our efforts to take care of teams and focus on wellbeing and health – physical and mental. Where our people are working on our frontlines, support them in every way possible. Where our people may be at home alone or with family for a period, it is our job now more than ever to keep them connected to our workplace.
If you are unwell, in self-isolation, or looking after a family member who is unwell, first and foremost take every precaution and listen to our Health colleagues’ advice – they are the experts.
It has been, and is a tough time in this state, no doubt. And no doubt we will emerge at the other side of this crisis even more resilient. In the interim, we will have a calm, reassuring, and precautionary approach to everything we do in coming weeks.
Go well all, Tim
Update to the NSW public sector on COVID-19
The next few weeks and months will be critical in mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus, while still delivering our services to the community. We will all play a key role.
The public sector leadership have already provided advice about ceasing international and domestic air travel, and about flexible working and leave arrangements for the next few months, for the NSW public sector.
This message is to give even more guidance on how all 400,000 of us can play our role to mitigate the impacts of the virus.
Our frontline people need as much support as possible at this time to keep essential services moving for the NSW community and to manage customer demand on some of our services such as public transport, Service NSW and of course health services. We will undertake even greater levels of cleaning of our workplaces with many resources allocated to this task, and provide special leave arrangements for when you cannot be in your normal place of work delivering services and may not have alternative work to undertake from home.
And we continue messaging to the community the things they can do to minimise the spread, such as washing their hands and coughing or sneezing into their elbow. Doing this is part of having as many precautions as we can to protect those who use our services.
Where areas in the NSW public sector can work flexibly, we should all be familiar with how this can be done. These arrangements should be practised over coming days and weeks – getting us more used to it where it is practical to do so. This does not mean any change to current flexible work policies, it simply means managers should proactively ensure people know what is available to them, and the necessary working from home support is available. If you have not made these preparations, start doing this now.
Working flexibly is about helping take some of the load off our frontline services. It means thinning out the number of people on public transport in the peak periods, by travelling off peak, or working from home. It means less of us placing demands on the health system. It is a practical step to play our role effectively over the coming months while keeping things moving, maintaining our productivity, and continuing to serve our customers and community.
And while some or many of us may be working at home for a short or a longer period over the coming weeks or months, remember to stay close to your team, by phone, email, Skype, teleconferences. Even host events and meetings in a flexible manner – necessity being the mother of all invention, be creative.
All executives and managers should double our efforts to take care of teams and focus on wellbeing and health – physical and mental. Where our people are working on our frontlines, support them in every way possible. Where our people may be at home alone or with family for a period, it is our job now more than ever to keep them connected to our workplace.
If you are unwell, in self-isolation, or looking after a family member who is unwell, first and foremost take every precaution and listen to our Health colleagues’ advice – they are the experts.
It has been, and is a tough time in this state, no doubt. And no doubt we will emerge at the other side of this crisis even more resilient. In the interim, we will have a calm, reassuring, and precautionary approach to everything we do in coming weeks.
