Future of work project

Considering the future of work for NICE, with a desire to draw energy and advantage from changed ways of working. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NICE was fast-forwarded into a way of working that had no precedent. Our response to how we worked internally, how we delivered our support to the NHS pandemic response and delivered core business was strong. This response has continued to serve us well in the months since, but the real test is the sustainability of these changes and how we navigate towards a future state that harnesses the opportunities, and manages the challenges, presented by these new and different ways of working. Many partners, stakeholders and colleagues have welcomed our approach and seek sustainable and meaningful change for the future and for NICE to avoid any slip back to a pre-Covid state. As part of moving to full home working over the last year we have also been considering our long term digital and technology needs and have recently initiated a digital workplace programme. This programme will introduce new tools and processes to help our colleagues work more efficiently and support collaboration internally and with our external partners. We are seeking to engage consultants with expertise in this area to develop proposals for new ways of working across NICE that will balance business needs, equality issues, and retain, recruit, and motivate staff. We expect that consultants will develop a deep understanding of NICE's requirements and test the research into the future world of work for translation into a complex organisation such as NICE, including benchmarking against other similar organisations and their plans for the future. We are looking for recommendations and practical advice on how we might best harness technology, workspace planning and people management to find the right balance of homeworking and office-based activities that work for us and enable us to achieve our 3 key objectives, building on everything we have learnt during the pandemic, including staff preferences for the future.