Implementing flexible hybrid working as part of modernising the employee experience: RSPCA
We explore how flexible hybrid working arrangements and agile working were used at one organisation to support staff and modernise the employee experience
We explore how flexible hybrid working arrangements and agile working were used at one organisation to support staff and modernise the employee experience
In a charitable organisation focused on animal welfare, a flexible hybrid working model has been adopted for its office-based staff as part of modernising the employee experience. Hybrid working has supported employee wellbeing, enabled a more personalised work-life balance, improved employee engagement, enabled the charity to recruit from a wider and more diverse talent pool and resulted in financial savings on office space.
Organisation: RSPCA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
Size: Circa 1,700 employees
Location: There are three main hubs (Horsham, London and Cardiff) and 14 animal centres providing care, rehabilitation and rehoming. Inspectors/animal rescuers are mobile workers, out on the road, but start and end their day from home
Sector: Animal charity
The RSPCA won the 2024 CIPD People Management Award for Best Health and Wellbeing Initiative, Public and Third Sector, of which its approach to flexible working was a key component.
Founded in 1824, the RSPCA is an animal welfare charity operating across England and Wales. Of its 1,700 employees, 1,100 work on the front line, as inspectors/ animal rescuers and in animal hospitals and animal and wildlife centres. A further 600 people work in support roles (for example, fundraising, finance, HR, IT, education, campaigning, animal science and policy, prosecutions, branch support and veterinary science), and 70% of employees are women.
Until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the majority of RSPCA desk-based employees worked from the headquarters office in Horsham, West Sussex with standard 9-5 working hours.
This case study focuses on the introduction of flexible hybrid working arrangements for support staff working in desk-based roles. The next focus for the organisation is reviewing how it expands more flexible and agile working for front-line staff, who currently have the option to work part-time. But the organisation is keen to see if more flexibility may be possible outside of the traditional rosters.
A combination of factors led HR and other business leaders to think differently about where, when, and how people work as part of the RSPCA’s modernisation plans, ensuring a more agile and future-fit organisation.
In its 2019 employee survey, just 37% of employees agreed that the RSPCA cares about their wellbeing, and only 39% of employees agreed that the RSPCA helps colleagues achieve a good work–life balance. This data focused the organisation’s attention on understanding and addressing the issues, enabling people to adopt a more personalised way of working that suits their needs.
Jeremy Gautrey-Jones, Assistant Director People and Culture - Employee Experience, explains that employee wellbeing must be a priority at the RSPCA, especially given the nature of some jobs roles. For example, animal inspectors see horrific cases of animal abuse and neglect. He firmly believes that “they can’t look after animals if we don’t look after them”.
In 2022, the decision was made to sell what was then the head office in Horsham, West Sussex, as the space wasn’t fully occupied due to the very flexible hybrid working model. In addition, with the UK’s cost-of-living crisis at that time, the organisation needed to prepare for a potential decrease in charitable giving as well as firm up money for future investment as part of its 2020–2030 strategy.
An alternative hub structure (with hubs in Horsham, London and Cardiff) was more cost-effective as well as suiting employees’ increased expectations for flexibility.
The RSPCA wanted to widen the talent pool it recruited from to attract a more diverse workforce, reflecting the diversity of the populations of England and Wales (the communities it serves), rather than that of just Mid Sussex (a district in the county of West Sussex).
Through enforced homeworking during stages of the pandemic, the senior leadership team saw that people don’t need to be in the office and be supervised to do a great job. They themselves valued having the increased flexibility and a 2021 survey of support staff (who were traditionally office-based) showed that employee expectations of where, when, and how they work had changed:
Increased flexibility through a hybrid working model helped to shift the culture from one of requesting permission to work flexibly, to flexibility being the norm and the expected way of working.
The RSPCA wanted the hybrid model to be truly flexible, not just focused on where people work, but also when and how. Broad parameters and guidelines were drafted at an organisation level.
The finer detail of where and when people work is agreed at a local level through manager and team-level discussions, taking into account role demands, individual needs and preferences and what works across the team.
In 2021, the RSPCA invited some of its office-based staff to trial the flexible hybrid working model for six months. It found:
The decision was made to go ahead with the flexible hybrid working approach for office staff.
The HR team are currently reviewing all of the people policies and the employee support on offer to ensure it aligns with a flexible working culture. For example, more support for working parents and carers has been introduced, including an employee network and IVF treatment leave.
A shift in management style was required, from management by visibility (input) to management by contribution (output). Detailed guidance was produced to support managers to lead a flexible team, including a guide to help them think about when and how often it’s appropriate to require people to be in the office. There are practical examples of why in-hub attendance may be beneficial:
The pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology to support homeworking, including remote communications platforms. Cloud-based storage was introduced so that employees could digitally access documents remotely, rather than being reliant on paper documents in the office. In addition, the RSPCA undertook a large project to digitalise its historical paper-based storage system.
A ‘Hello Hybrid’ webpage was created which sets out the new ways of working and houses guidance for employees and managers on how to operate in a flexible hybrid way. For example, how to run effective online meetings, how to integrate your dog into the workplace and guidance for when people should get together.
Employees take responsibility for updating their online calendars to show their working times each day so colleagues know when to schedule meetings and when they’re not in.
The hub office designs needed to reflect and enable the new ways of working. Different layouts and furniture options were trialled.
Within the new designs, people can choose to work in distinct spaces through the day, according to their personal preference and as their tasks require. Floor plans were produced as well as clear signage and banners in the different areas of the office to explain what each is for, for example:
People can choose a desk in their ‘team neighbourhood’ or in a ‘mixed neighbourhood’.
The chief executive’s support and wider leadership buy-in significantly helped to drive the flexible hybrid approach to work. As well as recognising the benefits of increased flexibility for their people and the organisation, many senior leaders commuted a long distance to what used to be the Horsham head office, and so personally appreciated the greater flexibility. Gautrey-Jones believes leadership role-modelling was essential to its success:
“Our CEO, Chris, was a big advocate of our hybrid model and could see the benefits for diversity and modernising how we worked. He championed it by working hybridly from different locations, including home and our London hub.”
The RSPCA used several data sources to track the impact of its hybrid working model:
Gautrey-Jones summarises:
“The future is a hybrid model for our support staff, but this is still new and developing and we need to learn as we go and from others. We trust our people to work flexibly and we know that flexibility is important in our busy lives. Making sure it is sustainable and achieves good physical and mental wellbeing is really important as well as achieving a good work-life balance.”
Many front-line employees already work part-time, but the RSPCA is now looking at how different forms of flexible working can be implemented in front line roles. This is important to avoid a ‘them and us’ feeling between front-line and office staff.
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