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Hybrid working - shipping and collecting equipment when staff start/leave

Hi Everyone, We are operating a permanent hybrid model of 1-2 days in office and the rest at home. For compliance purposes, we cannot have employees using their own equipment, but we are finding huge costs incurred and time spent on arranging couriers to ship and collect equipment when people start/leave. I’m curious as to how everyone else is managing this element please? It’s not always practical for us to ask people to take or return their equipment themselves, as they are usually travelling by train and have a laptop, second screen, keyboard, mouse and headset so it’s simply too heavy and dangerous. Thank you Helen

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  • Its simply a cost of hybrid working - we factor it in
  • Unfortunately it's expensive, it's also expensive when you have the unexpected and dreaded non-starters and leavers because you have to collect your equipment again (not to mention faulty returns!). For some roles we need to courier kit ahead of the start date, so they can plug in on a Monday morning for an IT induction.
    I'd advise for you to look at local couriers, see if you can build a relationship with them and get some kind of agreement to cut costs for more usage.
  • I agree with the other comments - it is an unavoidable cost of remote/hybrid working. In a previous organisation they had a lot of people working remotely and had a contract with a company who delivered their desk, chair, laptop and any other relevant equipment and set it up, then dismantled it and collected it when they left
  • Perhaps look into your courier arrangements as I've been actually surprised how reasonable some of the costs are? We have an office in the South West and one in East London and recently couriering large items (iMacs) between the two was less than £50 a time. In the context of overall recruitment and onboarding that's nothing!
  • Thanks everyone! It was actually more about the time consumption of continually doing couriers orders than the cost. I should have been more specific. Does this sit within HR for your organisation or elsewhere?
  • In reply to Helen:

    It sat within facilities in my previous organisation, but wherever it sits, the admin around it will need to be resourced
  • In reply to Helen:

    Our office manager usually arranges it but our IT support company have also offered to sort it directly (we have outsourced IT). Not sure the size of your organisation but I wouldn't really expect it to be an HR job...
  • Hi Helen

    We have a number of desk which bookable in advance but fully set up with everything someone might need (screen, keyboard, wires etc) so our colleagues are only carrying a laptop to the office and then plugging into IT equipment already at that desk provided. At the end of the day they leave the desk as they found it ready for the next person. But obviously this will mean having a set up similar at home.
  • Hi Helen, I'm with the others who've posted below. In one of my clients it sat with the office manager, in others it might be with IT or procurement. The logistics are a challenge and, even if they don't sit within HR, there's a need for a clear, easy to follow, consistently applied and fully supported (time, cost and people) process.

    In one of my clients they minimised costs by providing a laptop by courier and then had a remote working DSE assessment which determined and then provided extra equipment (chair, screen, keyboard etc) via expenses. The policy stated up to a certain value, for each item, was supported by the company and when the person left those costs were written off and only the laptop was couriered back.
  • Hello Helen

    We had this challenge too, and have moved to Hofy, who do all of the equipment management for us.