MORE staff working for Worcestershire County Council are being encouraged to desk-share and work partly from home to free up space that can be rented out to other organisations.

As bosses keep one eye on the council’s need to make £45 million savings over the next four years, staff are being encouraged to be more flexible.

But Adrian Gregson, Worcestershire branch secretary of public sector union Unison, said there were still some grumblings among staff about the system, introduced two years ago.

“I don’t think chief officers have a real understanding of a normal frontline job any more,” he said.

At a meeting of the council’s resources panel, Patrick Birch, director of corporate services, said desk-sharing and home-working allowed the council to rent office space to organisations such as the local NHS, which currently pays the council £250,000 a year.

Mr Birch said: “More space could be released to actually bring cash in. It doesn’t feel like we’re at the end of the road with it yet. There’s an opportunity to do more.”

Mr Birch said offices at four locations across Worcestershire, including County Hall in Worcester, have now been adapted so staff can set up at a desk almost any time they like. He said it was mainly social workers who were using the system the most at the moment.

He said: “Over the last few years we have made significant changes to the way people work. At the moment it’s more working with the willing. It is not for everybody. If they choose not to buy into this they will probably be allowed not to.

“Some like it, some people don’t. We at County Hall have a lot more people in jobs where it’s not as easy to work in such a mobile way.”

Mr Birch admitted middle managers had a “mixed view” about flexible working but he thought more were warming to the idea.

He said: “We have customer service advisors who can plug in from home. The same goes for those in revenues and benefits. These people’s productivity needs to be very closely monitored but it is a choice for them.

“We want choice and the best possible people to work for this organisation and to work in an environment that is productive for them.

“If we offer it to them in an open way a lot of people will choose a flexible way and maybe that will put less pressure on accommodation at the council.”