Dental Group Supports Staff Wellbeing by Adopting a Fully Flexible Hybrid Working Model

The Clyde Munro Dental Group support centre in Glasgow has reduced its office capacity by more than half to cater for those who wish to work from home whilst investing in staff wellbeing and comfort through a complete office revamp.

With new informal meeting, conference and Zoom rooms, as well as a business lounge, the support centre has been given a complete makeover; removing more than half of the total desk space – from 28 hubs to 11 – to make way for a more spacious, practical, and comfortable working environment.

A living wall has been installed in the office which will provide health benefits and create a comforting atmosphere. The dental group has also purchased soft furnishings – including four sofa chairs, a hanging egg chair and a massaging chair – to allow for relaxation rooms within the office to create a comfortable space for staff to unwind in.

It comes after 72% of the members of their support staff voted to adopt hybrid working.

The shift to a blended working model has been welcomed by staff, giving the team a greater sense of flexibility and autonomy. In addition, with the Group’s presence across Scotland remote working will support the attraction of new recruits to join the team from anywhere in the country.

Nicola Logan, Head of Human Resources, said: “Following a difficult year it was important for us to reassess our working conditions for the wellbeing of all of our staff. We continue to support our practice teams working under additional restrictions and wanted to provide the team in the Glasgow support centre a blended working environment too. We conducted an internal survey to gauge their thoughts and opinions.

“The results showed that nearly all members of staff wanted to adopt a hybrid model or work from home. With that in mind, we have taken steps to cater for our colleagues’ needs by renovating our support centre.

“Ultimately it’s all about finding what works for everyone so the office changes help give staff the option to work where they like while creating a space that can meet everyone’s needs.

“Our main focus with launching a more flexible hybrid approach is to support our teams to manage their time and workload effectively but also take learnings from the pandemic enabling people to manage their own work-life balance.”

Alexandra MacNicol, Head of Marketing at Clyde Munro said: “The transition to hybrid working has been a long time coming, and we felt it was really important to listen to our colleagues and find out what they needed.

Like most businesses, Clyde Munro had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic by resorting to working from home for all non-practice staff.

Alexandra said: “The past year has been tough for everyone, but it has also been a year full of reflection. We felt it was important to reassess how we work and adopt a model that best suited our staff.

“With a hybrid office, we are giving colleagues the chance to choose the environment they work best in.”

Clyde Munro was founded by Jim Hall in 2015 and began its acquisition trail with seven practices, now totalling 51 across Scotland.

The 400 strong staff now support over 400,000 patients across Scotland with practices from Orkney and the Highlands to the Scottish Borders.