Change is inevitable, but the last eighteen months have seen significant disruption to our lives as we know them.

Transformation has occurred at a rapid rate and we’ve had to quickly adapt our business practices. Housemark has carried out extensive research to quantify the impact of the pandemic and found that 75% of landlords are now planning a different approach to their service delivery. Change is here to stay and is something which we need to embrace as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, and try to grasp what is now our new operating environment.

Much of the change centres around the workplace. The current issues facing leadership teams are how to adopt a hybrid working model for employees and how to make their businesses more agile for the future. Housing leaders now find themselves amid a panoply of decisions which need to be made in the best interests of their people, both their staff teams and their customers.

Many leaders are recognising that their staff have worked remotely for well over a year and many want to remain remote or adopt a hybrid approach to work. A recent study found that 99% of housing associations are working towards a hybrid model, combining a mixture of remote and office-based working. Housemark’s own research echoes this, and in April 2021 we found that 1 in 12 landlords had already decided to move office workers into fully home-based roles. There is a seismic shift in how people want to work and a one size fits all approach is not going to cut it anymore. For businesses to retain and attract talent, they will need to understand how to adopt flexible working practices for employees, or else they could experience a surge in staff turnover as people look for more agile employers.

The future of the workplace is being shaped now. Leaders need to seize opportunities to create a better future for your business operations, your people and your customers through creativity and innovation. Pioneering solutions are continuously being developed across the devolved nations and we want to stimulate your innovative thinking at our November 2021 conference.

Hafod’s innovation programme Side by Side has just launched to improve the lives of their customers. Side by Side are a dedicated team that work alongside Hafod’s core business but focus solely on the interests of their customers and communities. It gives them the chance to work closely within their community and see issues through their customers’ eyes, to help develop innovative solutions to help improve their customers wellbeing. According to Hafod’s director of research and innovation, “Access to technology and the confidence to use it has the potential to change lives”.

Blackwood Homes in Scotland has also just launched an innovative £12.5m project to create communities of the future, to enable people to live longer, healthier and more independent lives. Innovative spirit, along with the adoption of technological solutions, will drive change, improve your operations and the lives of your customers.

We have seen how technology has brought us together throughout the pandemic and it’s important that technological infrastructure is available to all customers to break down barriers. We also need to think innovatively about the living environment of the future and how to design regenerative technology-based communities. Through combining innovative technology and development, sustainable communities can be created.

Our Disruption and Innovation in Housing in the Devolved Nations conference taking place on Tuesday 2 and Tuesday 16 November will delve into the discussion around the future of the workplace and creating digital communities. On day 1, we will hear from sector thought leaders who will discuss the future of the workforce – featuring topics such as human and AI collaboration, how to adapt to a hybrid/remote working model and ways to create an agile business fit for the future. On day 2, we will explore how technology can provide successful solutions to improve the lives of your customers.

Be part of the conversation and collaborate with your housing community in shaping the “new normal”. Learn from the experiences of others and gain innovative insight and advice from inspiring leaders. Together, we will explore, debate and examine successful digital solutions and strategies to drive your business operations, people and culture forward into 2022.  Don’t miss out!

If you’re ready to make a difference, we’re ready for you.

Places are available now for our 2-day conference. For more information and to secure your place, please contact monika.gouws@housemark.co.uk.