Travel office pilot showing positive change

Five months after we introduced the travel office pilot there are already lots of positive changes happening across Fire and Emergency, says Deputy Chief Executive, Finance and Business Operations, Darryl Purdy. 

“I would like to thank everyone who has supported and adapted to the travel initiatives we have brought in over recent months. 

“When we introduced the travel office pilot in September last year, we set out the reasons why we needed to approach the way we consider and manage domestic travel differently.

“We realised during the COVID-19 lockdown that we can manage many of our usual business activities effectively using technology, we needed to make sure we could demonstrate we were delivering value for public money, and we could not sustain our increasing travel budget. The Government had directed public sector agencies to reduce their environmental impact and demonstrate sustainable practices. 

“The Board also wanted us to keep building on the positive changes we saw during lockdown and interact with each other online as much as possible. They have led the way by changing from meeting in person 12 times in 2019 to meeting in person four times in 2020 with another seven meetings taking place virtually. 

“I am pleased to say that already we have seen some significant improvements across a range of areas, for example:

• reducing our carbon footprint by up to 1.6M carbon kilos (compared to FY 18/19) equal to 97,000 10-year-old trees
• giving our people back time with their families and in their communities by saving up to 24,000 hours of time spent travelling (compared to FY 18/19)
• an increase in the amount of bookings made 21 days in advance from 40% before the pilot to 65%. 

“These are all great results and I am sure we can all keep building on them.” 

Online meetings a great success for Tasman-Marlborough

Working and talking to his people online more has been a great success for everyone says Area Manager for Tasman-Marlborough, Grant Haywood. 

“During lockdown we used the VC to have meetings with our chiefs and that went further to providing training as well. This was a fantastic success with high participation rates. Our Volunteers really valued the interaction online and injected humour into the sessions. It changed the way we engaged. 

“It is important for our brigades to have face to face time with area management. I have 20 brigades and for me to get to most of those requires three to four hours’ travel. Meeting online with VC facilities and Microsoft Teams means I don’t have to travel which gives me more time at home.” 

Grant says new VC technology with a large TV and independent video being rolled out this year will make meetings even better. 

More initiatives coming

Darryl says information on more initiatives coming in the next couple of months is on the new Travel Project page.

“I want to emphasise that these changes are not intended to stop people travelling; they are to encourage you to consider if the travel is necessary or could be done another way.”

 Area Manager for Tasman-Marlborough, Grant Haywood