The University’s priority at all times is the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff and students.

To help us all adjust to our new working environment, the HR Department have put together a new resource pack, with contributions from the Directors of Division and our Staff and TU Representatives. The ‘COPE Framework’ aims to help staff and their managers find ways to adjust to our new working environment.

The new resource pack and a one-page summary are available now on our Staff Guide.

The framework includes practical guidance to help us put in place working arrangements that, while recognising the stress of the situation we are currently in, relieve any unnecessary workload-related pressures.

The framework is based on four key principles – how best to:

• Collaborate, work together and support each other
• Organise and prioritise workload, to relieve unnecessary workload-related pressure
• Prepare for ongoing uncertainty and minimise any challenges and difficulties further down the line
• Enable ourselves to restore emotional resources and stay well over the time to come.

The pack is designed to complement all the support already available across the University, from departments such as Occupational Health, IS and Kent Sport.

While it does not claim to have all the answers, its guidance on remote working, communication, the role of line managers and flagging of additional resources (including our Employee Assistance Programme) should help relieve some of the pressures colleagues are under. It also paves the way for colleagues to put together their own COPE Framework, reflecting their own particular circumstances, with the support of their manager.

Take a look and have a chat with your manager about ways you might be able to improve your current working environment.