Year review 2021

As I started to think about what I wanted to write in my blog for this year review, I took a quick look back at what I wrote in December 2020. I was surprised at how similar the last 2 years have been at Frank, especially as we are now currently in the early stages of a new variant, Omicron, with new restrictions. However, we do feel more positive this time at Frank with the excellent take up of vaccines in this country, which will hopefully reduce severe illness and hospitalisations and ensure restrictions can be lifted sooner.

Like 2020, this year has been dominated by remote working for our staff and speaking to NHS clients via pitches, scoping and general meetings via Teams. In fact every time I say MS Teams, the ring tone for a call on Teams goes off in my head... very worrying! Everyone is different and I know some colleagues like the benefits of working from home and no commute, whereas others need people around them to clearly separate their work and home space. For this reason, we moved into new offices in Didsbury, Manchester in early November to give our staff a flexible model that encouraged productivity, community and wellbeing (see our blog announcement). We were loving being back around each other, as it made some tasks easier and we even managed to play a few games of table tennis at lunch time when we found the time! The new work from home mantra hopefully won’t be in place too long and we can be back with each other soon.

It has certainly been busier for us at Frank in 2021 as we support our NHS clients in their daily operations through digital solutions. Building these solutions isn’t just about helping a client to manage their website more efficiently, it is also about improving patient and staff satisfaction, operational efficiency and quality of service. We have continued to invest in the business to support this growth and meet these challenges through new technology, new talent and infrastructure, such as the new office.

As the Christmas holiday is upon us and is a season of peace on earth and good will to all (we hope!), I wanted to share the real life stories from the people at Frank this year, as we have tried to navigate our way through this pandemic with a positive outlook. I’ve been so proud of the way staff go out of their way to support and rally around each other when there has been illness or COVID but also life changing events such as bereavement and separation. People cannot do more for each other at work to help, and there have been flowers, cards and even crates of craft ale beers turning up at each other's houses, sometimes for no other reason to just say ‘hope you're ok’ or ‘thank you’. I was also heartened by an NHS team who we were working with on a key digital project deadline remotely, who sent flowers to a Frank staff member who was working on the project and had gone on compassionate leave - it was lovely, kind thought.

Finally I wanted to send my best wishes and a Merry Christmas to all of our staff, clients and partners as we look forward to a new year and a happy 2022!

Thanks,
Jamie Wise,
Managing Director, Frank