Giving 620 field-based colleagues greater confidence when working alone

The Hyde Group is one of the UK’s largest housing providers, delivering housing, neighbourhood, support and property services across a large portfolio of homes and communities.

Many of Hyde’s services are delivered by field-based colleagues who regularly work independently while supporting residents, maintaining properties and managing housing services.

These include neighbourhood officers, tenancy and income officers, housing support teams and maintenance professionals who spend much of their time working in residents’ homes, community settings and public spaces. As a result, protecting colleague wellbeing is a critical priority for the organisation.

Approximately 620 colleagues undertake lone-working activities across Hyde’s operations.

Hyde’s teams regularly engage with residents in a wide range of situations and environments.

While the vast majority of interactions are positive, colleagues can occasionally encounter challenging, unpredictable or potentially hostile situations while carrying out their responsibilities.

The organisation wanted to ensure colleagues had access to reliable support whenever they were working alone, while also meeting its legal, operational and moral responsibilities around employee safety and wellbeing.

Hyde needed a solution that would:

Over a longstanding partnership, Hyde has expanded its use of Totalmobile technologies to support multiple operational areas across the organisation.

As part of its wider Totalmobile partnership, Hyde implemented Totalmobile’s Lone Worker Protection capability to provide field-based employees with direct access to support whenever they are working alone.

The capability combines emergency assistance, real-time monitoring and proactive safety features designed to support employees across a range of working situations.

Key functionality includes:

The capability complements Hyde’s broader approach to employee wellbeing, safety procedures and lone worker training.

For Hyde, lone worker technology is only one part of a broader commitment to employee wellbeing.

Alongside policies, training, risk assessments and a zero-tolerance approach to abuse and aggression, Lone Worker Protection provides an additional layer of support that helps colleagues feel safer when delivering services in the community.

The organisation continues to work closely with Totalmobile to explore future developments, including enhanced connectivity, new device capabilities and additional welfare-focused features designed to further support field-based teams.