Four years on from Covid, the Civil Service’s reluctance to return to the office is tanking productivity and leaving empty desks in its wake. In the Telegraph, Tom Haynes explains how the pampered civil service’s obsession with working from home is costing us all. Here’s an excerpt:
The Conservatives tried to force staff to turn up to their place of work just three days out of five, but the small ask was met with intense resistance.
The new Labour Government has so far failed to lay out any demands at all. All the while, the Government’s weekly office attendance figures have remained unpublished since the General Election was called.
Yet while public sector productivity has fallen, Labour is now dangling an inflation-busting pay rise in front of civil servants – many of whom are making considerable savings on childcare and commuting costs by doing their jobs at home. …
One said: “We’re TWaTs [Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays], the lot of us. On Mondays I’d say the office is about 50% full, Friday maybe 25%, and the other days 75-100%.”
Another added: “What’s the point of coming in on Friday when no one else is in?”
Public sector workers have long resisted attempts by previous governments to haul them back into the office. In April, it was reported that some 1,000 employees at the Office for National Statistics had refused to come into the office for even two days out of five.
The 60% in-office mandate, meanwhile, prompted 40% of civil servants to consider jumping ship, according to a November survey by the Public and Commerical Services union.
Childcare remains a strong draw for continued hybrid working across the private and public sectors – an October survey by Capital One found that 87% of remote workers regularly look after children while working from home, with a further 85% doing so in the same room as a child.
However, Neil Leitch, Chief Executive of the Early Years Alliance charity, warned that parents juggling working from home with childcare could be damaging for children.
He said: “If you can work from home and at same time you can be around your child, you can save a small fortune.
“Not a word has been spoken about what’s in the interest of the child. The reality is if you’re holding down a job, it’s very difficult to spend adequate time with the child.”
It comes despite repeated criticism that continued remote work has led to a decline in efficiency across departments. This week it emerged that workers at the Department for Work and Pensions had left customers on hold for the equivalent of 753 years, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
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