Public servants have been ordered back to the office, but the government doesn’t know how many are already there, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin.
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‘Wfh’ not an ‘entitlement’
The days of choosing to “wfh” are coming to an end – for the public sector anyway. What started as a requirement during the Covid-19 pandemic later evolved into “the new normal” for many people, a hybrid way of working that took into account not everybody was suited to a traditional 9-5 with a commute. It probably could have just been an email, but as Stuff’s Glenn McConnell reported, the public sector minister Nicola Willis chose yesterday’s post-cabinet press conference to announce a new directive for staff, saying that working from home isn’t an “entitlement”.
Updated guidance will be issued by the public service commissioner on the government’s orders to make it clear that working from home provisions must be “agreed and monitored”. The Post’s Luke Malpass wrote that the most “amusing and also concerning” thing about the announcement was that the government doesn’t really know how many people do work from home, nor how often or what days. Nevertheless, the message was clear: get back to the office.
Who is responsible?
It’s been more than a decade since former prime minister John Key claimed (and then denied) that Wellington was a “dying” city. Those words have continued to haunt the capital, though Key later clarified Wellington was under “sustained pressure”. The Covid-19 pandemic cemented this. Like the rest of the country, the city came to a halt. But even after lockdown restrictions eased, it felt like Wellington workers were reluctant to head back to the office. Then the coalition government announced it would be slashing the number of public servants – most of whom are in the capital – as part of cost-cutting measures. Wellington central MP Tamatha Paul said the government was “tanking” the city.
Duane Leo from the Public Service Association told RNZ’s Checkpoint that yesterday’s announcement was a response to a problem the government had created. “If this government really cared about the Wellington economy, then it wouldn’t have cut thousands of hardworking public servants’ jobs,” Leo said. The opposition, reported RNZ’s Lilian Hanly, had similar thoughts. Acting Labour leader Carmel Sepuloni said the government was “demonising public servants” after 6,000 of them had already lost their jobs.
Will workers in the office save Wellington?
Nicola Willis said that choosing not to come to your physical place of work had an impact on your team and the “wider community”. The prime minister agreed, adding that he did not want to see working from home “undermining that ambition that we have”. They denied the new directive was a reaction to calls from local hospitality businesses for support, though it has been welcomed.
As noted by Dan Brunskill at Interest, the government’s decision to clamp down on working from home did come after two articles published over the weekend that raised concerns a lack of workers in the Wellington CBD was harming businesses. In the Herald on Sunday (paywalled), Newstalk ZB host Heather du Plessis-Allan suggested public servants were using wfh time to create four day weekends at their beach houses. Stuff’s Annemarie Quill – in a piece since updated to include the government’s announcement – spoke to Wellington business owners desperate for more foot traffic. “They might not be spending the money they used to – but its people that will make Wellington buzz again,” said one.
After the announcement yesterday, Epic Hospitality owner Greig Wilson told The Post that Wellington was “on its knees”. He had been celebrating the government’s announcement. “All we’ve done this year is cut costs and reduce staff, so this can only be good for the Wellington economy and good for New Zealand.”
We’re not alone
New Zealand isn’t alone in grappling with what to do about flexible working. As noted by Luke Malpass in his piece this morning, the New South Wales government recently made a similar demand of its public sector. Big businesses like Amazon have begun ordering workers to return to the office, leading the charge against flexible working arrangements.
But on the flipside, in the UK, where Labour leader Chris Hipkins has been spending time on a policy trip, the government is hoping to pass a package of workers’ rights measures. It would include provisions to encourage flexible working where possible.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds argued that flexible working contributed to productivity, resilience and encouraged staffers to stay working for an employer. “Good employers understand that their workforce, to keep them motivated and resilient, they do need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism,” he said. UK data showed 27% of people took advantage of hybrid work – an increase – though just 13% were still just working from home.