During Mental Health Awareness Week, the government that has culled the jobs of 6500 public servants is now potentially trying to cull the survivors’ work-from-home days, with increased chat about a possible work from home ban. Wellington-based Capsule writer Sarah Lang, who did a deep dive on the redundancies back in June, has some thoughts.
This is an opinion piece.
In an opinion piece in the last Herald on Sunday, Heather du Plessis-Allan wrote that “they’re called ‘Twats’: public servants who only bother coming into the office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays”. Heather, do you like it when people call you names?
She added: “Obviously, it’s just a wild coincidence that the WFH [work from home] days are on either side of the weekend. It won’t be at all because that creates a four-day weekend and allows a public servant to spend four whole glorious days at the beach house.” Heather, I’m not sure that even you believe that they can afford beach houses. Public servants earned a median salary of $84,800 in 2023.
She also wrote, seemingly gleefully, that the public service “may be in for a rude surprise. Rumour has it the coalition Government is considering whether to order them back into the office a bit more often. About time.”
Looks like du Plessis-Allan got the inside scoop. Because yesterday – the day after her column was published – Public Service Minister Nicola Willis spoke at a post-Cabinet press conference, directing government departments to tighten work-from-home policies. She said “updated guidance for the public service will make clear that working from home is not an entitlement and must be agreed and monitored” and that “the simple fact is in some circumstances, you won’t be able to work from home at all”. What happened to TRUSTING our public servants?
As reported in a NZ Herald story called “Christopher Luxon orders public servants back to office, working from home ‘not an entitlement’,” Luxon said “‘I don’t want to see working from home undermining that ambition that we have,’ adding he was worried young graduates did not have the opportunity to learn from senior public servants because they were working from home.”
Er, how worried can he really be about that, though, when his government has haphazardly been laying off people both senior and junior?
A Radio NZ article quoted Luxon as saying “what was introduced as a temporary measure during Covid four years ago risks putting pressure on team performance, office culture and workforce development. Ill-managed work from home not only threatens public sector performance today, it also puts the quality of our future leadership at risk.”
As the article adds, Luxon “was repeatedly asked if the government had evidence to back up its claims and the resulting need for the guidelines, but did not point to any specific piece of evidence – merely referring to overseas studies he’d read showing those working from home received ‘less career counselling, less talent development investment’.”
What The Stats Say About Working From Home
The government’s position sounds like an ideological position, rather than being evidence based. For one thing, in the largest study of its kind, published in June, Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom reveals that employees who work from home two days a week are just as productive, and far less prone to quit.
“The results are clear: hybrid work is a win-win-win for employee productivity, performance, and retention,” Bloom said. But then again, a government that’s making public servants redundant may not be worried about employee retention.
Also, many public servants say they get more work done on days they work from home, because of no commuting time and no office distractions. They also say that, because so many of their colleagues have been culled, those who remain have to get through more work. What’s more, with all the redundancies (and perhaps more to come), some government departments have such tense environments right now that it’s no wonder people want to work from home some days. And now they have to plead for it?!
The government’s announcement follows publicity about struggling small businesses in the CBD – bars, cafes, shops etc – which will no doubt welcome the move. Bizarrely, du Plessis-Allan appears to actually blame public servants for the businesses’ problems, writing that, after Covid restrictions lifted, “when most of us went back into the office, public servants didn’t. They stayed at home, putting on the washing and baking casseroles between Zoom meetings.” Er, was she there? And also, so what?
The Public Service Association has criticised the government’s move, blaming public-sector job cuts for the struggles of Wellington businesses – and stating that the cost-of-living crisis is another factor. Personally, I don’t know any public servants who can afford going to a café for lunch, and now they’ll spending more money on commuting.
It’s unclear what the evidence is behind du Plessis-Allan’s claim that “there’s no downside to ordering them back into the office. It’d be good for the governing parties, given that they tell us they’re here to whip the country back into shape. It’d be good for the private sector too, providing an example for corporates to point to while they still struggle to get the reclusive IT teams to actually turn up at HQ. And it’d be good for the Wellington economy. The only people it’d be bad for are the public servants forced to cut down their time at the beach house.”
She’s really bringing up ‘beach houses’ again, during a cost-of-living crisis when people are struggling to pay rent or mortgages?
Oh, and yesterday’s announcement was made during Mental Health Awareness Week. The press release included remarks from Hospitality NZ’s Chief Executive Steve Armitage, who said “the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week this year is on community, something which is at the heart of hospitality”. And yes, hospitality is important. But the government’s announcement doesn’t exactly show awareness about the mental health of public servants – literally, the people who work for them. Are they not aware, or do they just not care?
Think for a moment about who benefits from spending some days working from home. Not men like Christpher Luxon. People who need – and deserve – flexibility. Working mothers who can do the school run, then make the time up later. Working fathers who are finally doing the school run themselves. People with health problems. People who have trouble sleeping. People living with disabilities. People who have tricky or lengthy commutes. People who can put a casserole and the washing on, and yes, still get all their work done. Why, when the cost-of-living crisis is so bad, would the government take away, or at least threaten, something that makes life a little easier?
