Civil Servants are not lazy or work shy, working from home is equally productive - Yorkshire Post Letters

Nearly everyday we are treated to ‘words of wisdom’ from Mr Rickaby of Selby and I do wonder where he gets his information from. Today’s contribution suggests that Civil Servants refusing to return to the office should be sacked.

For many years and certainly well before the Pandemic the Civil Service has actively encouraged flexible working whilst at the same time reducing the number of desks available presumably to save money.

In May 2022 the Department for Education instructed staff to return to offices. Given they have twice as many staff as office space many people were reportedly turned away and others were trying to work in corridors.

In 2022 the Government produced data on desk capacity examples included BEIS with desks for 47 per cent, Department for Transport with 44 per cent and Dept for Health and Social Care 31 per cent.

For Mr Rickaby’s dream to come true the Government would need to buy back some of the office space it has sold.

Civil Servants are not lazy or work shy. The evidence is that working from home is equally productive and is what has been asked of them.