The writer of this submission is an individual who commenced “Home Working” in the COVID-19 pandemic.
This paper sets out observations and recommendations against a number of the Questions set out in the Committees call for evidence.
Challenges: Erosion of “split” between “Work” and “Home”. Lack of intra-team communication resulting in work/social isolation and loss of productivity. Increased discrimination against workers having carer/parent status or being “older” due to managers preferring office based staff for internal promotion opportunities. Individuals living in bed sits or shared housing are discriminated against through being unable to separate “work” from “home”.
Opportunities: Disabled workers able to perform “Work” without having to commute to the workplace.
Challenges:
Fraud in the recruitment process as Individuals being interviewed by Zoom can use AI Deepfakes to provide model perfect answers thus being recruited for jobs they can’t actually deliver.
Security risks arising from fraudulent recruitment including foreign state “actors” mis-representing as UK citizens thus negating security checks: Guardian Newspaper link: north-korea-job-scam
Fraud in the recruitment and promotion process as Individuals can “do” multiple jobs thus committing fraud and increasing risks to UK economy: Guardian Newspaper link: Civil-Servant-Multiple-Jobs
Loss of productivity and severe risk of Fraud by workers appearing to work while not working: BBC News Article
Threats to Employers data as Employers unable to control access to employees work locations (employees screens can be seen by family members/friends/passers-by) with consequent severe risks to Government Information and UK Industry IPR and commercially sensitive data.
Reduced productivity and creativity as different remote/hybrid workers within a business area/company will have different individual working patterns, for example my experience has been:
Colleague 1 : Mon-Fri every day 08:00 to 12:00 then 13:00 to 17:00
Colleague 2 : Mon-Fri every day 07:00 to 11:00 then 14:00 to 18:00
Readers can see that for a notional 8 hour working day the 2 colleagues are only at work at the same time for 6 hours so 25% less time available for synchronous collaboration.
Opportunities:
Employers should enjoy savings on office space when employees are remote or hybrid working but experience shows that office spaces become partially empty and do not materially reduce in size.
Increased resilience within a team as some team members can start work early (or work late) so that urgent team tasks can start to be addressed during what other employers see as “silent hours” ie before 08:00 and after 16:30
Recommendations re Question 3:
All Government Department recruitment and promotion activities to be carried out by “in-person” interview processes ie all Civil Service managers to be prohibited from using Microsoft Teams and similar tools for recruitment/promotion processes.
All Government Departments and Arms Length Bodies to implement for ALL staff a legal requirement to attend their established “Office” location for 4 working days each month.
All Government Departments and Arms Length Bodies to implement common disciplinary regulations so that ANY Government employed individual who fails to protect Government data is downgraded/dismissed.
All Government Departments making decisions on social benefits to ensure that all decisions are supported by “in-person” interviews rather than telephone or remote video calls.
UK Government has set a back-to-office “requirement” (60:40 split with 60% of time in office) Link:Lords Library.office-attendance-mandate-for-civil-service/ ) . While Cabinet Office publishes data for HQ office occupancy this is limited to a very small proportion of all crown/public sector employees and thus it is unknown to what extent this 60% of time in office has been implemented by UK Government Departments, Executive Agencies or Arms Length Bodies and thus UK Ministers may be being ignored by UK Public/Crown Servants. This situation needs to be resolved before this question can be answered…..
Recommendation re Question 6:
All Permanent Secretaries and CEO’s of Arms Length Bodies and Executive Agencies to be held to account to implement UK Government directions with at least 20% of time in office for all public sector employees paid from the public purse with organisations reporting performance in their annual reports and accounts.
Remote/Hybrid working results in lower productivity due to reduced collaboration as different remote/hybrid workers within a business area/company will have different individual working patterns, for example my own experience has been:
Colleague 3 : Mon-Thurs every day 07:30 to 12:00 then 13:00 to 17:00 with Friday working from 08:30 to 12:00 (flexi time off each Friday afternoon).
Colleague 4 : Mon-Fri every day 07:30 to 11:00 then 14:00 to 18:00
Readers can see that over the week the 2 colleagues are only at work at the same time for 28.5 hours so less time available each week for synchronous collaboration compared to both colleagues working 37.5 hours a week over identical working hours patterns.
Recommendation re Question 7:
All Public Sector employers to mandate resource levelling across all employees such that available public sector employees are maximised over the working week ie number of employees working is constant for each working day of the week such that citizens receive the same level of service each working day compared to the current situation where citizens find that Central and Local Government Offices are often under-staffed on Fridays.
National/Regional disparities within the UK:
Historically public sector employees based in London (London “based”) have received London Weighting to cover their increased costs of working in London rather than the “provinces” outside London. But post the COVID-19 pandemic a significant proportion of London “based” office-based staff are no longer working in London more than 1 or 2 days a week but continue to receive full London Weighting payments even though they no longer incur the full additional costs of working in London. London Weighting is currently pensionable but it is inequitable for such staff to continue to “earn” future additional pension entitlements when working from home in the provinces/regions outside London alongside colleagues who are not London “based” and who do not receive London Weighting and the additional pension entitlement.
Recommendation re Question 9:
Redefine Public Sector Employee (Civil Service/NHS etc) London Weighting as a non-pensionable allowance.
Net Zero:
Remote and hybrid working generate more emissions than office based working. Public transport remains fully operational (even though less passengers are carried) while remote and hybrid working incurs additional use of electricity (and gas) compared to office working (office heating and lighting consumption and IT server electricity consumption does not materially increase while number of office workers increases due to large constant base “loads”) and thus the overall electricity/gas consumption (and hence fossil fuel emissions) must be greater per capita for remote and hybrid workers.
25 April 2025