I was really disheartened to read recent attacks on civil servants by an unnamed cabinet minister (Civil servants working from home not at risk of pay cut, says Kwarteng, theguardian.com, 9 August). These constant verbal assaults and the implication that civil servants don’t work hard enough – that if we’re not in the office we must be watching television – are not only unequivocally false, but they’re damaging what morale is left in the civil service. Still, I’ve seen colleagues regularly working 15- or 16-hour days or even longer, particularly at the peak of the pandemic. Name and address suppliedAnybody reading the papers in recent days would have a pretty clear sense that government ministers are fed up with people, in particular civil servants, working from home. Hybrid working benefits civil servants and helps the government deliver its wider objectives: from shaping the future of cities and towns to avoiding “brain drain” and dormant commuter towns to stimulating regional growth and creating equal opportunity.

Source: The Guardian August 17, 2021 17:25 UTC