DAVE PENMAN HOME TRUTHS
CIVIL SERVANTS HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF ‘WOKE FROM HOME’ CRITICISM
Ifeel like a little bit of me dies every time I’m compelled to write about the latest shenanigans over hybrid working. There is, as you know, a lot of “stu ” actually going on, so it seems ridiculous that this is dominating the agenda around the civil service. I suppose one of the questions, though, is, is it? Is this just a Westminster bubble thing? Certainly Jacob ReesMogg’s recent “clicker and clipboard tour 2022” didn’t get beyond SW1. It doesn’t make for a great tour T-shirt when the venues on the back only include 100 Parliament Street, 70 Whitehall and 1 Horseguards.
Also, the whole stunt was just to set up his Mail on Sunday column, and create a brouhaha where he emerges as the poster boy of the anti “woke from home” brigade. Are we, therefore, falling into a trap by responding? As a wise PR person once said, “Twitter isn’t the real world”.
Indeed, there’s some evidence around that from our cousins across the pond. A study by the Pew Research Centre found that, while about a quarter of adults use Twitter, an incredible 97% of the content is produced by the most active 25% on the site. Of this content, almost half are retweets and one third replies. This all supports the sense that it becomes an echo chamber with very little original content or opinion. Does that mean that social media, or the proverbial storm in a media wine glass, can’t impact real world events?
Rees-Mogg’s point was to create a story, hence the heavy anonymous briefing about lazy civil servants that accompanied his league table being published. What, though, is the impact of this?
His passive-aggressive notes were a crass, condescending extension of his strategy to gain column inches. They added to the demoralising e ect of the constant drip feed of criticism, overt and covert, around working from home – though let’s not kid ourselves that this is anything other than the latest salvo in the culture war against the civil service.
I genuinely find it hard to understand why anyone in a leadership position would think that constantly undermining their workforce and completely trashing their brand is a successful strategy to motivate their sta or attract the brightest and best from elsewhere. Yet this is now routinely what we get with some ministers.
Civil servants know that there are aspects of their work that are better done in person. Collaboration on some tasks, team building, new starters, di cult conversations – all can benefit from taking place in-person. They also know that what is required in their role will be di erent from others. Some roles may require almost daily attendance, others may only require attendance at scheduled team events. Where, therefore, does that fit with the one-sizefits-all approach being advocated by ministers?
So the reports of the town hall meeting at the Department for Education, following the decision to push for four days in the o ce, can come as no surprise. Sta were clearly angry as they know this is in response to competition between ministers to see who can be the most rufty tufty on this issue, or to simply get o the bottom of the league table.
It’s hugely frustrating because as hardworking public servants, they know it’s not centred on the reality of their work. They know it’s not about what works best or is most e cient. This is top-down micromanaging from ministers for the sake of a headline and so, ultimately, it also undermines the leadership of the civil service. Another one to add to the list of achievements from this strategy.
Perhaps the reports of ministers pushing back and focusing on productivity is a sign that some recognise how damaging this whole approach is. Who knows, but as Rees-Mogg appears to be getting the green light from No.10 for all of this, I’m not holding my breath.
Meanwhile, civil servants tell me in increasing numbers they’ve had enough of it, that they simply won’t be treated like this. I get responses on this issue like no other. It may be that the damage is already done. It may be that, by the time this manifests itself with good people leaving, those who created it won’t be around to reap their rewards.
For those of us who will, we should be worried.
Dave Penman is the general secretary of the FDA union