Civil Service - Post Lockdown - Blended Working?

agree - 2 days is ok with me (Ive done it already since march 2020) but for me 3 days in the office might as well be 5. Lost all benefits of remote working when doing 3.

Someone else asked about flexi - for me not I dont need it or want it if remote working/blended option. We were told previously (public sector) that flexi time isnt an option going forward if remote/blended working continues and it hasnt returned even for those who opt to go back to the office fully.

Everything still unclear for us.

I'd agree entirely. 3 days in the office seems to be all the talk. But why? After working from home successfully for two years why do we need to be in the office most of the time?

It's such a massive issue for so many of us. Life improving changes. Yet we seem to have no voice in it at all.

If it requires a full day then it's either annual leave or sick leave. Takes me 5 hours to get to the hospital. Not like being in Dublin where a few hours can cover you.

Their long-term policy will be what DPER tells them it is, and it'll likely be the same main policy for all Departments and the main public bodies like Revenue, obviously with exceptions for sections with public counters and the like.

In the short to medium term, DSP's internal policy seems to be a mix depending on where you work. See the survey results on page 18 of this thread. DSP people said current/short-term arrangements were a mix:

• DSP (8); a mixture! continue as before (4), 1 day a week (3), 2-4 days a week (1), with two saying it was a blanket policy, the rest saying it depended on unit

Appointments should go in as appointments.

They aren't sick leave.

If you have a doctor's appointment from 11 to 12 ,the supervisor/HR would be keying that into the system.

I'd be asking the manager where they have gotten the info from because I've never heard of it done that way .I'd be interested to see what people point would say if a case is raised.

In our place, if you’re off for more than a half day because of a medical appointment, it’s treated as sick leave (if you don’t take annual or flexi leave).

Conditions might be different in the public service (I don't think so!) but in the civil service, that's bollocks. A medical appointment is a medical appointment, not sick leave. If you have to end up taking a full day to travel somewhere, then yes, you need to count it as leave, but absolutely not the case that a 1.5 hour absence should go in as sick leave. It'll get counted as one instance of absence due to sick leave so yes, could end up effecting things.

Also, join a union. The public sector unions are generally shite, but they can at least point you at the right circular to wave in your manager's face when they pull stunts like that. (Or, in fairness, maybe they're just ignorant of the facts.) A quick google got me this: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2018-09-25/548/

Sick leave: yes, that's how it works everywhere that I've been. OP for that issue was being told to take sick leave for 1.5 hours, though.

Flexi: I think you're right on how it will pan out. Some flexibility assumed or 'built in' for people WFH, and once the work is done, everyone is happy, but no accrual of flexi leave, at least until the next round of union conferences/pay negotiations.

Interesting point on the origin of flexi - to cater for work for that couldn't be completed. I'm a long-timer, and had literally never heard that until now (or possibly I read it in a circular years ago and promptly forgot it. As a parent, it was brilliant - parent-teacher meeting coming up, work up some flexi to leave early, no leave needed; take it in turns to drop kids to school for nine, work a bit later that evening; and, obviously, work up time to get a day or a day-and-a-half off. Not to mention all the other benefits for others, too - "I need X for a meeting in the morning, can you do it?" "Yeah, I can stay late and I'll mail it to you this evening" versus "Well, I'll do what I can get done by 5:30, then I'm off!"; not having to commute during rush hour; getting to concentrate on something in a quiet office without interruptions.

I have no doubt we'll be disappointed by the new pay agreement. We're simply not going to get a pay rise to match inflation. Lower/middle class need to suffer to lower inflation.

But I can't possibly see how they'd get away with stalling on the blended working scheme until September. Morale would go through the floor.