Civil Service - Post Lockdown - Blended Working?

I’m finding the mandatory 3 days a week in a lot, remembering how hot the office gets.

Do you guys get to choose the 3 days you attend or are you given set days with no input from staff regarding what suits them best?

I have two good friends in revenue Dublin, they are full-time remote still. One goes in a day a week by choice. From what I hear they are probably one of the better flexible depts to get, even things like parental, term time etc. I don't know about outside Dublin though.

Revenue cut down to a half day phone service during Covid, maybe right or wrong. I don’t know why. But I remember answering our phones all day and helping people who couldn’t get thru to them and thinking, am I some eejit. In fairness they were v responsive on email.

Talking to others in different departments the answer to that is you plan childcare as if you are working from the office everyday. That was the general concensus when it was discussed at several meetings across a range of departments I believe. It wasn’t being mean but there will be a rollout form for everyone working from home to fill in and you can bet you need to tick a box to say that you have adequate childcare to allow you to work from home.

the pandemic is over, the working from home to take care of children because they can’t be in school etc will not observed anymore I would imagine.

It’s something brought up on every forum, every meeting, every conversation.

Again I’m not being smart/mean about this I’m just pointing out what has been said. Basically if you work 40 hours a week you will need to plan for childcare for that time.

and I really think to make that point some depts will not give set days so you can’t arrange part time childcare.

Christ almighty. It's almost as if they want staff to go look for jobs elsewhere.

A parent might need childcare before school starts and after it finishes because of a work commute.

The addiction to bureaucratic ways of thinking and working is obviously hard to shake. After two years of cold turkey during COVID we're back off the wagon.

This should be all left locally, with an option to appeal if you feel you're being treated unfairly. After 2 years now of remote working, most managers understand the lay of the land and can make rational calls themselves with their staff depending on the staff's circumstances and sections business requirements. No need for detached senior management or central HR to be involved initially. Can we try and respect people as adults maybe.