Civil Service - Post Lockdown - Blended Working?

People being allowed to only apply for 1 to 2 days wfh there is the worst that I've heard of so far!

Other County Councils are similar, I have heard of at least 2 who ordered staff back 5 days a week some time ago and others who have been back 4 days per week for a while. Also there is a policy on remote work from the LGMA (from March 2022 IIRC) which applies to all LAs, I'm not sure if it is a draft or final version but it is a policy as opposed to a policy framework. It is a travesty.

Meanwhile I have also heard of LAs having major difficulty recruiting civil engineers and civil/architectural technicians, they get plenty of applications, people do the interviews but then if offered a position, they turn it down. I suspect anti WFH policies might be a factor. There should be plenty of scope for hybrid working for these roles as you're not "on site" every day.

I heard Westmeath and Monaghan were back 5 days a week and several others that I can't recall were back 4 days as part of a phased return - and that is some time ago so would not surprise me if many are now back 5.

If any part of the public sector is going to resist WFH for all it's worth, it'll be the LA sector. Local jobs for local people mentality with many people's main ambition in life to become an official in the local council or local HSE office. Their status would be diluted if they were working from home.

Also, County Councillors will have owners of sandwich shops lobbying them to get staff back to offices so they'll buy a sandwich at lunch.

Also, plenty of Councils have status symbol glass palace headquarters, they probably think they'll look foolish if they are half empty.

The blinkered approach would be his career specialty. Surprised he doesn't give summer schools in it.

Does anyone feel anyway optimistic about the proposed government legislation and whether we will be able to apply under that, regardless of what the local hybrid policy is? 2 days in office would make such a difference to my life but we're being told minimum of 3 inside. Surely under legislation, they'd find it hard to give a reason for why 3 days in office is needed Vs 2?

Prior to 2011 or whenever you could start on a higher point if you had a payslip and other evidence from the private sector for example.

It is an unfair situation that it stops people switching between public and private and back again as they may have to take pay cuts (even with previous public service experience, if there has been a gap) and dissuades new, experienced people coming in. There needs to be a better balance for example - if somebody has 10 years private sector relevant experience, it won't be the same as 10 years public in terms of organisations knowledge but there should be some credit e.g. start 5 years up the scale once they have a pay slip to document previous earnings

I started in 2006 above the first point as I had a higher payslip so maybe there was some local flex or inconsistent policies (sure what's new 😁)

If you're on an open panel of 000s of people, there is no possibility of negotiation. I am aware of cases where for specific one-off jobs, negotiations happened. It's rare enough but it happens - subject to DPER approval.

That can't really work, at least not a fulltime basis. Departments are (mostly) still finalising their WFH policies, but whatever their policy ends up being, the job is going to be based in a specified location (usually but not always the Department's head office - failing that a regional office). And no Department looks like introducing a 5-days WFH policy, so you'd still be stuck commuting to the head office two or three days a week, in all likelihood. HR/local management won't be making exceptions for new staff over staff who are already working there.