Civil Service - Post Lockdown - Blended Working?

I know I'm kinda outing myself on this one but receiving an email from the PO and in the first line saying work comes first says it all. Wanting 9.12 to 5.30 with 1.15 lunch. No regard or acknowledgment of how we have not only met target's but surpassed them. People in the job 20+ years are considering their options.

That is the standard non flexi work day now, since the (mostly) restoration of the old hours

Of course not. Anyway this thread isn't about IT projects.

I think any leaving will be offset a bit by those looking for job security ahead of a recession. I think those near retirement might just call time though. Professional technical type grades/roles will continue to struggle in recruitment. That's my guess anyway.

Nothing to do with you, but seriously counting minutes? Nuts in my head.

Hated the minute watching with flexi clocks. I'm not sure I'd be in a rush back to it.

Totally. 7hr days are dream. I am at 7.5 but regularally over 8, even 9 some days.

Maybe it's time for a Rhyss Mogg "Sorry I missed you in the office today" Post-it note approach for some who think they and they alone should decide their place if work. 'Cornering managers' , 'speaking my mind' or the like.. Brave or maybe clueless as to the heirachy that applies to management. Everyone that spent the guts of 2yrs full time at home knows you can get more done at home, but it's not a simple as that.

I agree with one poster above, if you work late one and need to go early another day, a just do approach would be my way. Results speak for themselves and if the work is being done the clock does not matter that much.

My experience is clock watchers need watching. Many see and measure performance by time, not the actual effeciency in the input (time) or quality of the result for the input on the task. Meanwhile those that complete tasks quickly, just get more work to do.

I doubt we can or will ever move away from performance = putting your hours in mentality, both at management and employee levels. It is no where as linear as that for many office based roles.

Sadly you are right. Flexibility is often not rewarded, and often taken for granted. It is where in my role, and its a source of frustration. An email out of hour is always a good thing to show that you are being flexible...just so the manager knows and can't say no to an early finish. It is ridiculous that you have to resort to this sort of thing.

If you're late 15 mins one day and early 15 mins another two which do you think will matter. Won't be it's only 15 mins then.

I'm sure my login and logoff times are caught. If it was mentioned to me on a certain day that I finished earlier I'd laugh at them.

October Blended Working Survey Results - Part 1

119 responses in total.

Q1 - Where are you working? Q2 - Name the body if it's not listed here (optional)

CSO: 3

D/Agriculture, Food and the Marine: 7

D/Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: 2

D/Defence: 2

D/Education: 5

D/Enterprise, Trade and Employment: 5

D/Environment, Climate and Communications: 6

D/Finance: 3

D/Foreign Affairs: 1

D/Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science: 3

D/Health: 5

D/Housing, Local Government and Heritage: 3

D/Justice: 1

D/Public Expenditure and Reform: 3

D/Rural and Community Development: 2

D/Social Protection: 14

D/Taoiseach: 1

D/Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media: 3

D/Transport: 2

Garda Civilian: 8

Local Authority: 4 (none specified which ones)

NSSO/PeoplePoint: 2

Other civil service body with less than 500 staff: 9 (3 specified where - the Ombudsman, the CSSO, and the Data Protection Commission)

Other civil service body with more than 500 staff: 7 ( 3 in the Property Registration Authority, 1 each in the Houses of the Oireachtas, the HSE, the NSS0 (even though that had its own entry))

Revenue Commissioners: 13

That's all the departments covered, at any rate!

Boards' posting size limit is fairly small - I'm unfortunately going to have to do the rest of the questions in their own post each, maybe two to a post. Apologies for spamming the thread!

Prior to 1st October:

D/Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, D/Enterprise, Trade and Employment, D/Environment, Climate and Communications, D/Finance, D/Foreign Affairs, D/Health, D/Public Expenditure and Reform, D/Rural and Community Development, D/Social Protection, D/Transport, Garda Civilian, Local Authority, OGP, Ombudsman, PRA

Q4 this year:

CSO, D/Agriculture, Food and the Marine, D/Defence, D/Enterprise, Trade and Employment, D/Environment, Climate and Communications, D/Health, D/Housing, Local Government and Heritage, D/Justice, D/Social Protection, NSSO/PeoplePoint, OPW, Revenue Commissioners, CSSO, DPC, Oireachtas, PRA

Next year:

A local authority

What options are available under the policy for the majority of staff? (Tick all that apply)

Well that was a dumb way to structure that question! Hmm... easiest thing I guess is to do a lot of copy and pasting...

"Four days WFH, one in office": D/Social Protection, Garda Civilian, NSSO/PeoplePoint, Revenue Commissioners

"One day WFH, four in office": D/Social Protection, Local Authority, PRA, Revenue Commissioners

"One day WFH, four in office; Two days WFH, three in office": D/Agriculture, Food and the Marine, D/Public Expenditure and Reform, D/Social Protection, OGP, Ombudsman

"One day WFH, four in office; Two days WFH, three in office; Three days WFH, two in office": CSO, D/Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, D/Enterprise, Trade and Employment, D/Health, OPW

"One day WFH, four in office; Two days WFH, three in office; Three days WFH, two in office; Four days WFH, one in office": D/Social Protection, NSSO/PeoplePoint, Revenue Commissioners, CSSO

"Three days WFH, two in office": CSO, D/Defence, D/Enterprise, Trade and Employment, D/Environment, Climate and Communications, D/Finance, D/Health, D/Justice, D/Rural and Community Development, D/Social Protection, OPW, Revenue Commissioners, DPC

"Three days WFH, two in office, Four days WFH, one in office": D/Social Protection, Revenue

"Two days WFH, three in office": D/Agriculture, Food and the Marine, D/Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, D/Health, D/Public Expenditure and Reform, D/Social Protection, D/Taoiseach, Local Authority, Revenue Commissioners, Oireachtas

"Two days WFH, three in office; Three days WFH, two in office": D/Foreign Affairs, D/Housing, Local Government and Heritage, D/Transport

Unsure what to make of that one. Some people probably misinterpreted the question (my fault for the wording), or may have answered for their business unit rather than the organisation as a whole?

If anyone wants a breakdown by organisation, let me know...

Flexibility seems to work more for management than staff?