The Public Service Minister yesterday made clear her expectations for government agencies to call their staff back to their offices in an effort to improve sector productivity and support businesses struggling with reduced patronage.

Minister Nicola Willis told media that working from home “is not an entitlement” and wants to see greater monitoring and data collection around working-from-home arrangements for the Public Service.

A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union, Sam Warren, said:

“We welcome calls made for agencies to bring staff back to work. It's a pragmatic step towards reducing the bureaucratic inertia plaguing countless agencies since work-from-home became common under Covid restrictions.

“Remember, these are well-paid bureaucrats with average salaries of $97,000, which is funded by taxpayers. It’s not entirely unreasonable to expect them, when possible, to work onsite.

"It’s also encouraging to see that better data collection in this area is on the agenda. For months now, the Taxpayers’ Union has tried getting meaningful information from various agencies on things like data for physical staff attendance, which for the most part does not exist.

“Furthermore, arguments made that public job cuts are the sole reason for business downturn in places like Wellington are deliberately obtuse. Between 2017 and 2023, under the last Labour-led governments, the Public Service grew by 18,418 – a 39% increase. Since then, the number has reduced only by about 6,500. The truth is, there aren’t too few bureaucrats – there are just too many working from their couches.”

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