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UK statistics agency staff have threatened to strike after being ordered back to the office as part of a wider ministerial crackdown on homeworking in the civil service.
About 1,200 ONS workers, who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, began voting on potential industrial action this week in protest against a new requirement to come into the office two days a week, which will come into effect in April.
PCS said that since the Covid pandemic, the ONS had given staff full flexibility to work where they wanted, and many of its members had accepted jobs at the agency with that understanding.
The union claimed the new mandate would leave many staff in a difficult position, with childcare arrangements that cannot be changed quickly, and one staff member being required to move from as far away as Carlisle in the north of England to the ONS's main site in Newport. , in South Wales.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said it was “a mystery why managers changed their minds” after regularly reassuring staff that previous arrangements could continue. She added that no business case had been undertaken to make the decision, and that the post-pandemic arrangements at the ONS were “an example of best practice”.
The dispute highlights the risk of back-to-office mandates inflaming workplace relations, as employers seek to roll back freedoms that many workers have come to rely on since the pandemic.
The campaign to return public sector workers to their offices reflects a push by major private sector employers. Many banks and professional services firms have begun monitoring office attendance and taking a more stringent approach to enforcing hybrid working policies.
Recruiters say this change in course has become a barrier to filling vacancies, as potential candidates worry about losing out on the flexible arrangements they have informally agreed with their current employers.
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The ONS will still allow its staff more flexibility than other government departments, with most asking staff to spend 60 per cent of their time in the office from April, up from 40 per cent.
John Glen, Cabinet Office minister, said earlier this year that senior civil servants would be judged on whether they met the 60 per cent attendance target in annual assessments.
An ONS spokesman said the agency had used a hybrid working model for several years, which always required colleagues to come into the office depending on business needs. It recently “clarified” this requirement but applies it “flexibly to help balance business and personal needs”, with “broad support” for all colleagues.
