Explainer-in-brief: Whitehall’s 19th century work-from-office edict
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Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the last bastions of a bygone era in Parliament, has demanded civil servants return to their desks with a reminder of everything they’ve been missing – passive aggressive notes from colleagues.
The minister for – and read this slowly – government efficiency left notes for civil servants not at their desks last week. He has also drawn up a league table for those departments with the most staff in the office.
But it drew the ire from none other but Nadine Darries, the Culture Secretary, who said we should be measuring success by productivity, not bums on seats. Dorries said a blanket requirement for people to work from the office was “Dickensian”.
The latest move from Rees-Mogg comes against a backdrop of him rejecting any working from home – and forcing MPs back to Westminster long before most other industries began a return.