Remote working continues for civil servants

Tuesday 23 March 2021

The States has announced that many of its employees will continue to work from home as Guernsey is released from community restrictions.

The decision will give the chance to “reduce the size of the States of Guernsey estate, thereby generating financial returns”, according to a letter sent out to thousands of employees.

The CEO of the States of Guernsey, Paul Whitfield, has written to government employees, informing them of a push towards more remote working where possible.

“We are continuing to evaluate and trial new ways of working with greater use of technology and remote working,” Mr Whitfield said.

“The return to the workplace therefore presents us with an opportunity to start to embed those new working practices, something that started after last year’s lockdown and has proved successful in several areas."

Pictured: 2,000 Microsoft teams licences were rolled out during the pandemic, to allow for more remote working.

The decision to review the States of Guernsey’s property portfolio is being spotlighted again, after originally being part of Public Sector Reform suggested in 2018.

The Estates Plan aimed to reduce the overall operating costs of the SOG and ‘rationalise the portfolio and dispose of surplus property’. Guernsey’s second lockdown has triggered further plans to keep footfall low in States’s buildings.

“The situation will remain under review but, for the first month, I would ask managers to devise rotational working schedules so that, with the exception of team or section meetings, all staff are not in attendance in the workplace every day,” said Mr Whitfield.

Pictured: Mr Whitfield thanked staff for their “hard work and dedication”.

The plans align with an intent to reduce staff numbers, as the SOG IT partner Agilisys continues to “reduce manual tasks”.

Staff will evolve their working habits in a number of ways, including working one week on and one week off, or only spending two days per week in the office.

The working situation is currently under review and any further steps will be announced in a month's time. 

The email strikes a very different tone to views expressed by Chief Minister Deputy Peter Ferbrache in December. 

"I think there are about 400 (civil servants) still working from home - for me that's too many," he told an Institute of Directors meeting at the time.

"My own view - although I could be persuaded by civil servants or my colleagues on P&R, I could be persuaded by others - at the moment I don't see the logic of it. We're a tiny little island, people should be in their offices, doing their jobs, and they should be accessible to the public. A mobile phone isn't the equivalent to speaking to somebody. A text message isn't the equivalent of having a word with somebody."