Most civil servants think working from home has had a positive impact, new polling has revealed.
Officials claim remote working has even improved public sector productivity as well as their own job satisfaction.
And many believe they should be allowed to WFH as much as they like, with not one of those questioned by YouGov thinking they should be forced back to their desks full-time.
Their insistence on the benefits of working from home comes despite both Tory and Labour ministers demanding that all civil servants come back to the office at least three days a week for the sake of team-building and mentoring new recruits.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It will come as no surprise how much civil servants love the work from home culture that has spread across Whitehall.
‘But these attitudes are completely at odds with the views of British taxpayers, who are absolutely fed up with the shockingly poor productivity levels of the UK’s bureaucracy.
‘Senior mandarins should care more about the users and consumers of public services – taxpayers – than the comfort of pen-pushers. That means getting them back to the office.’
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: ‘Taxpayers deserve to know that their money is being well-spent – civil servants working from home is not in keeping with that.
‘The last Conservative government took serious action to ensure that civil servants were working from office, and to boost civil service productivity. Since taking office Labour have undone so much of that work – leaving this problematic practice unchecked.’
Whitehall in central London, home to many of the main Government departments
YouGov questioned 101 civil servants in middle-management or senior roles and found that three-quarters (75 per cent) believe remote working has been good for their own departments, and almost as many (70 per cent) say the same about Whitehall in general.
Almost four in five (78 per cent) think wfh has boosted productivity while even more (85 per cent) say it had improved employee satisfaction.
At least half say the culture that took hold during the pandemic has had a positive impact on public service delivery (58 per cent), policy development (50) and communication (50).
However only one in four (28 per cent) think wfh has been good for performance management with almost as many (25) saying the opposite.
Half (50 per cent) of those quizzed said that ‘mandating one or two days in the office a week made the most sense’ with only one in five backing the existing policy of requiring staff to be present three or more days a week.
In addition, ‘none supported demanding everyone turn up every day’ while three in ten ‘feel the most appropriate policy is to allow all civil servants to work from home as much as they want’, YouGov said.
Overall six in ten (59 per cent) civil servants questioned feel the Whitehall machine is performing well, with only one in three (33 per cent) say it is working badly.
By comparison, when pollsters asked MPs the same question only four in ten (40 per cent) had a positive view of the civil service.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer sparked outrage among mandarins by declaring that ‘too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline’ in a major speech.
