Scotland needs civil servants to be at their desks, not working from home – Susan Dalgety

Three years after the city locked down to try and prevent the spread of Covid, it seems that Edinburgh office workers are determined to stay at home.

A survey published last week showed that more than a third of Scots would quit their job if their bosses didn’t let them work from home. I can only presume that Willo – the video recruitment platform that commissioned the research – only spoke to those people able to earn a living from their laptops. I can just imagine the reaction of a building site boss if her brickies and joiners told her they were going to work from home. Hysterical laughter followed by a shower of P45s.

But I digress. The Willo study showed that Edinburgh workers are the most likely to quit if forced to go into the office, with 43 per cent saying they would hand in their notice. This compares to 30 per cent of Glaswegians and 35 per cent of Scots.

I have a confession to make. I am writing this column from the comfort of my home office – oops, bedroom. My commute this morning took me seconds, from the bathroom to my Ikea rocking chair where I sit in comfortable silence, surrounded by my books. When I finish, I will wander through to the kitchen for a cup of strong coffee and a chat with my colleague (husband).

Not all jobs are suitable for working from home (Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)

But I am a freelance writer, who can literally work anywhere as long as I have wifi access and a phone. I am not responsible for implementing Scotland’s social security system, or managing the NHS. Nor am I working on plans for a new national care service or a bottle deposit return scheme.

Yet it seems that Scotland’s civil servants, most of whom are based in Edinburgh, are among the most stubborn of home workers. Earlier this month, the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) revealed, by way of a freedom of information request, that the Scottish Government’s four main locations – St Andrew’s House, Victoria Quay and Saughton House in Edinburgh, alongside Atlantic Quay in Glasgow – have turned into ghost ships.

In one week last December, the average daily recorded pass swipes showed an average of 252 staff went into the office, compared with 5,242 a day three years ago. Only one in 20 civil servants are at their desk. The SRC are – rightly – concerned that this move to permanent home working is damaging city centre retail and hospitality businesses, but there is an even bigger issue at stake here.

Edinburgh’s civil servants work on projects of national importance – policies that affect every aspect of our lives. Work of this nature requires the kind of regular collaboration and communication that only working in an office can bring. And if St Andrew’s House is empty of civil servants, then it is all too easy for government ministers to make bad decisions, unencumbered by face-to-face advice from policy experts.

Our new First Minister should call the civil servants’ bluff. The message needs to be blunt. Your country needs you at your desk, not in your joggers on the sofa, so come back to the office and help me build a better country – or hand in your notice.