Civil servants want to work primarily from home, a survey has found, as Westminster officials push to have people return to their office desks.
A new survey of 2,000 UK workers has identified Government staffers as among those who would prefer to spend the fewest days in their offices.
The survey, conducted by Ranstad, found that civil servants, on average, want to spend just 2.1 days at their workplaces.
Only one group – telecoms employees – would spend even less time in their offices, just two days on average.
Civil servants’ desired schedule is one day fewer than the Government has requested, with Cabinet Office ministers having called for the cohort to spend up to 60 percent of the working week in the office.
Ransted’s survey discovered that leisure and hotel staff were those willing to spend the most time in the office, being happy to come in 3.7 days per week.
They were followed by those in construction and health, who would prefer to spend 3.1 and three days, respectively, while education and agriculture preferred 2.8 and manufacturing 2.7.
Manufacturing, transport and financial services personnel were, alongside civil servants and telecoms staff, in the top five preferring the least office time, with 2.6, 2.5 and 2.1 days each.
While many other working professionals have been told to return to offices, their experiences have not been popularised nearly as much as civil servants’.
Rishi Sunak and his Government have long attempted to have their workers return to the office, with campaigns growing despite opposition.
The number of contracted home workers grew in 2023 by nearly 500, from 334 to 815 across eight Whitehall departments.
The Government has claimed that civil servants are less productive at home, causing longer wait times for some services.
The Cabinet Office said last year that the number of people on home working contracts is low and that guidance requires people to work at least three days in the office.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “These contracts are incredibly rare, only agreed in exceptional circumstances and remain below one per cent of the workforce.
“We have set out new guidance stating that civil servants across all departments and regions are expected to be in the office a minimum of 60 per cent of the time.”
