The NSW government’s decision to haul public servants back to the office has triggered union rebuke, worker dissatisfaction and accusations that Premier Chris Minns is “out of touch”.

Simon Draper, the recently appointed secretary to the Premier’s Department, ordered NSW’s public servants to return to working from state government offices as their default place of work earlier this week, causing affected public servants to take to social media to complain.

“The mental gymnastics the government has done to justify this change is truly nothing short of moronic and out of touch,” one said on the Public Servants Australia subreddit.

“Unfortunately, their attempts to jumpstart the economy will take a hit when people will no longer be able to take part in contributing to retail sales in store or online due to extreme costs just to work in the office.”

Despite Draper’s order, some department heads have ordered workers to maintain their hybrid arrangements until working groups are formed, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Dr Rachael Potter, a lecturer in work and organisational psychology at the University of South Australia, said the decision seemed to be  based on economic factors and not employee wellbeing.

“If you approach it from in a way of what’s best for society, it’s to have the ability for a hybrid work environment where people can have a bit of flexibility,” she said.

“Maybe this is a sign that the modern workplace is shifting. I’m not sure what it looks like in the future, but it does seem to be pushing an old-fashioned perspective where you work nine to five every day.

“People are talking about how they’d rather have that flexibility in their life than just having a monetary reward.

“People’s mental health and wellbeing should come first and therefore they’ll be more productive, happy and likely to stay in their workplace.”

Enough space?

After the Public Servants Association said it understood “some worksites cannot physically accommodate all employees working onsite at any one time”, Minns conceded that finding space for all workers “may be an issue for in the next six months”.

The government would “acquire office space in Sydney, CBD or Parramatta” if it had to.

“This is from the Premier’s Department. This will apply across the public service in NSW,” he said.

“I’m confident that we will change it and that we’ll get people back in.”

The NSW public sector employs about 450,000 people, making it “the largest workforce in the country”, according to Draper’s letter, even after the workforce was trimmed of contractors and temporary employees.

Business first?

Office vacancies in the Sydney CBD may have reached 12.2 per cent this year, up from 11.5 per cent in 2023, but Potter said that there were pros and cons of office and work from home.

“We really need to look at a hybrid work environment where there’s still that ability to connect with our peers, but also the flexibility to work from home,” she said.

“To put people back into the position where they have to commute and lose hours of their days, especially in this case in NSW, is going to place people who have caring responsibilities in a very difficult position, or people who work regionally or with certain health conditions.”

Almost every major city has experienced a fall in foot traffic and rising levels of vacant office space, coinciding with the pandemic and work-from-home orders becoming normalised since 2020.

More than one in 10 (15.5 per cent) of NSW offices are empty. Photo: Getty

Victoria allows public servants to work from home two days a week. Alongside Queensland, it has flagged that it has no plans to change the arrangements for public servants.

In fact, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan made a direct offer to unhappy NSW public service workers.

“Anyone who’s a bit concerned in NSW about what’s going up there, is more than welcome to come and work for us here in Victoria,” she said earlier this week.

“We’ve got a big agenda, building more homes, delivering the Suburban Rail Loop, getting on with things that are important to families, and they’d be welcome to join the task.”

Most modern awards and bargaining agreements are pursuing clearly defined hybrid arrangements.