Mike's Minute: We are better off coming back to the office

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A couple of things interested me with the Government's back-to-work edict:

1) We need a back-to-work edict and the fact we haven't had one until now.

2) Sadly, the admission no one knows what the hell is going on, who is where, what percentage of time people aren't there, how many aren't there, when they are or are not there compared with any other piece of the public service, etc.

It's Mickey Mouse stuff.

The Australians have crunched the numbers and found the savings for individuals in terms of money not spent commuting is in the tens of billions of dollars per year, for each state.

Of course, they have had return to work notices for a while, although New South Wales only did it for their public workers a few weeks back.

Saving money by not dealing with traffic is probably an upside to working from home, and I have always thought this business of teamwork and camaraderie is a bit overstated and, if not overstated, certainly hard to prove.

You can prove what you save not going to work. It's a bit harder to show what outworkings have been achieved by all hanging around the kitchen together.

The other odd thing has been my naivety. I honestly thought we had it sorted ages back. I assumed we had policy in place.

Obviously Wellington is a mess, but working from home is only part of the equation. The clowns who run the city are more responsible, surely, with their determination to destroy any signs of liveability.

Also, don’t forget that for every coffee that isn't bought in Lambton Quay there is one purchased in Eastbourne.

Anyway, the skiving is over. Another of those lenient, take the mickey out of the Covid years ideas has been brought to an end, or will be shortly.

But you've got to wonder about the Government, don’t you? All the private businesses had this sorted an age ago.

But good, old, dum dee doo Wellington has no policy and no decisions. Everyone was at home for a good, long weekend all pretending it was business as usual.

Well the jig is up. On balance, as hard as a park might be to find or a bus to catch, I think we are better off in general at work than at home pretending it's normal.

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