The Department of Social Protection said allowing staff to work from home up to three days per week was “reasonable” as it faced criticism that it was rolling back remote working arrangements introduced after the pandemic.
It said existing agreements allowed for working-from-home arrangements to be reviewed each year. It also maintained that the new policy being put in place would be in line with other government departments.
The Department of Social Protection told staff that, from February, personnel would have to spend a minimum of two days per week in the office. Staff in senior management grades at principal officer level and above will have to be in the office three days per week at least.
The country’s largest public service trade union, Fórsa, said about 1,000 of its members in the Department of Social Protection would be affected by the proposed changes, which it has vowed to fight.
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It said up to now staff in the department had to work a minimum of one day per week in the office.
It has directed its members not to comply with the changes, which are being introduced by management at the department from next week.
The union has instructed members to continue working under their existing arrangements.
The union maintained the proposed changes were being introduced without any consultation with staff.
In a statement on Friday the department said it was supportive of blended working and was one of the first to introduce such a policy.
“That policy provides that working from home will be supported subject to business needs and customer service requirements and that arrangements would be reviewed on an annual basis based on experience and business need,” the department said.
“Based on experience and the level of take-up by staff, the provision for up to three days working from home in any week is considered reasonable and is in line with arrangements already in place in other government departments and as provided for within the wider Civil Service framework agreement. The policy also provides for flexibility to allow for more days working from home in individual circumstances subject to senior management approval.”
[ Ireland joins global row-back on working-from-home arrangementsOpens in new window ]
The department said it was “disappointed at the approach now taken by the union, which has been taken without prior notice to the department, particularly when there are well established mechanisms in place for dispute resolution within the Civil Service”.
The department said it remained available to meet the union to discuss this issue.
Speaking in Cork, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there is a “balance to be struck” by the civil service regarding working from home.
“Most companies have a situation where it could be three days in the office and two days at home and vice versa.
“It depends on the nature of work that is involved. There is an argument for people to meet as a team in various programmes and projects. So I think that will be worked out in the industrial relations process.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy accused the Government of engaging in a “Trumpian attack on working-from-home arrangements”.
“People Before Profit will support Fórsa trade union’s resistance to this move and to defend the current arrangements in which workers in the department have to work a minimum of one day per week in the office,” Mr Murphy said.
“It is no coincidence that this move follows Donald Trump’s ‘back to the office’ announcement on 20th January. The eagerness of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to jump on the Trumpian anti-worker and anti-women bandwagon is as predictable as it is damaging.”
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