Camaraderie is a poor reason for a return to the office

Sir, – Gerard Howlin warns that “cohesion, camaraderie and capacity” will palpably suffer if public servants continue to work from home (Opinion, July 20th).

Capacity is the State’s business. Cohesion, at a push, is management’s. Camaraderie is neither, and no civil servant should be required to sit on the M50 at 7.30am of a Monday in order to supply it.

The unspoken premise of every return-to-office column is that the workplace ought to furnish warmth, belonging and company. But it is a poor lookout for a man if he must seek in Room 302 what he is not receiving at home. Let him join a choir, a GAA club or take up the accordion.

By all means pay the public service properly and measure what it delivers. Camaraderie is not a deliverable. – Yours, etc,

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