John MacDonald: People are time-wasters in and out of the office

I don’t know where Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis get this idea from that you can only do a hard day’s work if you’re physically in the office or on the premises, as opposed to working remotely from home. 

Because, from my experience, there is a hell of a lot of time wasted in a lot of workplaces. 

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister and the Public Service Minister are giving government workers a rev-up and telling them to get their act together, get out of the tracksuit pants, have a shower, put their work clothes on and ditch this working from home nonsense. 

With Nicola Willis saying that working from home is not an entitlement, it is a privilege only to be granted when bosses are satisfied that it isn’t having an impact on productivity and performance. 

If there’s just one thing I can agree with the government on, it’s that there can be a lot of confusion at workplaces sometimes as to who is and who isn’t working on-site. Pretty much ever since this working from home thing became a thing during COVID. 

You know: “Oh I’m looking for Dave, but he’s not at his desk." 

“Oh nah - he’s working from home this week.” 

“No one told me.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah - his line manager up north approved it after the last lockdown and he’s just been doing it every second week ever since.” 

So I agree with the Government that there can be quite a bit of confusion as to where people are sometimes. But, overall, I think it's dreaming if it thinks that waving the big finger and telling people to get back to the office is going to make them any more productive. 

Because, generally, it doesn’t matter where we are - we all waste time. Including, when we’re at the office. 

I bet there were truckloads of office workers who turned up to work at the usual time today, dumped their bag, maybe put their lunchbox in the fridge in the staffroom, said gidday to a few people, and then walked out the door again to get a coffee. 

They would've been back by about 9:30, gone through a few emails - and there would've been dozens of emails because they would've been CC'd into pretty much everything. 

Then they would've grabbed a snack bar and mandarin from the lunchbox in the fridge in the staffroom to take to their 10 o’clock meeting. 

The 10 o'clock meeting wouldn't have started at 10 because of a few stragglers (there’s always a few stragglers) and the Zoom connection to the crew in Wellington would have frozen. "Can you say a few words Steve, we’re just trying to get a connection." 

But they would've sat through it looking busy, nodding their head, when they were actually just writing down lists of what they need to get done around the house at the weekend.  

And it would've been the same right through the day. And they’ll go home tonight and tell anyone who will listen how frantic their day has been; how it was all meetings, meetings, meetings and how they’ll do a bit of work for a few hours after dinner just so they’re set up to get stuff done tomorrow. 

And they’ll go back in the morning and do the same thing all over again. 

More productive? Pfft.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John mc
donald from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I don't know where Christopher Luxon and Nichola Willis get
this idea from that you can only do a hard
day's work if you're physically in the office or on
the premises instead of working remotely from home. I don't
get it, because from my experience there is a hell
of a lot of time wasted in work places, in
offices and wherever people need to be to work. Nevertheless,

(00:38):
the Prime Minister and the Public Service Minister, I give
them government workers are ever tell them to gether act together,
get out of the body track suit, have a shower,
put your work clothes on and ditch this working from
home nonsense, because as Nichola Willis said yesterday, working from
home is not an entitlement. It's a privilege only to

(01:01):
be granted when bosses are satisfied that it's not going
to have an impact on productivity and performance. If there's
just one thing. If there's just one thing I can
agree with the government time when it comes to this,
is that there can be a hell of a lot
of confusion at workplaces sometimes as to who is and
who isn't working on site pretty much ever since this
working from home thing became a thing during COVID. You know,

(01:23):
it's like, ohh, I'm looking for Dave, but he's not
at his desk. Oh no, he's working from home this week.
No one told me, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah y as
line manager up North approved it after the last lockdown,
he's just been doing it every second week ever since then.
So I agree with the government that there can be

(01:45):
quite a bit of confusion as to where people are sometimes,
But overall I think they're dreaming if they think that
waving the big finger and telling people to get back
to the office is going to make workers any more productive.
It's all just part of this. We're doing things differently
than the last lock talk that you get every time
there's a change in GUP, and it won't work. It

(02:08):
won't make people more productive because generally it doesn't matter
where we are. We all waste time, including when we're
at the office. Let me explain myself. So it's just
after nine, what it's ten past nine now? I bet
there are truckloads of office workers in town right now,
and in sirteys and towns right around the country have

(02:31):
turned up at the usual time. If they're not hot desking,
if they've got their own desk, they would have dumped
their bag under the desk. Maybe they've gone into the
bag and they've taken out the lunch box and taken
it into the fridge, and the staff room said good.
They to a few people and then walked out the
door again to get a coffee, and there'll be a

(02:53):
few of them together coffee, coffee, jess oh, I love
one good day for a walk, great weather, and then
they'll mosey back at about nine point thirty. They'll go
through a few emails, and there'll be dozens of emails.
There'll be dozens of them because they would have been
c seed into pretty much everything or blind copied in

(03:15):
if we're in a passive aggressive type mode. And then
they'll go and think, well, I better get that snack
bar and the mandarin in the lunch box in the
fridge in the staff room, because I'll take that to
the ten o'clock meeting. That'll be good. And then they'll
get to the ten o'clock meeting, which won't start at ten,
never starts at ten, because there'll be a few stragglers.

(03:36):
There's always a few stragglers, and then the zoom connection
to the crew and Wellington will freeze. Can you just
say a few words, Steve. We can see you, but
I don't think we.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Can hear you.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
There's a problem with a connection. And this will be
the first of about eight meetings these people will have
back to back, most of which they'll get to and
they'll wonder why the hell they're there, And the only
reason they are there at these meetings is that they
were in on a meeting a few months back at
the start of this project, and the person all it

(04:06):
just assume they needed to be at every meeting since then.
But they won't do anything about it. They won't. They
won't pull out of the meeting. They'll set through it
looking busy, nodding their head when they think they should
be nodding their head, when actually all they're doing is
just writing down lists of what they need to get
done around the house at the weekend. And then they'll
pile out of the meeting. It's say ten thirty, and

(04:30):
the thing, look at the watch. I might make a
cup of tea in the tea room now, and it'll
be the same right through the day and then they'll
go home tonight and they'll tell anyone who will listen,
how frantic the day has been, how it was all meetings, meetings, meetings,
and how oh look, come, yeah, I'll do dinner, but
I might do a bit of work for a few
hours after dinner, just so I'm set up, set up

(04:53):
to get stuff done tomorrow. And come tomorrow they'll go
back and do the same thing all over again. And
the government wants more of this gerade, more of it,
because it reckons it's the key to making people more productive.
It's just nonsense, absolute nonsense. As one public servant was
saying on the news last night, the office can be

(05:13):
noisy and distracting, and they find that they are way
more productive working on their own at home. And tell
you what, I haven't even got to all the mind
games and all the in house politics and all the
personal grievances that reduce productivity even further when people all
work together at the same place.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
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