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

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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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So now a couple of things interested me with the
government back to work edict yesterday. One we need a
back to work edict and the fact we didn't have
one till now, And two, not surprisingly sadly, the admission
no one knows what the hell's going on, Who is where?
What percentage of time people aren't there, are there when
they are, or aren't compared with any other piece of
the public service. What are mickey mouse shambles. The Australians

(00:22):
have crunched the numbers the savings. Have told you this
the other day. The savings for individuals in terms of
money not spent commuting is in the tens of billions
of dollars per year per state. They of course have
had return to work notices for a while now, although
I knowe New South Wales only did their public workers
a couple of weeks back. Saving money by not dealing
with traffic is probably an upside to working at home, right,

(00:44):
And I've always thought that this business of teamwork and
camaraderie is a bit overstated, and if not overstated, it
certainly hard to prove. You can prove what you save
not going to work, 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 ago. I assume I

(01:06):
assumed we had a policy in place. Obviously Wellington's a mess.
But working from home is only part of the equation.
I mean the clowns who run the city are more responsible, surely,
with their determination to destroy any signs of livability. And also,
don't forget, for every coffee that isn't brought in Lampton Key,
this one being purchased in places like Eastbourne. Anyway, the
skybing's over another of these lenient take the mickey out

(01:28):
of the COVID year's 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 privates had this sorted
ages ago. But good old dumpty doo Wellington, no policy,
no decisions. Everyone's at home for a good long weekend,
all pretending its business as usual. Well, the jig is
up and on balance, as hard as a park might
be defined or a bus to catch. I think we

(01:49):
are better off in general at work than at home.
Pretending It's normal. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast
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