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Nearly 95% of staff at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities typically , with more than 40% working away from the office between three and five days.

The data has been  (PSC) as part of a first-of-its-kind survey of working-from-home arrangements across different departments and agencies.

The survey was commissioned by then-Public Services Minister Nicola Willis, who into allow for easy comparison between agencies. The Government released guidance at the time saying workers should be in the office unless they have specific agreements.

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the data, collected from the survey carried out in October and November, gave “agencies and managers more visibility over working from home arrangements”.

“The data helps us to be more transparent and accountable. My expectation is that agencies will continue to monitor the arrangements against the updated guidance, which reflects the Government’s expectations.”

Sir Brian Roche in Wellington. Photo / Marty Melville

An overview of the data showed that 55% of public servants do not typically work from home or only do so infrequently, while 33% work from home typically between one or two days a week. Averaged across all public servants, the number of days typically worked from home is 0.9 per week, with the most common being Friday.

Digging into the data, the survey revealed 10.6% typically work from home one day a week, 22.2% do so two days a week, 6.9% three days a week, 1.6% four days a week, and 1.4% five days a week. There is 2.7% considered remote workers, while the rest work from home never or infrequently.

A breakdown by department is also provided, with the Ministry for Ethnic Communities having the highest percentage of workers who typically work from home between one and five days a week at 93.5%.

It’s followed by the Independent Child’s Monitor at 86.2%, the Serious Fraud Office at 81.8%, the Inland Revenue Department at 80.2% and the Cancer Control Agency at 79.7%.

The average number of working from home days for staff at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities is 2.2, followed by 1.8 at Land Information New Zealand, 1.7 at Statistics New Zealand, 1.7 at the Inland Revenue Department and 1.6 at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Looking specifically at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the data shows just 6.5% of its workforce never works from home. About 19.4% of staff there work from home typically one a day week, 30.6% two days a week, 35.5% three days a week, 4.8% work from home four days a week, and 3.2% work from home five days a week.

The ministry has a relatively small workforce. As of September 30 last year, it had 73 staff.

The Herald has approached the ministry and Minister for Ethnic Communities Mark Mitchell’s office for any comment on the results.

The Government wants less working from home. Photo / 123RF

Statistics New Zealand has the lowest rate of workers who never work from home at 4.2%, but it has a large portion of “remote workers” at 24.7%.

Perhaps unsurprisingly due to the nature of its work, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service has the lowest rate of staff working from home. Just 10.3% of its staff work from home between one and five days a week.

The PSC itself has 62.2% of staff who work from home between one and five days a week. Just 29.3% of its staff never work from home.

The most common day for working from home is Friday (23%), followed by Monday (18.4%), Thursday (17.2%), Tuesday (16.1%), and then Wednesday (15.5%).

The Public Service Association – not to be confused with the PSC which released the data – said the survey showed working from home arrangements were not as big of a problem as had been made out.

“The Government’s appalling attack on public servants working from home has been exposed for what it really is – a flimsy attempt to deflect from its own decisions to axe thousands of workers,” said acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.

Last year, Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and were setting the expectation that working from home arrangements were “not an entitlement”, they should only be agreed where they didn’t compromise performance, and agencies should monitor their use.

The Herald, however,  was already that “hybrid work is not an entitlement” and wasn’t available to all public servants.

Willis told the Herald that while that guidance may have already been there “in theory”, having the Prime Minister “making that expectation clear often has more impact than something sitting in a guideline at the back of a government website”.

Judith Collins has since been made the Public Service Minister.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the ��һ�ǿ�����hub Press Gallery office.