Peloton-riding civil servant is blamed as 80% of her staff WFH – despite ministers’ desperate attempts to get officials back to the office
- Sarah Healey said she prefers working from home as it gives more time to ride exercise bike
- Her Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport staff apparently following suit
- Insider says politicians ‘lucky’ if 20 per cent of DCMS civil servants are in office
One of Whitehall’s most senior mandarins has been accused of undermining Ministers’ attempts to get civil servants back into the office after it emerged that four in five of her officials are still working from home.
Sarah Healey, permanent secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), said she prefers working from home as it gives her more time to spend on her high-end exercise bike.
And her staff are apparently following her example, despite the frustration of Ministers in the department that requests for face-to-face meetings with civil servants are being ignored.
One insider says politicians are ‘lucky’ if 20 per cent of DCMS civil servants are in the office at any time – with staff said to be reluctant to head into the office when their permanent secretary is working from home.
Sarah Healey (pictured), permanent secretary at the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), said she prefers working from home as it gives her more time to spend on her high-end exercise bike
At a tech conference last month, Ms Healey spoke of how she could put in extra miles on her Peloton exercise bike – which costs upwards of £1,350 – while working from home. She said: ‘I have a Peloton and I can just get on my bike whenever I have a teeny bit of time. That has been a huge benefit to my well-being, the lack of travelling time eating into my day.’
But Bim Afolami, the Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, said Ms Healey needed to be careful about sending out the wrong message to staff. ‘Once the permanent secretary says that, why wouldn’t you [continue to work from home]?’ he added.
‘Every situation and workplace is different, and it is important not to have a blanket rule. However, for a large number of workplaces it is really important for young people and many others to get training and mentorship [in the office]. So senior people in workplaces need to be very mindful, even though working from home suits them when they reach the top of the tree.’
‘In government, if Ministers want people to be in, they should be in. The permanent secretary shouldn’t be undermining Ministers.’
Bim Afolami (pictured), the Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, said Ms Healey needed to be careful about sending out the wrong message to staff
Millions of people returned to their desks when the guidance on working from home was lifted this summer, but civil servants have been seen as reluctant to follow suit. Another source said DCMS has been running on a ‘hybrid’ model for ministerial meetings, with some people in the office and others online, which is not likely to change soon as ‘the number of desks is smaller than the number of people who work in department’.
Ms Healey, who has been head of DCMS since 2019, described working from home in the pandemic as a ‘very, very good thing’ and said it allowed her to spend more time with her teenage children.
She said she will be asking colleagues to spend two days a week in the office and acknowledged it was difficult for younger staff members to conduct their working day from ‘the corner of their bedroom’.
However, she added that online meetings would continue, saying they provide an advantage for her as a woman because it was easier to speak up during them.
A DCMS spokesman said the number of staff coming into the office ‘continues to increase’ and added: ‘We have always been committed to flexible working. The Government has saved the taxpayer billions each year by reducing the cost of the estate.’
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