One of the nation’s top mandarins has expressed concern about the state of the public service in five years unless the high rates of work from home in the sector are addressed.

Blair Comley, the secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care, said while there was no returning to everybody being in the office five days a week, the 22 per cent attendance rate among his 7000 employees had implications for productivity and had longer-term adverse impacts on workplace culture, personal and professional development and the completion of tasks.