Work needed on PS productivity

While our political leaders no doubt are focused on the potential for interest rate relief before the federal election, they should instead be preoccupied with how to lift productivity and grow the economy.

A good place to start would be in the public service, where working from home has become the norm for many workers and managers have lost the power to intervene. As we reported on Thursday, more than one in four public servants at the Home Affairs Department goes into the office just one or two days a week. The flexibility of working from home can have productivity benefits but in the case of the public service, this must be clearly demonstrated and put to the test.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox argues there is “increasing evidence” the new work arrangements are having a negative impact on public service productivity. The situation is made worse by the growth in public service numbers without any evidence of an increase in output or an improvement in services. Under Labor, the public service has grown by 36,000 – or 20 per cent – and wages have risen by 11 per cent.

The potential benefits of working from home are undermined by additional restrictions under new workplace laws, which forbid managers from contacting workers outside normal working hours. To work, flexibility must cut both ways.

Opposition workplace spokeswoman Jane Hume is right to say that Australians should expect to maintain a world-class, efficient public service. Taxpayers have every right to expect they are getting value for money from workers who are paid from the public purse.