Moaning woke Scots civil servants demanded POOL & pay rise to return to office

Scottish Sun

6 days ago

Officials running Scotland's struggling public services have been accused of being 'divorced from reality' after we uncovered hundreds of gripes lashing out at bosses for cutting their working from home time from four days to three.
WORK-from-home civil servants demanded a swimming pool and a pay rise after being ordered back into the office for just two days a week.
Scottish Government officials also moaned they would miss a 'longer lunchtime walk' — and even questioned if their human rights were being breached.
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Scottish Government workers are moaning about working two days in the office
Credit: Getty
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Some civil servants have requested a swimming pool be reopened
Credit: Getty - Contributor
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Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said the demands are a 'masterclass in entitlement"
Credit: Alamy
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Officials running Scotland's struggling public services have been accused of being 'divorced from reality' after we uncovered hundreds of gripes lashing out at bosses for cutting their working from home time from four days to three.
Astonishing comments included a call for 'shush' spaces to chill out at work, a pay rise to help with commuting costs and grievances about being deprived of their longer lunchtime walks.
One complained the order may be a breach of their human rights — while another said the reopening of an Edinburgh pool should be part of 'wider plans on the range of facilities available for rising office attendance.'
The diva-like demands were slammed by Tory MSP Stephen Kerr, who described them as a 'masterclass in entitlement and woke whinging'.
He added: 'Civil servants whinging about missing their lunchtime strolls and the swimming pool should remember who pays their wages.
'This is the SNP's Scotland — high taxes for working families while some public sector staff treat home working as a lifestyle choice.
'It's no wonder public services are in decline when the culture inside government is so divorced from reality. The public won't forget who let this attitude take root.'
Workers lashed out at an edict that 9,300 staff, allowed 'hybrid' working since Covid, would have it curtailed by autumn to boost productivity and 'strengthen working relationships'.
Their moans on the Government's internal computer network, Saltire, were obtained by The Scottish Sun under freedom of information laws.
Demands included calls for the swimming pool at their Victoria Quay building, which shut in 2020 during the pandemic, to be reopened.
One whined: 'Given that one of the reasons provided for discontinuing the provision of the swimming pool at VQ was the low number of staff in the office to use it, can I ask if this decision will now be revisited?'
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Another weighed in: 'Close a swimming pool to save the environment and reduce emissions, while mandating thousands to travel another day a week seems a bit strange.'
On the work-life balance implications of returning to the office for two days instead of one, a colleague wrote: 'Many have made big decisions based on balance — whether that be starting a family, getting a pet, getting rid of cars; down to things like starting a new fitness class, being able to take that longer lunchtime walk for their mental health or meet a friend after work because there is no commute.
'The prospect of that now being taken away is undoubtedly causing stress and anxiety.'
We can reveal one official even demanded to see an 'equality and human rights impact assessment'.
CULTURE 'DAMAGING'
By Chris Musson - Associate Editor (Politics)
LIKE him or loathe him, John Swinney is known as a sleeves-rolled-up grafter.
And I can't imagine the First Minister, left, is happy about the work-from-home culture in his government.
The idea of civil servants doing just one day a week in the office — and moaning about doing two — comes at a time when the national focus should be on fixing services.
Under the 'hybrid' model, the government has a phone system to divert calls to individual teams' mobiles.
It doesn't always work, and lines can ring out, as journalists trying to reach press officers would tell you.
Maybe it's a glitch. Or maybe they're downstairs making toast.
If this is the same across government, it's a wonder anything gets done — apart from officials' washing.
This nonsense is also damaging the SNP, not just the nation.
With an election next May, at this rate the WFH staff won't be the only ones out of office
And calling for 'shush spaces', another said: 'I really don't want to have to go back to having to work in an environment where I can't even hear myself think.'
A colleague chimed in: 'These 500-plus comments aren't expressing a simple disagreement over policy, they are expressing a fundamental shock and sense of betrayal that SG is not the employer we thought it was.'
The rule change comes amid concerns about civil servants' productivity and the huge cost of running half-empty government buildings since Nats continued the work-from-home culture, even as the pandemic ended in 2022.
Latest figures suggest the average salary for affected workers is more than £50,000, while around 3,000 are earning more than £66,000.
PERK LIFE SPARKED BACKLASH
MARCH 2020 - The vast majority of Scottish Government staff switch to working from home due to lockdown.
FEBRUARY 2022 - A 'hybrid working model', as the pandemic ends, comes into effect with staff only expected to be in the office for 20 per cent of the week — one day.
JUNE 2022 - The SNP Government urge all of society to consider more working from home to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
SEPTEMBER 2023 - Nats ministers come under fire over plans for a 'bonkers' push for a four-day working week for civil servants.
NOVEMBER 2023 - We reveal Scottish Government staff are being granted an extra hour off every week to chill out — at a cost of £7million a year to taxpayers.
SEPTEMBER 2024 - It emerges the public is footing a bill of £6million a year for half-empty Scottish Government offices due to the ongoing work-from-home culture.
APRIL 2025 - The Scottish Government is accused of wasting £3.3million a year to pay for 56 bosses with the word 'wellbeing' in their woke job titles.
MAY 2022 - Bosses reveal plans for staff to be back in work at least 40 per cent of the week — two days — prompting a backlash on the staff intranet system.
OCTOBER 2025 - The new two-day-a-week attendance rule is due to kick in, with the Scottish Government saying that the current one-day diktat has 'reduced opportunities to network, develop and connect in person'.
Another post read: 'Fingers crossed we get a pay award so we can actually afford to get to work.' A workmate fumed: 'This represents a real-terms pay cut and erosion of benefits.'
A third added: 'In 27 years in the civil service I've never seen anywhere near this level of anger about anything. There's a huge lack of evidence to support the decision.'
We told how staff were granted an extra hour off every week to relax — at a cost of £7million a year to taxpayers.
The 2023 'Wellbeing Hour' encouraged workers to do yoga, read, paint or walk to cut stress.