NSW civil servants’ anger at bosses ordered back to office by Chris Minns’ government revealed in leaked online meeting

Civil servants have turned on their bosses who urged them to return to the office to work, forcing one executive to admit the decision was made without any consultation, leaked screenshots of an online meeting show.

Screenshots posted to The Aussie Corporate Instagram account show NSW government workers furious after being told to stop working from home following a decree by state Premier Chris Minns to curb the practice.

Under the slogan “Public sector workers in complete shock”, a participant in a recent online meeting of the Town Hall teams stated: “I felt the conversation did not adequately address the feelings of the majority of participants.”

“They don’t care. They just said it’s normal for people to come and go from public service,” was the response.

“This is likely because most lower-level staff were not consulted before the decision was made,” reads another response.

The department’s secretary was repeatedly asked whether young people had been consulted about the change, with the “primary” justification for more office work being to support younger staff and improve their career prospects, The Aussie Corporate claimed.

Finally, when the HR meeting coordinator asked if any of the employees had been consulted on the matter, the secretary was forced to simply admit that no one had.

Another screenshot summarises the arguments against returning to the office.

The document said the NSW public sector was “not competitive on wages and now not competitive on flexibility”.

“The younger generations will not find it attractive,” argued a meeting participant.

The statement also said government workers whose jobs cannot be done from home “receive a lot of perks that we don’t.”

An example was overtime pay, which the participant stated he received “for situations where we had to eat at our desks and work during unpaid lunch breaks.”

Overtime allowance is a paid break from work for meals if you have to work overtime.

The participant also argued that Mr Minns’ circular merely “strongly encouraged” the public sector to reconsider its remote working policy.

“We never thought there would come a day when the public sector would be less flexible,” an Instagram user commented under the screenshots.

A Reddit thread related to The Aussie Corporate showed that some private sector workers were also concerned about what was happening in the public service.

“It’s scary to imagine a world where I’ll have to spend 3+ hours commuting/getting ready for work, going to the office, and interacting with people in real life again for no pay,” one person wrote.

“Do you think the back-to-the-office nonsense will affect private companies?”

Working remotely has changed my life because it has allowed me to save a lot of time during the week that I can dedicate to myself and my family. It has also had a huge positive impact on my physical and mental health.

“I don’t think I could go back to an office in the central business district and spend five days there.”

Others agreed.

“100 percent. Two months ago, I left public service where I could work 80 minutes remotely and ended up in a 100 percent office-based role,” the response reads.

“It crushes my soul.”

Some people, however, advise to think twice before deciding to leave.

“Where will you go? I ask myself that question,” said a Reddit user.

“A lot of people express their outrage online, but at the end of the day they just put their heads down and go to the office.”

The thread moderator felt that the problem had been exaggerated.

“The press has exaggerated the NSW RTO’s responsibility,” he said.

“This is not a requirement to work in an office 5 days a week, but rather a recommendation that the primary place of work should be an office.

“Which will be interpreted as 2-3 days a week once that gets through to those affected.

“This is completely in line with what many corporations are already doing (CBA, Optus etc).

“I don’t think that’s going to change significantly in the short or medium term.”

Daily Mail Australia revealed on Thursday that the public sector workers union is openly rebelling against the decision to force 43,000 public sector workers back to offices.

In an email to its members on Monday, the Public Service Association (PSA) said it had received a flood of questions about the prime minister’s directive and said it believed staff would “never” return to the previous arrangements.

“Your union believes there will always be flexibility in the workplace and we will never return to pre-COVID-19 working conditions,” the email said.

As evidence, the PSA said it had contacted a number of secretaries in New South Wales government departments.

“We have been advised that many offices are unable to accommodate all staff working on-site and that current arrangements will not change,” the email reads.

The union said it had also mobilised delegates to gather members’ views and express their concerns.

“The more information we receive from our members that we pass on to the government, the better,” the email said, with the PSA promising to pass on any “further information” to members.