Heart of the City’s Viv Beck urges Auckland Council to lead in tightening working-from-home rules

THREE KEY FACTS

• Auckland business leader Viv Beck urges tighter working-from-home policies, calling for Auckland Council to lead by example.
• Auckland Council said it will not be changing its policy and it is happy with staff working three days a week in person.
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has doubled down on the stricter rules, citing productivity concerns and plans for mandatory reporting.

An Auckland business leader says companies should be tightening working-from-home policies and has called on Auckland Council to lead by example.

Auckland Council says it has no intention of changing its policy, which requires staff members to work three days a week in person.

It comes after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon doubled down on his call to government departments to enforce stricter rules around working from home.

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said Auckland businesses following suit would make a “significant impact” on the economy.

She said she had lobbied for changes post-Covid after studies revealed 30,000 fewer people were travelling into the CBD every day.

“It would make a positive difference if more people were back in the office.”

Viv Beck, chief executive for Heart of the City, wants Auckland Council to lead by example for calling workers back to the office. Photo / Alex Burton

Beck called on Auckland Council to make a public stance to bring more people into the office.

She said it would be “showing leadership” and would encourage private businesses to make similar changes.

The general manager of people services for Auckland Council group shared services said Auckland Council is not looking at changing its policy.

“We recently reviewed our approach to make sure it is fit for purpose, taking into account what we learned during the pandemic, changes that we’ve made at our corporate offices, the flexibility that technology now offers and feedback from our people – and it’s working really well.

“Additionally, Auckland Council’s general guidance to staff is to work three days a week in the office to collaborate and connect with colleagues, teams and other kaimahi.”

Earlier, Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast that he believed working-from-home arrangements impacted the productivity of the public sector.

He said as well as ordering people to back to the office, the Government will also be collecting data and making management collect data on how many people are working from home and when.

Luxon claimed management within the sectors had “no clue” where anyone was or “what’s going on”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Public Service Minister Nicola Willis. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“As a Government, we are talking to employers to make sure they are building a highly productive public service that is firing on all cylinders.

“It doesn’t help build culture, it doesn’t help team development, it doesn’t improve performance.”

Wellington Chamber of Commerce advocacy manager Conor Whitten said working from home arrangements were “definitely a big part” of the dip in revenue for retail and hospitality businesses.

But Whitten said the numbers are “hard to quantify” right now and he is interested in seeing them again after the Government enacts mandatory reporting.

“But look at some ballpark figures, there are 28,000 public servants who still work in Wellington, according to the public service commission. If they’re working from home an average of two days a week, that’s more than 50,000 fewer potential customers for businesses in the CBD.”

Whitten said that stricter rules could “make a real” difference within the Wellington economy.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.

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