ONS employees call to strike over working from office rule

73 per cent of members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, working at the Office for National Statistics, have cast their vote to take strike action against management over flexible working rules.

Fran Heathcote, general secretary of PCS, said: “ONS bosses have seriously undermined the trust and goodwill of their staff by seeking to drive this policy through in such a heavy-handed way, heedless of the consequences."

Office for National Statistics building (Image: File)

The union claims management has insisted that 40 per cent of employee time must be in the workplace physically, i.e. work from the office. The rule comes into effect this month.

Ms Heathcote added: “They now need to immediately pause implementation of the policy and talk to us about reaching a sensible resolution of this issue, which does not carelessly disadvantage staff.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, home and hybrid-working has been in place at the company.

The union said this was successful as ONS was "shortlisted for the CIPD’s Best Flexible Working Initiative category", securing a place in 'Glassdoor’s Top 50 Best Places to Work in 2023'.

However the new policy for 40 per cent physical workplace attendance from April 2024 has made things difficult for some of the staff, who have put arrangements in place to work around the hours.

A date for the strike has not yet been set.

A spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics said:

Office for National Statistics logo (Image: File)

“There are robust plans in place across the organisation to mitigate against disruption and maintain essential services should any industrial action take place.

“The ONS has had a hybrid working model for some years, in line with the wider Civil Service, and we believe firmly that our flexible hybrid working plans remain in the best interests of the ONS and all our colleagues.”

One of the UK locations for the Office for National Statistics is in Newport on Cardiff Road.

The policy change

The policy was announced in November 2023, before which time there had been no requirement for staff to spend a specific amount of time in offices, following the move to home and hybrid-working at the start of the Covid pandemic.