She has issued new guidance to the Public Service Commissioner setting an expectation that “working from home arrangements are not an entitlement and should be by agreement between the employee and the employer”.

So like it is now?

“Our starting position is that actually your working-from-home agreement needs to be consistent with your ability to perform your role, your team’s ability to perform, and your agency’s ability to perform. The simple fact is in some circumstances, you won’t be able to work from home at all,” she said.

So, like it is now?

She said at the Public Service Commission, 66% of staff had working-from-home arrangements, with a third working from home one day a week and another third working from home two days a week, for example.

So most staff are in the office the majoriy of the time?

Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Arcus said, “the public service makes up a huge proportion of Wellington’s workforce, and their absence has been notable in recent years”.

Maybe the lack of people is influenced by the government making thousands of employees redundant? Which is highlighed:

National Secretary for the Public Service Association, Duane Leo said, “if the Government really cared about the Wellington economy, then it shouldn’t have cut thousands of hardworking, dedicated public service workers from its payroll”.

My thoughts on this would be that it's ok for there to be less hospitality businesses in the CBD. If there isn't the foot traffic because it has spread to more localised areas then that seems like a win. And if people are cutting back on spending their money on non-essentials, isn't that exactly what the government says they want the poors to be doing?