Work From Home: ONS Titchfield workers organise industrial action over mandatary working in the office dispute

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said that 1,200 of its members, many based in Segensworth Road, will refuse to work overtime starting on August 27. Employees are also based at Newport in South Wales, London Darlington, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Since May they have refused to follow a new instruction to spend at least 40 per cent of their time in the office. The union said many staff already willingly spend more than 40 per cent of their working time in the office.

The industrial action is to oppose mandatory attendance, said the PCS. General secretary Fran Heathcote said: “ONS consistently relies on goodwill to remain functional but managers have themselves shown little goodwill by forcing staff back into the office. This new wave of industrial action will cause disruption in a way working from home has not.”

A spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics said: “We have robust plans in place and do not anticipate any disruption to key ONS publications. Nevertheless, we still believe firmly that a reasonable level of office attendance - in line with the wider Civil Service- is in the best interests of the ONS and of all our colleagues. Face-to-face interaction supports personal collaboration, learning and innovation.”