Jacob Rees-Mogg’s back-to-work comments prove he has a lot to learn

Simply attacking people for not wanting to got back to the office, as Rees-Mogg has done, is stupid, writes Hamish McRae

Tuesday 19 April 2022 17:44 BST
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<p>This is a very tight labour market on both sides of the Atlantic – the tightest for a generation</p>

This is a very tight labour market on both sides of the Atlantic – the tightest for a generation

Enjoy working from home? Or feeling a sense of relief to be working with colleagues again?  The world is on a learning curve about the extent to which people can efficiently work remotely, and we are perhaps a quarter of the way up it.

So when a government minister says that civil servants should go back to the office, the immediate reaction of most people will be one of irritation: what do politicians know about effective working? Since the minister in this instance is Jacob Rees-Mogg, who deliberately cultivates an antiquated demeanour, the irritation becomes fury. If you spend your life relying on other people to do stuff for you, of course you need them to be around. The rest of us have to type our own emails.

Actually, the path back to the office is more interesting than Rees-Mogg would suggest. There are efficiencies from home-working and there are inefficiencies. The world’s business, financial and academic communities are gradually learning how to build on the pluses and minimise the minuses.

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