LIZ KENDAL

If you are concerned at the number of people claiming to be working from home, with a substantial drop in the output of the United Kingdom, which it appears may be directly related to what started out as the Covid malaise, claims to money for not working and subsequent reluctance to return to work for people on a virtual, perpetual holiday, comfy armchairs at home, televisions on the go, or radios blaring, conducive to sleeping on the job, or just relaxing at the taxpayer's expense? So are we.

The UK badly needs change, as per ReformUK policies that aim to get Britain back on track.

The working from home problem is making the UK uncompetitive on a national basis, reducing our Gross National Product, where interest payments on loans are on the increase, because of Rachel Reeves inability to rein in administrative overheads. In fact she has increased public spending and borrowing. In what appears some kind of lunatic financial insanity to us. While at the same time raiding pensioner's piggy banks.

We understand that other countries are having similar problems, in effect reducing the number of hours worked per week, while staff who claim to be working, but are not if fact, and are still receiving the same pay for less work. And yet genuinely skilled engineers and factory workers, are unfairly paying for services they are not getting, so violating their human rights, in discriminating against physical workers, in preference to pen pushers who remain almost totally unaccountable for lack of transparency.

We wonder if the proposed draft Bill below should be presented to Parliament, where when targets are not met as per time and motion studies, or previous performance parameters as the bench mark, that employees who are in effect in breach of contract, or engaging in restrictive practices, or who are pretending to be ill, might be dismissed after warnings are not heeded and performance does not improve. Including a must attend the office or factory or wherever is the workplace, for at least four days a week, including council officers, civil servants, NHS admin, MPs and Councillors. All persons should work at least 39 hours a week, at the productive rate for the job.

That in default, pensions might also be terminated, as the incentive to get the nation back to work, and root out the deadwood slackers in society. This draft Bill aims to address the concerns regarding declining productivity and the rise of remote work, that is causing serious administrative delays and backlogs. In effect, grinding the UK to a halt when it comes to ordinary things such as calculating pensions and benefits, providing healthcare, planning for infrastructure repairs and improvements, and reducing the number of staff needed to provide an effective administration in the UK. Where more staff (overstaffing corruption) equals more pension black holes to fill, equating to higher taxes for genuine workers: farmers, builders, care workers, medical staff at hospitals, ambulance drivers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, et al.

THE NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY and ACCOUNTABILITY ACT 2025

Preamble:

This Act seeks to enhance national productivity and ensure accountability within the public and private sectors by addressing the decline in work ethic and productivity observed in recent years. To address reduced productivity and ensure accountability in remote work arrangements, and to establish requirements for attendance and performance in public and private sectors.

Key Provisions:

Performance Standards and Targets:

1. All employers, including public sector organizations, shall establish clear, measurable performance standards and targets for all employees.

2. These standards shall be based on objective criteria, such as output, productivity, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

3. Organizations failing to enforce the provisions of this Act may face fines and other penalties.

Definitions:

4. Employee: Any individual employed by an organization, including council officers, civil servants, NHS admin, MPs, and councillors.

5. Remote Work: Work performed outside the traditional office environment.

6. Performance Benchmarks: Standards based on time and motion studies, previous performance parameters, or industry standards.

Remote Work Policies:

7. Employers shall have the right to determine the appropriate level of remote work for their employees based on the nature of the job and business needs.

8. A mandatory return-to-office policy shall be implemented for all employees, requiring a minimum of four days of in-office work per week, as physical workplace attendances. This requirement shall apply to all sectors, including public sector employees, civil servants, and elected officials.

a) Remote work may be permitted for one day a week or under special circumstances as approved by the employer.

b) Specific exemptions may be granted for medical reasons, caregiving responsibilities, or other valid reasons as determined by the employer.

Accountability and Consequences:

9. Employees who consistently fail to meet performance standards or engage in restrictive practices, such as deliberate underperformance or excessive absenteeism, shall be subject to disciplinary action.

10. Disciplinary action may include:

a) Written warnings
b) Demotion
c) Suspension without pay
d) Termination of employment

11. For public sector employees, failure to meet performance standards on a prolonged basis may result in the suspension or forfeiture of pension benefits.

a) Employers must report attendance and performance data to the regulatory body for review.

b) Employers must document performance reviews and provide clear feedback to employees.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

12. Employers shall regularly monitor employee performance and address any concerns as to output and productivity promptly.

a) Independent reviews shall be conducted to assess the effectiveness of this Act and its impact on national productivity.

Implementation:

13. This Act shall be implemented in phases over a period of two years.

14. A dedicated unit within the Department for Work and Pensions, working with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy shall be established to oversee the implementation of this Act.

15. The Act shall be reviewed annually to assess its effectiveness and make necessary amendments.

DISCLAIMER

This is a theoretical draft Bill and may require significant amendments and legal expertise to be enacted into law. The right to receive and impart ideas and thoughts is protected by Articles 9 and 10 of the HRA 1998.

It is important to note that such a policy may face strong opposition from employee unions and other stakeholders, who are sure to argue that their white-collar members should be exempt from being required to work for a living. Including arguments that they are under more stress than other workers in society. We would say that is not a reasonable argument. All people in society should be treated equally, including blue-collar workers. White collar workers sometimes consider themselves superior to blue collar workers. This may include those who believe they can work at home and output less productivity wise, while their blue collar counterparts toil away to support them via taxes.

 While we are at it, why not re-nationalize our utilities?

BBC 9 JANUARY 2025 - COULD WE BE SEEING THE END OF WORKING FROM HOME?

Flexible working arrangements to allow staff to work from home are being restricted or brought to an end by some employers with offices based in London.

Companies initiated remote working during the pandemic, and many have retained a flexible working policy.

However, some firms, such as Amazon, are requiring staff to return to the office five days a week but there have been reports that staff have made anonymous complaints online about the policy.

Amazon boss Andy Jassy wrote to staff in September to say office working allowed it to "better invent, collaborate and be connected enough to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business".

The policy was due to begin with the return to work in January, however, an insider told the BBC they were not able to enforce the five days-a-week rule due to a current lack of desk space.

Amazon has disputed this and said all employees were back in the office full-time.

'NEGATIVE IMPACT'

Amazon is not alone in asking employees to return to office working.

The Metropolitan Police has introduced a new hybrid working policy which requires civilian staff to work a minimum of three days a week in the office.

Intelligence analyst Anna Bruce-Hou, who has worked at home three days a week since Covid, is one of more than 5,000 staff affected. She is also one of the 2,400 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union who have begun industrial action in protest at the policy.

Speaking to BBC London, she said working in the office for an extra day a week "would have a negative impact on my ability to do my job".

"In my office there are four desks and seven people, and even now with the reduction in office attendance I can struggle to find a desk," she said.

The Metropolitan Police said the policy, which came into effect on Monday, "did not end working from home" and that it was aware some staff may have legitimate reasons for not following the policy due to agreed reasonable adjustment or an approved existing flexible working plan.

"Our plans will provide consistency across the Met and ensure we can deliver for our communities. We urge our staff and the union not to take further action," a spokesperson said.

They added that those who continued to work from home for more than two days a week might be in breach of their contract and could lose pay.

BETTER FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Within the last year, a number of large London-based employers have reviewed their working policies and restricted or banned working from home.

WPP, a global communications agency, announced on Tuesday it was tightening its rules and would require staff to be in four days a week from April.

CEO Mark Read said to staff in a letter: "The data from across WPP agencies shows that higher levels of office attendance are associated with stronger employee engagement, improved client survey scores and better financial performance."

He added: "More of our clients are moving in this direction and expecting it of the teams who work with them."

It has also been reported, external that a number of other large employers in London have asked some staff to return to five days a week in the office, but some firms have told the BBC the return-to-office policies only applied to certain teams.

The question of how and whether to enforce employees to spend more time in the office is one that is being debated by companies across the capital.

David Palmer, an employment lawyer at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the BBC that over the last six months, he had seen an increase in the number of queries from businesses who were considering a mandate in returning to the office.

"There's no law against a general policy that says employees must come in and work five days a week in their office, but there are considerations around reasonable adjustments for those with disabilities, consideration of indirect discriminations risks," he said.

Mr Palmer added the main consideration for companies should be "the attraction and retention of talent" and that would "depend on business to business".

Companies wishing to bring staff into the office more permanently are now considering the best ways to ensure staff are present.

A survey of 150 financial services companies, external was conducted in September last year by KPMG, which found that bosses were considering a range of methods to track attendance in the office.

Companies said they would consider using monitoring devices, such as cameras in the office or even under-desk sensors to ensure employees were at work.

For some companies though, incentives are being used to encourage employees back into the work place instead.

Just Eat for Business, who ask staff to be in the office three days a week, offer an allowance for free food every month.

Managing director Matt Ephgrave said the idea was "very affordable" for the firm.

"We're all human, so it creates a moment where you can sit down, you can have a conversation with people you might not otherwise speak to," he said.

OFF-PUTTING COMMUTES

The Centre for Cities conducted research into Londoners returning to the office , externalin September last year.

It reported: "Central London office workers have continued to return to the office since last year.

"Days in for full-time workers have increased from 2.2 days in spring 2023 to 2.7 in summer 2024."

But, it said London's return to the office had been "slow by global standards".

Property consultancy firm Bidwells surveyed 400 employers in London last April and found that the commute to work was one of the main disincentives for going into the office.

Mark Callendar, who worked on the research, said of those surveyed: "What we see is most people going into office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"But, on a Monday it's only half and on a Friday it's even lower, it's about 40%."

He added: "A lot of it does have to do with time spent commuting, over a third of people in London said it takes them more than an hour."

WORKERS DEFINITIONS

One of the most common ways to classify workers and jobs is by collar colors, with blue and white being the best known.

Traditionally, blue collar jobs have involved manual labor, often in manufacturing or construction, and hourly or piecework pay. White collar jobs, on the other hand, are performed in offices, with work that is managerial, administrative, or clerical in nature. White collar workers are usually salaried.

BLUE COLLAR WORKERS

The term blue-collar worker references individuals who engage in hard manual labor, typically in the agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, or maintenance sectors of the economy. Most of these people historically wore blue-collared shirts when they worked.

Some blue-collar workers may have to do physically demanding or exhausting tasks. They may work outdoors and/or with heavy machinery or animals. Workers may be skilled or unskilled. Skills can be acquired on the job or, more commonly, at a trade school.

Some of the most common blue-collar jobs include:

- Welders
- Mechanics
- Electricians
- Construction workers

Some may be more specialized, such as power plant operators, power distributors, and nuclear power plant operators.

The way blue-collar workers are paid depends on the industry in which they work. Some individuals are paid on an hourly basis. Other workers are paid by the number of pieces they complete in a day, which is typical for those who work in factory settings.

WHITE COLLAR WORKERS

White-collar workers are often found in office settings. As the name implies, they are generally suit-and-tie workers who wear white-collared or tailored shirts. Their jobs may involve working at a desk in clerical, administrative, managerial, or executive settings. Unlike blue-collar workers, white-collar workers usually don't have physically taxing jobs.

The following are examples of white-collar workers:

- An administrative assistant in an office
- A data entry clerk
- The manager of a marketing department

Workers in white-collar jobs often receive annual salaries over hourly wages and are considered to be safe jobs. This is a fixed amount that may or may not factor in a specified number of hours. This means that paystubs highlight salary for a particular pay period rather than the number of hours worked. That must change to level up the playing field. For that is the divide that is causing the UK to fail productivity wise.

The differences between the terms blue and white collar showcase how we have historically perceived various industries, individuals' educational attainment, their dress in the workplace, and their social class. But keep in mind that both blue-collar and white-collar jobs are critical to keeping the economy humming and for the smooth functioning of society.

A data entry clerk, uses less brainpower than an electrician wiring up a house. An administrative assistant needs less concentration than an engineer machining a complex metal part in an engineering workshop where tolerances are critical. And so on.

Office workers are not better than skilled tradespersons. They have no right to think so. They may think they are superior in wearing suits with secure salaries, and demanding more money for less output, without having to leave home, but that is a symptom of the get rich quick mentality we have created with computer gaming, giving instant gratification to players at the push of a button. Such adrenaline rushes achieving nothing. Making nothing, and not contributing to society.

Article 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (European Convention and Universal Declaration) makes discrimination unlawful. If all workers are to treated equally, then blue collar workers should only need to work a 4 day week to even things up.

Indeed, AI, artificial intelligence might replace many routine administrative functions. Such as planning approvals or refusals. Which may be better informed from a national geo-database as to requirements, than local human officers who are on the make, giving consents to chums, in return for back-hand bribes. That is how we get re-occurring potholes and procurement fraud.

Those who work from home, but do less work, are potentially committing fraud. In claiming a full salary or wage, for less work. That is stealing.

The government must not discriminate between work classifications, or give white collar workers a better deal, such as to foster the present lack of accountability.

SIR KEIR STARMER'S GOVERNMENT MINISTERS

Labour have a lot of paddling to do, to get the United Kingdom out of the political and financial shit creek they are in.

They do have some good ideas from which to make a paddle. One of the best being to buy back our National Grid from overseas investors who are not making the investment necessary to transition to Net Zero. By building an alternative Grid for electricity and green hydrogen, with storage capacity for load levelling, built in using the wonder molecule, instead of, but also alongside conventional battery installations, almost all of which lithium cells and Tesla cars are imported from China.

Thank heavens we don't need to import water from anywhere. And, we have wind in abundance (onshore and offshore) and the technology to become an energy exporter.

Our strengths are our creative talents that are in high demand all over the world. Actors, writers, musicians and tourism. It's a pity we do not make home grown cars any more. We sold off all our brands, and did not replace them - including Rolls Royce. We don't make cloth any more, and import most of our clothing. Though cotton, comes from the USA as a renewable resource. And we farm excellent beef and lamb, and make Irish and Scotch whisky. All exportables.

Patents are a waste of time for lone innovators, with little by way of support for technological innovation. Engineers will be ripped off, except where copyright bites. And that brings us back to design. The state should enforce against patent infringement and accelerate green patents. But only if state protection is installed. Otherwise, Britain is giving away their best ideas for nothing, in a highly competitive world of reverse engineering from developing countries.

It is bad enough we have a skills shortage without a brain drain.

We should be building low cost housing that young families can afford - perhaps as flatpacks. Not executive housing to trap people in financial servitude for the rest of their lives. Also, bankrupting councils who are then forced to pay housing benefits to wealthy landlords as unearned income. New houses should be energy autonomous and cater for EVs, with charging points. Preferably solar powered.

All new electric cars sold in the UK should feature solar roof panels. At least as a factory option.

CIL payments should go transparently to improving the roads that the increase in traffic from over development is turning into a pothole nightmare. And that brings us to pensions for council workers and overpaid executives, who are paid extra so as not to blow the whistle on corruption.

The new government might also think about taking control of planning decisions away from councils, most of which are delegated in any event. With a national policy decided based on reliable geodata such as traffic flow at peak times - and distances to factories, towns, etc. Not on favours for mates. This might reduce corruption and procurement fraud.

The Civil Service might be slimmed down significantly to reduce the pension black hole created by Conservative squanderbugs. Flock wallpaper anyone?

And what of wood and fish farming. We should grow more trees and farm more salmon.

We should also be investing in munitions and high tech robotic infantry, as autonomous soldiers, to defend the UK and to export to NATO allies, including Ukraine. At lower cost, maybe even replacing tanks on the battlefield. Germany is already investing in such technology. Why are we so slow, when Russia is knocking on our doorstep. And draining our economy.

We should also be encouraging UK homeowners to build bomb shelters and keep them stocked with food and water. A simple change to Permitted Development Orders could achieve that, with a few strokes on a keyboard. Another deterrent to the CRINKs, not to start WW3

CONTACT LIZ KENDALL

Westminster Office
House of Commons

London, SW1A 0AA

Tel: 020 7219 5437

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LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/wealth-management/120215/blue-collar-vs-white-collar-different-social-classes.asp

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ew0jrjxz9o

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/wealth-management/120215/blue-collar-vs-white-collar-different-social-classes.asp

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ew0jrjxz9o