Changing Work Patterns Forcing Civil Service To Sell Off Buildings

It is a sign of the times that the civil service in Northern Ireland is looking to sell off a significant proportion of its estate over the next 4 years. This is due to the change in work patterns where a lot of civil servants are now working from home.

The move to working from home became standard practice for many workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and many of these workers have continued to work from home. There are also a lot of civil servants who use a more flexible way of working, for instance they may go into the office a couple of days a week but spend the rest of their time working from home. It is highly unlikely that working from the office rather than home will ever return to pre-pandemic levels, so it was perhaps inevitable that the civil service would look to sell off some of its buildings sooner rather than later.

Bringing In Revenue And Cutting Expenditure

The civil service is looking to cut its estate by around 40% which of course will bring in some much needed revenue and also cut its expenditure quite considerably. The Department for Infrastructure’s headquarters has already been put up for sale and they are also looking to sell the former HQ for the Department for the Economy in East Belfast.

Remote Working Not As Prevalent In NI As Many Other Parts Of UK Or Republic

As we have mentioned in the past though, remote working has not been as popular in Northern Ireland as it has been in most other parts of the UK and also in the Republic. Here are some figures as copied from an article in the Belfast Telegraph. It is quoted as saying:

‘Take-up of remote working in Northern Ireland is half that in the Republic with just 17% of workers here at home, a report has said.

‘That compares with 34% of workers over the border who work remotely, according to economists at the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre.

‘Northern Ireland’s remote working level is lower than the Republic’s pre-pandemic rate of 20%.

‘The economists said job applications were now more likely to offer remote or hybrid working, particularly south of the border.

‘On average, three per cent of online job adverts in 2019 had offered remote/hybrid working across the Republic and Northern Ireland.

‘By January this year, 16% of ads in the Republic offered hybrid/remote working, compared to only six per cent here.

‘Overall, NI’s 17% uptake was the lowest of all regions on the island of Ireland. The EPC found factors affecting remote working rates included the type of sectors making up the economies on either side of the border, commuting habits, level of qualification, management practices and employee behaviour.’

Even so the overall long term trend is likely to be that more people will begin working from home for at least some of their working week, so the civil service selling off some of their estate is definitely a sign of the times.