Staff members at Liverpool City Council have hit back at comments from chief executive Theresa Grant, who said "too many" people at the local authority were working from home.
A team of social workers based at the council's Cunard Building headquarters said the comments "rubbed salt in the wounds" after they claimed recent decisions made working from the office much harder.
In an all-staff email, which was leaked to the ECHO last month, Ms Grant said: "It has become clear that too many staff are working from home and are not abiding by the agile working policy. I would like you all to work from the Cunard building for 3 days a week (if you work full time) and for your team to be in the Cunard across all five days (the building is very empty on Mondays and Fridays)."
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The interim council boss added: "Please do remember that your contracts are based on you working five days in the office, so we are already relaxing that obligation."
After we published Ms Grant's missive, a group from the council's children's social services team got in touch to share their dismay at the message. They said they have been working from the Cunard building throughout the pandemic and since and were furious to be grouped in with others. They were particularly unhappy that the comments came as changes are being brought in that will see emergency team members based at the Cunard losing their on-street parking privileges.
One employee said: "So sad and annoyed that this has been published and find it really disheartening that all staff in Cunard are being grouped together as I can assure you that the first floor safeguarding teams remain fully operational. This is on the back of the stance to remove on-street parking permits for the emergency duty teams - it is extremely disheartening.
"Why should social workers who have been moved to city centre buildings be penalised as opposed to other social workers in other buildings who have the opportunity to park for free? We need our cars on a daily basis as we are expected to answer emergencies at any time during our working day. The morale of social workers in the Cunard is down by 99%."
Another said: "Our team was moved to the Cunard as part of a major restructure and we were given on-street parking as part of this. This is because we respond to emergencies and have to get to addresses at the drop of a hat. But this is now being removed and we will have to walk to the nearest (council) car park at Mount Pleasant."
According to Google Maps, the Mount Pleasant car park is a 19-minute walk from the Cunard building.
They added: "There is a real crisis in social care in Liverpool right now. We are not getting experienced staff in, only newly qualified starters who need a lot of support. We are struggling and the comments from the chief executive just felt like rubbing salt in the wounds to be honest. We have never seen upper management on our floor so they wouldn't know who is working from the office."
They added: "Morale is already really low in our teams and this certainly didn't help."
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson said: “We have a flexible working policy and are striking a balance between staff working from home and being in the workplace.
"Face-to-face meetings with colleagues - and being part of a team that is physically together - adds energy and value to our work in delivering essential services for residents.
"As part of the 2023/24 budget, we made some changes to discretionary staff benefits, including parking arrangements and charges, which have not been reviewed for 20 years. It is only fair that we all contribute towards the savings needed to balance the books.”
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