Sir Keir Starmer came under fire last night after No 10 claimed a ‘culture of presenteeism’ can be damaging to productivity.
Sparking fears that the Government will lead a ‘working from home’ resurgence, Downing Street said it backed more flexible working.
The announcement came after it emerged that employees who are consistently contacted outside normal working hours could be in line for compensation under Labour’s ‘right to switch off’ plan.
Downing Street said the Government wanted to improve productivity with its radical plans for workers’ rights. And it claimed ‘good employers understand that for workers to stay motivated and productive they do need to be able to switch off’.
‘A culture of presenteeism can be damaging to productivity,’ a No 10 spokesman told reporters yesterday.
‘So it’s about making sure that we have the right balance of making the most of the flexible working practices that we saw following the pandemic, but also having appropriate arrangements in place to ensure that people can stay productive in light of that.’
But the comments triggered an immediate backlash, with Tory grandee Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying they showed ‘how out of touch’ Labour is with ‘the rest of Britain’.
‘Those in the private sector who have to work hard to earn a living and who turn up at their offices and at their factories, unaware of the idea that somehow being present is somehow worse for their business than being absent,’ he told the Mail.
‘That comment shows how in thrall the Government is to this woke culture whilst being dominated by the trade unions at the same time – it bodes ill for us all.’
Shadow business spokesman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘The Government must listen to the concerns of businesses before pressing ahead with their French-style union laws that could stunt growth.
‘Labour have failed to strike the right balance between flexibility and productivity – and as usual, it will be businesses picking up the bill.’
Former Conservative business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg added: ‘The Government is determined to feather bed the public sector with higher pay for idling at home. Being physically and mentally present is an essential part of work.’
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls told the Mail that Downing Street’s language ‘seems to be looking at the economy and the world of work through a very narrow prism’.
‘The engine of the economy is the everyday economy – it’s retail, it’s hospitality and it’s places where people are present and presenteeism is about being there and serving customers, and you need to have customers in order to be present and productive,’ Ms Nicholls added.
Labour has said its controversial ‘New Deal for Working People’ will be implemented within its first 100 days.