Concerns around States staff working from home

Deputy Neil Inder has submitted 15 questions around the States role as an employer

A politician has raised concerns about the States of Guernsey's work from home policies, recruitment and retention of staff.

Deputy Neil Inder has asked a series of questions to the island's top political committee setting out his concerns.

In a post on social media, he said he has been told some States of Guernsey staff are working second jobs while working from home.

A representative for the States of Guernsey said it will respond to the questions as per the rules of procedure, and civil service union Prospect has also been contacted for comment.

Inder has asked 15 questions of the Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) which acts as the employer for the States of Guernsey.

He said it was following "some significant concerns raised with me".

The BBC asked the States about whether data on the number of people working from home would be collected in the future on 28 July, but has not yet received a reply.

It follows a set of rule 14 questions submitted by former deputy Chris Le Tissier when he was in the assembly - in response the States said there was no central register of the number of staff working from home.

Former deputy Chris Le Tissier asked the States about working from home policies

The questions from Inder include probation periods for new starters at the States, experiences with onboarding staff, productivity monitoring, salary benchmarking, sick-leave and the use of temporary staff.

In his submission under rule 14 of the States of Guernsey's rules of procedure, he said he understood there were situations where "new employees have been left alone in the office with only a manual for support, while colleagues work remotely - creating a poor first impression and contributing to early disengagement".

He goes on to state that he has heard there is "inadequate training or support" for new starters, "no IT setup on arrival", "no structured training plan or timeline" and "offices empty due to managers working remotely".

P&R has 15 clear days to respond to the questions.