Last week, a chap called Kashim Chowdhury, described as a senior civil servant, appeared in court charged with a most unusual fraud.
He was accused of holding down three (yes three) full-time government jobs simultaneously. I presume working from home played a role. Mr Chowdhury, 54, denies the charges, but what is clear is that working from home has opened up a whole new world for the idle and the cunning.
Take this almost unbelievable story from The Times concerning a social worker. She managed to get herself employed for the same hours at both Hampshire County Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, but was caught on while on a Teams video call with Hampshire staff, where she was heard on an unmuted microphone answering a call saying: ‘"Hi, you’re through to Southend Children’s Services."
You will be delighted to learn she was fired from both jobs. The jobs were 119 miles apart! It will come as no surprise to discover it’s an offence to falsely disclose that it’s your sole employment when it isn’t.
There has been a surge in employees with two or more full-time jobs without their workplace being aware. Websites have even been set up to advise workers how to juggle employers, while TikTok videos share tips on how to hoodwink bosses into believing they are committed members of the team.
The National Fraud Initiative, set up by the government, had identified 23 cases in London boroughs and discovered £500,000 of overpaid salaries in a few months.
In Croydon, South London, the council has identified a series of red flags which include staff taking a long time to respond to emails (that would be the whole country), not taking holidays, refusing promotions and concerted efforts to avoid scrutiny. Sounds like Ed Miliband. Interesting that it’s civil servants and social workers who have been the early adopters of any scams.
It’s the W in working from home that I don’t agree with. There is simply less work being done than when in the office. That game of tennis is too attractive. The kids could do with being picked up from school. Let’s do the weekly shop in company time.
A long natter with mum will be nice. None of this is possible in the office. In the office there there is pressure on you as an employee to deliver for your pay. When nobody is looking over your shoulder, that pressure disappears.
I quite understand that it’s cheaper and you certainly get home more quickly from work by never leaving the house, but an element of tension is important to produce productivity.
A council employee holding down two full-time jobs is not magic. It's fraud. WFH must stop - Kelvin Mackenzie
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And I am positive that WFH will damage productivity. Very few have the work ethic, which means they can work very hard when not forced not to do so.
Take the situation at the miscarriage of justice watchdog, the Criminal Case Review Commission. That’s a very important job.
Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in jail for a rape he didn’t commit but had the watchdog done their job properly when fresh DNA evidence was made available, he would have been released eight years earlier.
Anyway, the boss of the commission has revealed that senior managers, including her, only go into the office one or two days every couple of months.
She revealed this to the justice committee of MPs, so you can be absolutely sure that she would have put a spin on the number. If she were in one day every couple of months, I would be astonished. And come the summer, I imagine they don’t bother at all. If the boss isn’t coming in, why should the workforce bother?
A final tip comes from one fraud investigator who said bosses should look out for if an employee doesn’t switch their camera on during a meeting, as it may mean they are working from another office. Incredible. And very worrying for the future of our country.
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