Here in my office on a quiet Manchester morning, with the air surprisingly warm beneath a gunmetal sky, the conditions are ripe for making inroads into a pile of paperwork. Beyond my window, the city feels sluggish. With schools out for summer, the roads are quieter. Manchester’s legendary verve and vibrancy have clearly been mothballed for the holiday period.
WFH – working from holiday, that is – is counterintuitive
All of which, you might think, would create the perfect environment for our Prime Minister – just two weeks into the job – to make the most of long weekends up here and power through his formidable in-tray. (He has pledged to work in Manchester every Friday and has a family home on the outskirts of Wigan).
Surely the tranquillity would offer an opportunity to focus on dealing with the demands of his fledgling premiership: not least how to pay for a raft of uncosted policies, end rough sleeping, stem the flow of illegal immigration into the UK, tackle Britain’s spiralling welfare bill and more?
But no. It appears that Number 10 Oop North has become Number 10 Up Sticks. Since Andy Burnham is off on his holidays. Given at his coronation he proclaimed we are a nation “fed up” with a revolving door of leaders, the departure lounge of Manchester airport – or wherever – clearly didn’t factor into his noble vision.
Despite the packing of the Prime Ministerial Speedos, officials state Burnham will remain in direct contact during his overseas trip and continue meetings, ensuring the government functions normally.
But here lies a contradiction about governing from a sun lounger. WFH – working from holiday, that is – is counterintuitive, the terms mutually exclusive since it’s impossible to deliver the same quality of work on vacation. The salty warmth of the sea air, the winking blue of the pool or the heavy feel of last night’s paella hardly conspire to ensure the brain is match fit for focusing on emails, meetings, or deadlines. Anyway, how can Mr Burnham ‘rewire’ Britain if 4G – in some places – is a suggestion rather than an option?
Indeed research from Harvard University shows that working on weekends or holidays can have a significant impact on motivation, leading to both lower employee satisfaction rates and a lower quality work product.
No surprise on holiday, when you’re surrounded by jolly folk, blushed lobster pink and flushed with many – many – mojitos.
In fact, seeing fellow holidaymakers maximise time away surely exerts a magnetic pull to join them. So ultimately you’re neither productive nor relaxed.
Arguably it might be slightly different for those who are self-employed, since not answering an email or turning down a job means a real and immediate loss of income. My husband, a chartered accountant and confessed workaholic who runs his own firm, is unflinching about staying in touch because people depend on him. But he is not attempting to run the country from beneath a sombrero. Nor could he simply hand over responsibility to someone else in the way Burnham has by effectively leaving Louise Haigh in charge (although that might not be such a bad thing).
From my own experience as a freelance journalist working for myself, I know that doing any genuinely productive work while on holiday requires a monumental effort. Believe me, I have tried – many times. Often I’ve found it impossible to switch from idling over an Ouzo and gazing out to sea, to firing up the laptop and forcing myself into work mode.
Earlier this year, thanks to the Iranian war, I found myself ‘stranded’ in Thailand for two weeks at the end of a family holiday. So technically I was back on the clock. Yet I still found it difficult to get motivated. The resort was lovely (and cheap), the beach sandy and expansive. Meanwhile a voice in my ear repeatedly murmured I’d be sorry if I didn’t make the most of this unexpected time away . Not least when I was back home in some miserable supermarket self-checkout queue.
Inevitably there has been gale force criticism from Burnham detractors for going away so soon after acquiring the top job. Reform’s Lee Anderson has accused the Prime Minister of bunking off for a jolly abroad, storming that Burnham ‘isn’t a prime minister that’s serious about leading.’
Beefing the case for the prosecution is feeble mitigation from aides who apparently felt Burnham should press ahead with plans for a holiday after a ‘gruelling’ by-election and subsequent campaign to secure the keys to Number 10 (north and south). However, if this is the case and Andy Burnham has already become Andy Burnout, then how does that square with plans to stay wired to the needs of the country and run government business while away? More significantly if he can’t hack the pace, why is he even PM?
It’s not yet clear where Andy Burnham has gone for his holiday. But whether Tenerife or Tennessee it won’t matter. The case for ‘wish you were here’ – even if you’re not a fan – couldn’t be any clearer.
As for whether the PM be able to do any meaningful government business on holiday? Answers on a postcard.
