The move was approved by councillors but ditched after three months.
The “out-of-office” day was among a number of management targets set out in a leaked confidential document.
Ged Curran, the chief executive on a salary of £215,546 last year, is also supposed to “demonstrate capacity to lead change and develop an organisation”.
On top of this, Merton council in south-west London expects him to “develop and manage the organisation as it reduces in size by a third” while maintaining “personal perspective and self-knowledge”.
As the council’s 4,000 employees face extensive redundancies, critics have questioned the effectiveness of the targets and called for greater transparency. The council is run by a Labour minority administration.
Stephen Alambritis, the council leader, could not give an example of what Mr Curran did on his “out-of-office” days. He said they were initially agreed in April, but stopped in July.
Mr Alambritis said: “He needs time to think and time to see what other boroughs are doing without the pressure of deadlines and meetings.
“It was decided by the four party leaders that this particular target should be removed because we are living in tough economic times.
“But he needs time to research and to think of innovative ways of running the council. That might include looking at what best practice is abroad or in other countries.”
Mr Alambritis and the other party leaders sets the performance targets and reviews them every April.
Richard Hilton a Conservative councillor, questioned how the chief executive could be measured on such targets.
“I raised this issue because many of my colleagues had raised concerns about whether the council was doing enough to drive through efficiency,” he said. “Frankly I was surprised when I saw them. Is this really the sort of advice the chief executive is being given? Ultimately that’s a question for the council leader.”
Mr Curran received a total pay packet of £215,546 last financial year.
His pay had been frozen in line with the previous year, when he received a rise of £17,260.
A council spokesman said Mr Curran worked on five days out of the office between April and September, on an “ad hoc” basis. But she would not say where he spent his time.
“He worked on a variety of topics including localism, shared services and changing approaches to caring for the vulnerable elderly,” she said.
Robert Oxley, the campaign manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers write Merton council’s chief executive a hefty pay cheque each month — they are entitled to know what he is expected to do for that sizeable sum.
“The published objectives need to be robust and quantifiable, otherwise this is a pointless
PR exercise.”
As part of Mr Curran’s job description, the council says it is his responsibility to ensure all staff “understand and adhere to the organisation’s strategic aims”.
Council chief executive 'given time at home to think' - Telegraph
Council chief executive 'given time at home to think'
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