Copyright smh
Working from home is one of the significant changes flowing from the COVID-19 years. While considerable benefits are claimed, including reduced commuting and increased productivity, there are also downsides. It is a new Australian workplace phenomenon that has certainly polarised opinion. Corporate Australia is gradually coming on board, but perhaps reflecting earlier business attitudes to working from home, former opposition leader Peter Dutton came a-cropper when he promised to dump home working arrangements for public servants, and was quickly forced to dump the policy as a “mistake” during the election campaign. And while Premier Chris Minns has stood firm, ordering NSW public sector workers to increase their in-office attendance in August last year, his Victorian counterpart, Jacinta Allan, is pushing for a two-day guarantee to make working from home a right for both public and private sector workers. Meanwhile, some regard working from home as a sort of panacea and the Fair Work ruling will undoubtedly be adopted as part of the playbook of people who want coverage extended to many other workers. The Fair Work Commission’s absurd ruling on the Westpac worker, predicated on the bank allowing the woman to work remotely for the four years since she bought her new house, is a blinkered finding that ignores the reality that very few, if any, major Australian employers publicly called an end to WFH when the coronavirus threat receded.
