‘More than reasonable’: Aussies react to bank boss’ leaked work-from-home admission

A leaked video of Bendigo Bank’s boss urging staff to come back into the office just two days a week has sparked heated debate.

A leaked video of Bendigo Bank’s boss urging staff to come back into the office two days per week for their own “mental health” has reignited the debate over working from home policies.

On Wednesday, news.com.au revealed comments by Marnie Baker about the company’s return-to-office mandate during an internal livestream, where she conceded “it’s not about productivity” and outlined the personal and professional benefits of face-to-face interaction.

“This is about our own mental health, this is about the fact that we are a relationship bank and we talk about our relationships with our customers and communities,” she told the meeting.

While one staff member told news.com.au his mental health had taken a “massive downturn” at being ordered back to the office, and the Finance Sector Union urged Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to treat staff with respect and take their wishes into account, many readers supported Ms Baker’s position.

In a poll of 10,000 readers, just under three quarters said asking staff to come into the office two days per week was a reasonable request.

“Two days a week is more than reasonable,” one woman wrote on Facebook.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank MD Marnie Baker. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

Another said, “My son’s work told him he needed to be in the office at least three days a week, at first he was reluctant but going in to work has made a huge improvement to his mental health. It may not make a difference to everyone, but it certainly does for many others.”

A third commented, “I think this [is] completely acceptable, I have a working from home here and the isolation from the workplace is appalling. It is definitely a good idea to get out and mix in a face-to-face environment. More cohesive for good company operations.”

One woman said she would “choose working in the office any day over being at home”.

“I travel 42km each way for work and I’d go further if I had to,” she said.

“Working from home over Covid was a novelty but my mental health went downhill big time. A boss is well within their right to tell you to come back to the office, especially if that is the original condition in which you were employed pre-Covid. It was OK then so why not now?”

Some said they were getting “sick and tired” of the debate and the “entitled” attitude of those not wanting to return to the office.

“Sorry if the boss said come to work you go to work or find another job,” one wrote.

Another agreed, “If it wasn’t for Covid you would still be working in the office! I agree with these CEO’s, people are much more productive in the office. Working from home is code for bludging from home.”

‘Two days a week is more than reasonable.’ Picture: Monique Harmer

But many were still on team work-from-home.

One reader slammed Ms Baker’s “straw man argument” about mental health.

“It’s condescending and utterly ignorant of the fact that many people working from home actually engage more in their local community — real communities as opposed to the artificial communities in workplaces,” they said.

“This leads to much stronger and much more healthy relationships than what can ever exist in an environment that has to pay you money for you to be present. Many workplaces — including the banks have a physical set up which grossly inhibits productivity and mental health. Just look on these open-plan floors at how many people are wearing noise-cancelling headphones … just so they can focus on their job.”

Another argued seeing their children grow up and “being more present (being able to kick a ball with my son after school) has done more for my mental health than anything else”.

“My co-workers are not family, they’re not friends,” they said.

Is it time to get back into the office? Picture: Brisbane Incident Alerts

“I get nothing out of being around them. And I like my co-workers, but they can’t make me happy like my family can. Commuting I would see my kids maybe max one hour a day on the weekdays. The truth is most of the people so vocally opposed to remote work seem to be older people (Boomer age or close to it) or people who have marital problems and don’t want to be at home with their loved ones. I don’t hate my family, so I love being at home with them.”

In a statement to news.com.au on Wednesday, Ms Baker said Bendigo and Adelaide Bank “understands the way our people work has changed, with many embracing working remotely and the flexibility it provides in creating work-life balance”.

“We continue to support a hybrid way of working,” she said.

“Connection and relationships are at the heart of who we are and how we work. Being together and working side-by-side helps us build relationships across the business, create a vibrant culture, and leads to better opportunities for us to collaborate, innovate, and learn.”

She added, “Our people have told us having the opportunity to work remotely some of the time enables them to better balance their working and home lives. In line with this, we have asked senior leaders across the business to be in the office the majority of the time and other staff two days a week.”

Originally published as ‘More than reasonable’: Aussies react to bank boss’ leaked work-from-home admission