Public sector pay deals to spread more generous WFH terms

Workers in a key Australian sector may enjoy more generous rights to work from home after a vote set to take place next week.

Workers in the public sector may enjoy more generous rights to work from home after a vote set to take place next week.

The potential change in conditions will affect up to 85,000 employees in Services Australia, the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Taxation Office, The Australian reports. That’s more than half of the federal public sector, which employs 170,000 people.

The “working from home” clause, which is expected to be approved by the relevant workers, will ditch requirements that employees only work from home for two or three days a week.

The Australian’s reporting suggests government agencies will be required to consider written requests to work from home on a case-by-case basis, with an advised “bias towards approving requests”.

The deal would involve a “bias” towards approving requests to work from home. Picture: iStock

There are grounds upon which to refuse such requests, including the cost, a negative impact on customer service, or a significant loss in efficiency or productivity.

If a worker’s request is rejected, they will be able to appeal to the Fair Work Commission.

In a statement to the newspaper, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the commission was examining “barriers” and “rules” that “prevent people from being able to do some of their work at home”.

“If that’s the case, then that would get in the way of where you’ve got mutual benefit (and) common interests between employees and employers,” Mr Burke said.

Tony Burke. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

Meanwhile, major changes being considered by the Fair Work Commission could lead to millions more Australians having the right to work from home.

The watchdog is examining whether flexible work arrangements could be a legal entitlement. It comes a month after new laws were passed allowing workers to ignore calls and texts from their bosses after work hours.

About 2.2 million workers on award wages could be impacted by the findings of the review, which is also looking at a range of other workplace issues, and is likely to infuriate business groups opposed to the federal government’s sweeping workplace reforms.

The review will make recommendations to the federal government, which will then consider the findings and put changes to legislation to parliament accordingly.

Speaking on that subject, Mr Burke said there were plenty of examples that show working from home brings a “mutual benefit” to both workers and employers, and urged businesses to be open to discussions.

“It makes sense that the Fair Work Commission is saying okay, let’s check and work through submissions and see how that fits through the awards system,” he said.

WFH has been more common since the pandemic. Picture: iStock

Currently, about 37 per cent of Australians work from home on a regular basis, according to the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, down slightly from the levels we saw in 2022.

Workers do not currently have a general right or entitlement to work from home in Australia, but can request to work from home under certain conditions if they have been with their employer for at least a year.

Research from the Melbourne Institute shows that the majority of Australian workers want the right to work from home at least partially, with 60 per cent happy with a hybrid work arrangement, in which they work from both home and in the office.

Quizzed about the possibility of new work from home laws, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said remote working was a positive development to have come out of the Covid pandemic, particularly for working mothers.

But he warned against workplaces using a “one size fits all” approach.

“I think that it is important, from at least time to time that people gather in one place so they can have that social interaction,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said that while he supported flexibility for workers, he held concerns about the impact decreased productivity would have on the economy.

“We have to be careful that the Albanese government just doesn’t side with the unions on every occasion, because all that happens is if the price of wages go up too dramatically in an inflationary environment you will end up with much higher prices for consumers,” Mr Dutton said.

Earlier, Liberal Senator James Paterson argued it should be up to workers and businesses to make arrangements as to whether someone should work from home full-time.

“For employers and employees to work together, there are some types of work where working from home works really well for both the business and employees – and not the type of work that because of the nature of it is inherent that you turn up to the office,” he said.

A discussion paper released by Fair Work in January pointed to evidence showing that remote work did not impede on workers’ overall productivity levels, instead suggesting that it gives carers and parents more time to juggle the demands of home and work.

The paper said remote working did raise many challenges for employers, however, including making it more difficult for bosses to facilitate on-the-job mentoring and initiate “spontaneous collaboration”.

“Improved flexibility as to when and where people work may also create ambiguity as to when workers can disconnect from work, which can impact on wellbeing,” it said.

– with NCA NewsWire