CBA accused of bullying staff with its edict demanding staff return to the office

The Finance Sector Union says the Commonwealth Bank’s decision to discipline or cut bonuses from workers who breach return-to-office rules is outrageous.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano. Picture: Hollie Adams

The Commonwealth Bank will discipline and cut the bonuses of workers who breach return-to-the-office rules, a move described as bullying by the Finance Sector Union (FSU).

The country’s biggest bank has told staff that they will be sent warning letters, culminating in a reduction of bonus payments and a formal warning if they continue to flout rules requiring them to spend at least 50 per cent of their time in the office.

“While the majority of our people are meeting the expectation, we continue to see some patterns of attendance that are falling short,” CBA said an email to staff.

“This email is to advise you that you have one or more team members who did not meet their connection expectation at least once between June and September 2024.”

The email goes on to warn staff that from this month, “office connection” will be reviewed on a month-by-month basis over a rolling 12-month period.

When employees don’t meet office attendance rules, they will initially be sent an email with information about the bank’s expectations. If it happens on a second occasion, they will receive a formal letter of direction.

Further infractions will impact on bonus remuneration and the employee’s performance rating followed by a final formal written warning.

The move by CBA, which introduced the 50 per cent rule in 2023, reflects growing impatience within corporate Australia that workers are clinging to the work-from-home flexibility provided during the pandemic. Tabcorp, the NSW government, Amazon and Flight Centre have mandated its employees return to the office five days a week as a permanent default position.

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano said the email was a “shameful admission” that flexibility was all one way with the CBA.

“Despite lauding itself as the most technologically advanced bank, and spending billions on technology so that customers are increasingly being forced to self service, the bank is demanding staff act as if technology and flexibility doesn’t exist,” Ms Angrisano said.

“If this email is confirmation that face-to-face engagement is so important to the bank, we look forward to the CBA reopening the bank branches they took from customers.”

CBA wants workers to spend at least 50 per cent of their time working from the office.

Ms Angrisano said there had been no consultation with workers about the new edict, which happened only a week after CEO Matt Comyn acknowledged the work of employees towards its record profit.

“Matt Comyn also received a hefty wage increase despite the company receiving the highest ever penalty for wage theft,” she said.

CBA was fined $10.3m this year after the Fair Work Ombudsman secured a win against the lender following the underpayment of thousands of staff for several years.

“Many CBA workers can barely afford to pay their rent, earning little more than minimum wage and now having to face additional expenses with travelling to work,” Ms Angrisano said.

“Linking performance outcomes to office attendance is punitive and pushing workers with threats reflects the very worst of big business as a bully and not the national icon the Commonwealth Bank likes to tell communities it still represents.

“Threatening workers with disciplinary action including a final formal written warning is outrageous.”

She said the union would seek an urgent meeting of members to discuss how its responds to this decision.

A CBA spokesman said “building and growing strong teams was fundamental to delivering an outstanding service for our customers”.

“In 2023 we set an expectation that our office-based employees will attend the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time each month and most of our people are meeting that expectation,” the spokesman said.

“For the small number of people who, for different reasons, have difficulty complying with this expectation, we seek to understand their individual situation and to balance their needs with those of the organisation and our customer priorities.”

CBA said it provided flexibility for staff and leaders to adjust the number of days they work from home week to week.

Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan last month said he expected staff in the office five days a week, putting an end to the Covid-era work-from-home phenomenon for the wagering giant’s 1000-plus employees.

Staff have been told the default position is to be in the office but there is flexibility if someone needed to work from home for a particular reason.

Mr McLachlan told the company’s annual general meeting this week that “people are coming back into the office and we are focused on accountability and speed of decision making”.