Aussie betting giant Tabcorp scraps work from home arrangements, orders staff back to office five days a week

Another major Australian company has forced staff back into the office full time – just days after Amazon made a similar announcement.

Tabcorp has ordered staff back into the office for a full five day work week as part of a company reset, just days after Amazon.

The betting giant’s executive leadership team broke the news in a memo to staff, with the change effective immediately.

“What this means is that all office-based team members should work in the office, with their team, every day of their working week,” the memo stated.

“This is a really important step change – we are resetting Tabcorp. Having us together as a team, focused and driving towards our goals will deliver outcomes and success.
“Being connected as a team also drives a winning culture and supports us to collaborate and achieve our best.”

The memo noted the company will remain a “flexible” workplace under the changes.

“At times, you may need to work flexibly, for example starting or finishing work at different times, or working remotely for a day – you should discuss and agree these requirements with your manager. Some of you may have in place and in these cases, nothing changes,” the memo stated.

“To be clear however, your default position is to come into the office every day.

“While these changes are effective immediately, we know that some of you may need time to adjust schedules and routines – that’s fine, we just ask that you work with your manager and do this in the next four weeks.

“This way of working is critical for us. Our commitment to you is to keep building an environment and a winning culture that you want and love being a part of.

“We’re looking forward to seeing more of you and achieving our goals together.”

Tabcorp has ordered staff back to the office. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Staff members were able to work two days from home under the company’s previous direction, however workers will need to report in the office Monday-Friday.

Tabcorp chief executive officer and former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan joined the Tabcorp team in August, with job listings for Tabcorp stating the company is building a “winning culture” under his direction.

“The start of a new, exciting chapter in our long history. We have a dynamic, new CEO in Gillon McLachlan and we’re building a winning culture by bringing our office-based teams together onsite every day,” the listing states.

“We value flexibility — like adjusting start or finish times or working remotely when required — however we believe being together is key to our success.”

The move comes days after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the company will be axing work from home arrangements to “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected … to deliver the absolute best for customers and the business”.

Thousands of Tabcorp staff are expected to be impacted by the decision. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Tabcorp CEO Gillon McLachlan joined the company in August. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant … in summary, we’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another,” Mr Jassy wrote in a memo on September 16.

“Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward — our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances … or if you already have a Remote Work Exception approved through your s-team leader.”

Originally published as Aussie betting giant Tabcorp scraps work from home arrangements, orders staff back to office five days a week