The plan to legislate working from home on some days has received strong opposition from some of Australia’s leading chief executives amid concerns on workplace culture.
The Australian’s annual CEO survey revealed how top business leaders felt about the plan, which employees strongly support.
Ryan Stokes, CEO of SGH, told the survey that remote work “should not become an employee entitlement,” The Australian reported.
Nick Hawkins, CEO of IAG, expressed concern that it may be “difficult to cultivate culture remotely.”
Andrew Irvine, CEO of NAB, added that building a “strong, cohesive culture requires people to be together,” according to The Australian’s report.
Legislating work from home
Their opinions come amid proposed legislation in Victoria that aims to allow employees to work from home at least twice a week.
A Senate inquiry will also be carried out by the Senate on a WFH bill pushed by the Australian Greens, which aims to give employees the right to request working from home for up to two days a week.
Employers, under the Greens’ plan, will also be mandated to consider reasonable adjustments that could accommodate WFH requests before rejecting them.
But Robert Spurway, CEO of GrainCorp, told The Australian’s annual survey that a government-mandated WFH requirements risk becoming “too rigid.”
“A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t reflect the diversity of Australia’s workforce,” Spurway said as quoted by The Australian.
Hybrid work in Australia
Hybrid work remains a popular work arrangement in the country, but a Robert Half poll earlier this year revealed that 15% of employers are planning to increase the mandated number of in-office days in the near future.
Pushback on WFH stems from leaders’ concerns about productivity. According to Robert Half’s poll, 45% of employers said their employees are more productive if they are in the office full-time.
More than a third of employers also cite a desire to improve communication (39%), strengthen company culture (37%), and enhance in-person collaboration (35%) as key reasons for seeking a mandate for full-time office attendance.
But a recent Productivity Commission report already concluded that WFH has not contributed to the decline in the country’s productivity since the pandemic.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the trend towards hybrid working has contributed to the productivity loss phase of the productivity bubble,” it said earlier this year.
Source – https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/benefits/ceos-oppose-plan-to-legislate-wfh/559902