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Some of Australia’s biggest companies will be legally obliged to allow staff to work from home two days a week after the state government of Victoria said it would pass legislation to enshrine remote working into law.
Melbourne, Victoria’s capital and Australia’s largest city, is home to a number of big employers including BHP, Rio Tinto, ANZ bank, Telstra and some of the nation’s largest pension funds.
The state’s Labor government has proposed a requirement that public and private sector employees will be legally entitled to work remotely for two days a week, where feasible, from September. Small companies will have longer to comply.
“Work from home works for families because it saves time and money, and it gets more parents working,” state premier Jacinta Allan said of the move.
Her government faces an election in November and the move to deliver on a promise to legislate to protect remote working rights will be part of her re-election campaign.
Working from home was a political spark in last year’s national election campaign when the opposition Liberal party pledged to crack down on “unsustainable” remote working patterns in the public sector and force staff to be in the office five days a week.
The move was withdrawn within a month as it proved wildly unpopular with workers.
Victoria’s Liberal opposition has yet to say if they will oppose the new law.
The state’s move comes in the face of a number of business leaders calling for more staff to return to the office. Nuno Matos, who took over as ANZ chief executive last year, said poor office attendance would be reflected in lower bonus payments at the bank.
Business trade bodies have warned that Victoria might cede jobs to other states and said it would set back attempts to combat Australia’s sluggish productivity.
Most large companies already have flexible working arrangements in place but smaller companies may face a tougher task adapting to the proposed new law. Those with fewer than 15 staff will have until July next year to do so.
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Skye Cappuccio, head of the small business trade body Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, said that the new law would add more compliance demands and uncertainty for business owners.
“A one-size-fits-all model simply does not reflect how small businesses operate,” she said. “Many small businesses rely on in-person collaboration, supervision, mentoring and on-the-job training to build skills and maintain productivity.
“Turning work from home into a legally enforceable state-based entitlement, rather than a negotiated arrangement, risks undermining those dynamics,” she added.
