Larger employers contacted by this masthead said they would not change their existing work policies. Some such as the Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank said they would retain existing hybrid policies that require staff to visit the office a set number of days each week. Others,such as tech firms Atlassian and Canva and accounting giants Deloitte,KPMG,EY and PwC,said they would maintain complete flexibility.
Some small- and medium-sized firms contacted by this masthead have indefinitely loosened return-to-work policies that had required workers be in the office for a minimum number of days.
Workplace strategy and design consultancy director Angela Ferguson said her 20 employees were earlier this year asked to come into the office three days a week,with Thursday as the designated all-in day,until about two weeks ago.
Now,there is no expectation to come into the office at all. “With the number of cases – and not just of COVID,but of influenza – we’ve just asked people to monitor their symptoms,and if they’re feeling unwell in any way,to work from home,” Ferguson toldThe Heraldand The Age.
Occupancy levels have hovered around 20-30 per cent over the last 10 days,Ferguson estimates.
“We definitely don’t support that presenteeism that people have,” she said. “We don’t want[employees] to think,‘I have to be in three days’. We really want them to look after themselves and look after the people around them.”