Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed an examination of the productivity benefits of working from home following revelations the government is looking into the obstacles preventing workplaces from tapping into the phenomenon.
Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood said remote work was not a drag on productivity and, if managed well, could benefit the economy after both Albanese and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said there were examples of it boosting efficiency.
In a review instigated by Burke, the Fair Work Commission is investigating whether working-from-home rights should be incorporated into industrial awards that cover millions of Australians, inflaming the tug-of-war between bosses and employees over returning to the office and drawing fire from the federal opposition.
Speaking at a press conference in Sydney, Albanese said while the appropriateness of working from home depended on the job, for many people it provided flexibility as well as improvements in productivity, which the government is determined to boost.
“Rather than spending up to three hours – many people travel an hour and a half each way to and from work – that activity can be done more productively,” Albanese said, adding working from home had been positive for working parents.
“I think what we need to do is look for win-win. We need to look where it’s appropriate, where it boosts productivity, where it is helpful.”
On Thursday, Wood said remote work offered productivity benefits for workers by slashing commutes while providing greater hiring opportunities for employers.
She noted a Committee for Economic Development of Australia finding that remote working opportunities since the pandemic had benefited women with young children and people with disabilities.
“I’m not at all panicked that this is going to be a long-term drag [on productivity]. I think how we manage it matters … but if we can get it right and if business can find that sweet spot, I think, if anything, there’s upside,” she said at CEDA’s economic and policy outlook forum.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said the working from home arrangements had been negotiated by unions with many major companies “and is now a norm in many industries”.
But Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the Fair Work review posed “a clear risk of regulatory overreach and intrusion” into how businesses and their employees organised themselves.
“At risk is flexibility and productivity, which make Australia more competitive and its workforce better positioned for sustainable wage increases,” Willox said.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry director of workplace relations Jessica Tinsley said working from home a large proportion of the time was going to hit productivity rates, “and good team culture is hard to achieve through a Zoom link”.
“We really need to inject some commonsense into the work-from-home debate,” she said.
Earlier this month, Labor passed contentious right-to-disconnect legislation to protect workers who ignored bosses’ contact after hours, prompting a backlash from businesses and the opposition, which vowed to wind them back if the Coalition won the next election.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused the government of presiding over a union wish list.
“Flexibility is fine for workers, and we encourage that. But, in the end, we have to be careful that the Albanese government just doesn’t side with the union on every occasion,” he said at a press conference in Sydney.
Both Albanese and Burke said no legislation was being proposed about working from home, however, Burke told Sky News on Thursday there were situations where remote work was mutually beneficial for employers and employees.
“So when you’ve got those common interests, then of course you should do it,” he said.
“But what you want to make sure is that where you’ve got those common interests, that you don’t end up with barriers in the award system that prevents something that the employer and the employee both want to happen from being able to progress.”
Burke said he was having discussions with his department about whether any barriers got in the way of such arrangements.
“On the other side of that, a whole lot of practical ways of working that we had thought might be impossible, we’re now starting to see ways of that operating really effectively,” he said.
“[There’s] plenty of examples where it has been a way of improving productivity, often for businesses. Sometimes it means they’re not paying for the same amount of desk space at their own premises, which can be a significant benefit for some employers.”
Several companies have struck workplace agreements with their staff that include working-from-home provisions. But for others it continues to be a point of contention in bargaining and broader office culture, as some bosses try to mandate a minimum number of days in the office.
ANZ Bank, Suncorp, and Origin Energy are among the major companies to tie remuneration to office attendance for some staff.
Stanford University Economics Professor Nicholas Bloom said he expected to see a “Nike swoosh” in remote working, which had dropped off since the pandemic, over the next three to five years.
“Why? Because the technology is getting better. The technology to support work from home is improving pretty rapidly,” he told the CEDA forum.
