An IR specialist has told a labour law conference that if employees can demonstrate it will not reduce productivity or service, it might become increasingly difficult for employers to validly refuse flexibility requests for four-day working weeks.
A Productivity Commission-convened work from home seminar has heard how employers are managing the challenges of "hybrid workplaces", dealing with potential OHS and management issues and rethinking how they bring people together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned five distinct work-from-home models, according to the authors of a FWC-commissioned study that found formal policies and relatively fixed hours are key to a successful WFH strategy.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
Most negotiations between employers and employees on working from home arrangements will remain outside the formal IR system, according to a new report by the Productivity Commission.
As Telstra continues to bring call centre jobs back onshore and responds to changing needs during the pandemic, it says a new flexible work policy will support "location agnostic" and "hybrid" practices that open up flexibility options for all employees.
Requests by two HR consultancies to extend coronavirus-driven award variations providing more flexibility to work from home have prompted the FWC to expand the window for submissions on its provisional view that the measures should be wound up.
A tribunal has ordered the ACT Government to re-credit more than 200 hours of personal leave to a worker who accused it of discriminating against her on the basis of her parenting responsibilities by refusing to let her start work before 7.30am.
As COVID-19 amplifies pressure for workers to have greater rights to "disconnect" outside of working hours, the Irish Government has asked its Workplace Relations Commission to develop a code of practice to promote the practice.
