The "labour productivity bubble" that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic can provide lessons for the future, and hybrid working can be more beneficial to productivity than wholly working from home or the workplace, according to a new Productivity Commission report.
Just 6% of clerical workers who seek WFH arrangements are knocked back by their employer, according to a new Swinburne University study commissioned by the FWC as part of the work from home test case.
The Ai Group has hinted at a potential "consensus" in a FWC-initiated case with economy-wide implications to consider inserting WFH provisions in the clerks award, while expressing concern that it would be "unfair" to require submissions ahead of results of a survey on the issue, with the tribunal now persuaded to ditch the deadline and hold a conference.
Nine in 10 women responding to a major CPSU survey say it is "very important" to be able to work from home and those who do are more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance, while the ACTU says Coalition plans to force public servants back to the office if it wins government will hurt productivity and women's job opportunities.
The FWC has overruled an employer's resistance to a working parent's request to work an extra day a fortnight at home to care for his toddler daughter until she reaches two years of age, while rejecting its claims that it would set a precedent for the remainder of its workforce.
In rare flexibility orders won by an ANMF organiser who moved 500km from the office after experiencing domestic violence, the FWC has temporarily blocked the union from requiring her to work more than three nights per fortnight away from home and directed it to count travel time as work time between certain hours for the first half of the school year.
A leading IR barrister says few employers are equipped to deal with the "huge sleeper issue" posed by the rise of working from home, as it becomes increasingly difficult to order employees to return, but he does not believe more legislation is the answer.
JobKeeper-like wage subsidies should be part of a government's "toolkit" for future pandemics, but "blanket" early access to superannuation should be taken off the table, according to the independent inquiry into Australia's response to COVID-19.
The FWC's bid to develop an award clause removing impediments to working from home looks to be a slow burn, with a hearing likely next June following a possible employee survey.
FWC president Adam Hatcher will convene a directions hearing next month into the Commission's own-initiative case to develop a "workable" award clause that removes impediments to working from home.
