Westpac’s loss at the Fair Work Commission over a staff member’s request to permanently work from home has been described as a warning to bosses that they must be prepared to justify why they require certain workers to come into the office. 

 

The warning comes after a Westpac worker, who moved hours away to be close to her children’s school, successfully challenged the bank’s office attendance policy

 

The woman had been approved for flexible work conditions but in January, Westpac reversed this, requiring her to comply with the company policy of working at least two days per week in an office.

 

Responding to the decision, Westpac said “we believe our current approach of 2 -3 days per week in the office strikes the right balance for our people and customers.”

 

Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano told The Age working from home “is a right, not a privilege” and that the decision “paves the way for workers who have caring responsibilities to secure work from home rights”.

Meantime, new research from Roy Morgan reveals that over 6.7 million Australians, representing 46 per cent of employed Australians, work from home at least some of the time paid or unpaid. The remaining 54 per cent work entirely in-person.

 

Australians living in capital cities are more likely to ‘work from home’ than those who live in regional areas.  

 

In contrast to the big cities, regional areas show lower adoption of working from home, ranging from 31 per cent to 40 per cent across all states and territories.