Working from home/telecommuting page 3 of 6

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in record numbers of people working from home, but the latest Hilda Survey suggests the period might not serve as a reliable indicator of productivity and job satisfaction levels for those who are not forced into it.

The Senate Work and Care inquiry's Labor and Greens majority is urging the Albanese Government to move swiftly to consider a right to disconnect, make flexibility requests an enforceable right and provide "roster justice" by ensuring workers with variable hours have predictability and certainty, in a 152-page interim report tabled this afternoon.

In a detailed examination of a major government department's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court has rejected union claims that a hastily-conceived working from home policy breached existing arrangements and consultation requirements.

Union members have this week endorsed a 6%-a-year bargaining claim that has now been served on the ABC.

Many workers would forgo a pay rise of up to 10% to secure more say in where and when they work, according to a study that says the Fair Work Act is failing to keep up with flexible practices, while other research says WFH employees save an average of $10,000 a year.

The FWC has observed that a Victorian worker's application to work full-time from home under flexible work arrangements was largely motivated by her opposition to COVID-19 vaccinations, in upholding her employer's refusal of her request.

A university supervisor's rejection of an academic's five-year work-from-home application and his repeated "advice" about how to use students' work to reach research targets did not constitute bullying, the FWC has held.

The FWC has taken the National Audit Office to task for revoking permission for a veteran public servant "at increased risk" from COVID-19 to work from home and then sacking her after she refused to return to Canberra while she cared for her dying uncle at their second residence.

Victoria's Andrews Labor Government will later this week remove its longstanding COVID-19 public health recommendation to work from home if possible, after a big drop in virus-related hospitalisations and a substantial rise in vaccination third-doses.

The "no enhancements" clause in the Federal public sector's bargaining policy could stymie the adoption of WFH provisions in Australian Public Service enterprise agreements, according to the CPSU's national secretary.