However, companies expressed concern about Allan’s proposal. Flight Center -Equal Director Graham Turner said that many jobs could not be done from home, and he told the staff last year that the standard position for employees would work in the office.
“It ends up being very unequal and non-egalitarian,” he said.
Turner also pointed to the effect of younger people in the workforce who, when working from home, has little opportunity to learn from friends and build relationships.
“[It] Maybe not affecting the public service, but certainly in the private sector, which is very competitive in most areas, you will have a very harmful effect, ”he said.
Business Leaders, including Business Council of Australia Chief Bran Black, urged the Allan government to rethink its plan.
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“If you have a recipe from the government, a very top-down, one-size-pass, all, heavy-handed prescribing approach, you reduce the range to deliver that flexibility … It is, according to our mind, unnecessary and undesirable regulation,” said Black.
The Australian industry group manager Ines Willox also described the legislation as a “political thought bubble”.
“International companies look at this with Askance. Nowhere else in the world has even been considered,” he said.
Not all companies are against the concept. The CEO of the software company’s employment hero Ben Thompson said that the company’s remote first policy since 2020 has been “incredibly positive”.
“We have found the best talent from all over the world and thought it was a more inclusive environment for parents, caregivers, people with disabilities and all outside the CBD bubble,” he said.
A spokeswoman for minister for workplace relationships Amanda Rishworth said that the Albanes government believed that flexible work arrangements favored workers and employers, but gave no indication that it would try to make further changes. The speechwoman did not specifically comment on the campaign policy plan.
“Our safe jobs better wage changes have strengthened access to flexible work arrangements, which means that workers can achieve better balance between working life and employers can benefit from better productivity,” she said.
In 2022, then -workplace minister Tony Burke brought in laws that allow employees to request flexible work according to an amendment to the Fair Work Act.
The changes, which started working in 2023, gave employees further reasons for making inquiries from work from home, for example during pregnancy or when they experienced home violence. Employers must also follow a more detailed procedure that really means trying to reach an agreement with employees.