New work-from-home guidance for public service

The Government wants to see more public servants come into their place of work each day and is taking steps to make this expectation clear to Chief Executives, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says.

“Updated guidance for the public service will make clear that working from home is not an entitlement and must be agreed and monitored,” Ms Willis says.

“While carefully defined working from home arrangements can benefit workers and employers, if the pendulum swings too far in favour of working from home, there are downsides for employers and employees. That's even before we consider the effects for the CBD retailers, restaurants and cafes.

“There are good reasons why employees have traditionally been physically brought together for work. It allows for face-to-face conversation, the sharing of skills and experience and relationship building. It supports younger and newer employees to observe, learn from and form connections with their more experienced colleagues.

“Many good employers have been taking active steps to ensure their working from home policies are fit for purpose. It’s time the Government did the same.

“I have asked the Public Service Commissioner to immediately communicate the Government’s expectations to public service chief executives and to issue revised guidance about working from home arrangements.

“These guidelines will reinforce our expectation that:

1. working from home arrangements are not an entitlement and should be by agreement between the employee and the employer;
2. working from home arrangements should only be agreed to where they will not compromise the performance of employees and agency objectives, and;
3. agencies must actively monitor the prevalence and impact of working from home agreements, and be able to regularly report to the Public Service Commission about the number and nature of the agreements they have in place.

“Data is not currently being centrally collected by the Public Service Commission regarding the prevalence of working from home arrangements.

“I have asked the Public Service Commission to support agencies to implement the Government’s expectations, including ensuring information about working from home arrangements is captured in a way that allows for easy comparison between agencies.

“I intend to then make this information public in a user-friendly way early next year,” Ms Willis says.