Liberals, companies tread lightly over Allan’s work-from-home plan

Victorian Liberals and major employers are treading lightly on the issue of legal work-from-home protections, following Premier Jacinta Allan’s proposal on Saturday to enshrine the out-of-office work arrangements as a right.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin said the state government’s announcement was short on detail when it came to how new legislation would work and whom it would apply to.

He denied the state Liberals were yet to take a strong stance on working-from-home legislation because of the damage done to Peter Dutton’s federal election campaign when Dutton publicly opposed hybrid work arrangements for public servants earlier this year.

“It’s up to the premier right now to explain exactly what legislation they’re going to change and how this is going to be a state issue versus a federal issue,” Battin said.

“But we’ve said continuously ... the hybrid working model is something that we will be looking at, and I think it gives an opportunity for a fairer work-life balance and continuing the productivity we need here in the state.”

Allan unveiled a proposal at the Labor Party state conference to give employees legal protection to work remotely two days a week, in a move that is being closely watched by the nation’s businesses.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet will lead consultation on the path towards legal protections for working from home, five years after COVID-19 lockdowns forced employees out of the office.

Policies on the issue have been ad hoc since then, depending on the various industries, companies, and type of work performed. Working from home was back in the spotlight when Dutton was forced into a retreat on the issue during the federal election campaign in April.

Dutton had initially said that under a Coalition government public servants would be forced to return to the office, fuelling public anxiety about the Coalition’s handling of the workplace and the economy.

The normalisation of hybrid work arrangements in offices and the lack of legal clarity surrounding them has created a patchwork of rules and norms for employees and employers alike.

Melbourne-based businesses offered muted responses to Allan’s planned state-level reforms. Banks ANZ and National Australia Bank refused to comment.

As recently as May, NAB told staff they would need to be in the office three days a week, with managers coming in four days a week. The bank said it was moving towards an “office-based working model”, according to internal documents reported on by The Australian Financial Review.

Mining giant BHP said it already had a hybrid working model at its corporate offices.

“Our recommendation is for office-based workers to spend at least three days together in the office per week,” the company said, describing this as a good balance supporting face-to-face interactions while providing flexibility to work remotely.

Telstra had no comment. It has had a policy of supporting flexible working arrangements that pre-dated COVID lockdowns.

“Flexibility applies to every role at Telstra, and with more than 20,000 people across 22 countries, Telstra’s strategy is to expand its global footprint,” the company’s career page says.

A standardised view of working from home is elusive. Employers and employees are divided about the benefits, with 86 per cent of employers believing “it is a challenge to balance employee wellbeing with an increase in productivity”, according to a poll of 1500 hiring managers and employees conducted for the Robert Half talent agency.

The same poll revealed 63 per cent of employees “believe hybrid work has a positive impact on their productivity levels”. The November 2024 survey found 40 per cent of employers planned to impose in-office days to “increase productivity”. Yet 30 per cent of employees polled said working in the office full-time had a negative impact on their productivity.

Nicole Gorton, an executive recruitment director at Robert Half, said the issue of hybrid work had evolved since people began working from home during the pandemic.

“Companies have already decided there is a hybrid work style for the majority of organisations,” Gorton said. “For every organisation, it’s slightly nuanced.”

Regarding a possible law change in Victoria, Gorton said: “Companies have already put [policies] in place, so I don’t think it will make that much difference.”

Since federal law typically governs workplace rules for private businesses, Allan has said the state government may consider multiple legislative options to protect working-from-home rights, including an extension of the Equal Opportunity Act.

For some industries, the impact of the proposed law change in Victoria would be minimal.

Most of Virgin Australia’s work requires on-site attendance, with the bulk of its corporate offices outside of Victoria. Corporate team members already work under a hybrid model.

Qantas had no comment. Westpac and Commonwealth Bank also had no comment.

The Finance Sector Union praised Allan’s plan, saying working from home “shouldn’t be a privilege, but a right”.

National assistant secretary Nicole McPherson said the premier’s proposed changes “should be a wake-up call to Australian banks”, citing NAB, which had “moved to increase office attendance without consulting with its workforce and their union.

“The finance sector has the technology and types of work that make flexible working for many workers not just possible, but easy,” she said.

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