After promising to sack tens of thousands of public servants, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has doubled down on his culture war against workers, particularly women, by promising to end work-from-home arrangements.
Dutton argued that “taxpayers are working harder than ever to pay the bills and housing public servants in Canberra refusing to go to work”.
But data from the shows that 36% of people worked from home last year, down 1 percentage point from the previous year.
claimed on March 3 that “bureaucrats” have been given a “blank cheque to work from home” and are a drain on the public purse.
Hume cited a United States-based Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research paper, saying working from home reduced productivity by about 20%. She said a Coalition government would force all federal public servants to return to the office five days a week, with limited exceptions.
However, the found that “many employers like remote work because it reduces floor space needs, raises productivity, and lowers quits”.
It quoted a December Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes which found that just 44% of employees say they would comply with rules requiring them to work from the office full-time. The rest say they would either quit immediately (14%) or seek a new job (41%).
The that “whatever happens in the US economy over the next year, we think working from home is here to stay”.
Dutton claims his work-from-office rule would not discriminate against people on the basis of gender, despite evidence to the contrary. Women make up about 57% of the public sector workforce and favour work-from-home arrangements.
ճ (ACTU) said on March 5 that nearly 1 million more women had found work in the past four years due to the ability to work from home.
It said work-from-home arrangements have risen from 32.1% of workers before the pandemic, to around 36.3% today. More women with young children had found work.
The ACTU said Australia now has the highest level of women in the workforce ever, with the participation rate risen from 61% pre-COVID-19 to 63.5% now.
It cited a which found that, between 2019–2023, work-from-home jobs increased by 9% percentage points (pp) for women with young children and 4.4% pp for people with a disability, or a health condition which made it easier to work from home.
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CEDA’s analysis came from data produced by the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia.
CEDA concluded that “the growth and acceptance of [working from home] and hybrid work have clearly helped overcome barriers that previously made it harder for these groups to participate in the labour market”.
The ACTU said there are higher rates of job satisfaction, a 33% decline in employee attrition due to reduced absenteeism and better employee engagement and mental health — findings that contradict the Coalition’s claim that work-from-home policies are dragging down productivity.
ACTU President Michele O’Neil said working from home has been a “game changer” for women and, overall, “meant less financial stress for households”.
She said it has also benefited those who face long and expensive commutes to work in the cost-of-living crisis. “Forcing hundreds of thousands of workers back on the roads will mean less time with your kids and more time stuck in traffic.”
The Coalition’s argument that productivity would rise if people work from their office is also spurious.
, led by economics professor Nicholas Bloom, found employees who work from home two days a week are just as productive.
There is also a boost to economic growth, as Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood recently told an Australian Financial Review Business Summit.
Another aspect, especially for women, is the domestic job-sharing opportunities that arise. As Sydney Morning HeraldDZܳԾ wrote on March 9, not only are more women working, but more workers of any gender are engaged in family care alongside work.
“Working from home works,” Maley said. “The model may be in for a market correction, but it is here to stay. I suspect all sensible politicians know that, especially since they have pioneered the model themselves.”
Meanwhile, Dutton also wants to abandon: workers’ “right to disconnect”; requirements that agency-hire workers be paid the same as direct employees; and multi-employer bargaining — which helps workers in women-dominated industries such as aged care and early childhood to get wage rises.