[Australia] Commonwealth Bank issues July return to office order

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has ordered its 49,000-strong workforce to return to the office and spend at least 50 per cent of their working hours there from July, Sky News reports.

Chief executive Matt Comyn informed the major bank’s employees in a May 22 email about the company's expectation for staff to work from the office more frequently.

The announcement reportedly followed the decision from rival bank NAB to order all senior staff to return to full-time work in the office.

Sian Lewis - CBA group executive of human resources - said the new mandate was influenced by a desire to increase face-to-face connections.

“We have now set the expectation with our office-based people that from mid-July, they will be required to come into the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time per month,” Ms Lewis told The Australian Financial Review.

“We’ve learnt that on average, we actively connect with 11 more colleagues each day when we are together in the office and spend 20–30 minutes more time collaborating,” she said.

“Our people also spend 40 per cent or more time connecting with their leader and peers when in the office. We have seen that innovation is an outcome of our people physically working together.”

In contrast with NAB’s mandate, CommBank employees will be able to continue spending time working from home in response to its workforce’s positive reaction to the hybrid model.

“We understand how positively everyone has embraced hybrid working and you will still be able to work from home,” the leadership team said in another email on May 23.

“However, as we’ve said before, being together in our corporate offices provides stronger levels of connection, which help us in our own learning, as well as in collaborating to build services for our customers and in sharing and co-developing with our colleagues.”

Hybrid work became the new norm as the pandemic took hold across Australia. Businesses operated with employees working from home where they could and many adopted a workplace flexibility model as restrictions eased, allowing workers to split their week between the office and home.

The move from two of Australia’s top banks suggests Australia is moving beyond the pandemic era.

Working models incorporating WFH have reportedly been embraced by workers, particularly younger generations, but condemned by critics such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Nicole Duncan - CEO of CR Commercial Property Group - called younger staff who prefer a hybrid model “selfish” last month.

“In our younger days we caught trains, buses, ferries to get to work. Yes, it did take two or three hours, but you’ve got to be in the office because you don’t know what you don’t know,” she told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

Source: Sky News

(Quotes via original reporting)

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has ordered its 49,000-strong workforce to return to the office and spend at least 50 per cent of their working hours there from July, Sky News reports.

Chief executive Matt Comyn informed the major bank’s employees in a May 22 email about the company's expectation for staff to work from the office more frequently.

The announcement reportedly followed the decision from rival bank NAB to order all senior staff to return to full-time work in the office.

Sian Lewis - CBA group executive of human resources - said the new mandate was influenced by a desire to increase face-to-face connections.

“We have now set the expectation with our office-based people that from mid-July, they will be required to come into the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time per month,” Ms Lewis told The Australian Financial Review.

“We’ve learnt that on average, we actively connect with 11 more colleagues each day when we are together in the office and spend 20–30 minutes more time collaborating,” she said.

“Our people also spend 40 per cent or more time connecting with their leader and peers when in the office. We have seen that innovation is an outcome of our people physically working together.”

In contrast with NAB’s mandate, CommBank employees will be able to continue spending time working from home in response to its workforce’s positive reaction to the hybrid model.

“We understand how positively everyone has embraced hybrid working and you will still be able to work from home,” the leadership team said in another email on May 23.

“However, as we’ve said before, being together in our corporate offices provides stronger levels of connection, which help us in our own learning, as well as in collaborating to build services for our customers and in sharing and co-developing with our colleagues.”

Hybrid work became the new norm as the pandemic took hold across Australia. Businesses operated with employees working from home where they could and many adopted a workplace flexibility model as restrictions eased, allowing workers to split their week between the office and home.

The move from two of Australia’s top banks suggests Australia is moving beyond the pandemic era.

Working models incorporating WFH have reportedly been embraced by workers, particularly younger generations, but condemned by critics such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Nicole Duncan - CEO of CR Commercial Property Group - called younger staff who prefer a hybrid model “selfish” last month.

“In our younger days we caught trains, buses, ferries to get to work. Yes, it did take two or three hours, but you’ve got to be in the office because you don’t know what you don’t know,” she told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

Source: Sky News

(Quotes via original reporting)