ANZ Group Holdings Ltd.’s recent warning to staff that their compensation may take a hit if they aren’t working from the office at least half the time is drawing fire from their union.
If employees at the Australian bank fail to comply with a previously announced requirement to spend at least half their work time in the office, it may factor into performance ratings, as well as remuneration at the end of fiscal 2024, the Australian lender told staff this week.
The move “is going to disrupt the lives of thousands of ANZ colleagues and put future performance outcomes at risk,” the Finance Sector Union said in a statement on its website Wednesday. “ANZ colleagues have already demonstrated that they can work remotely without any impact on productivity.”
The union called on staffers to meet Nov. 27 to discuss the policy after ANZ, one of Australia’s biggest banks, emailed employees to reiterate its hybrid work expectations. The bank offers flexibility to work as much as 50% of the time remotely, whether from home or another location.
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“We expect on average that our people globally spend a minimum of 50% of their scheduled work time in the workplace,” according to the memo sent to ANZ staff in Australia, New Zealand and service centers in India and the Philippines this week.
Employers around the world, concerned about productivity, are ramping up pressure on employees to comply with requirements for resuming commutes after many grew accustomed to working from home during Covid-19 lockdowns. That has included ANZ competitors, such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which previously told staff to spend at least 50% of work time in the office, the Australian Financial Review reported in May.
(Updates with background on work-from-home pressure in last paragraph.)
