NAB has asked staff to increase the number of days they spend in the office each week. The bank has joined a growing number of businesses moving away from the work-from-home model (WFH), however, the move has left many upset.
Staff were told about the directive via an internal memo, which will impact junior workers and team leaders. Finance Sector Union national president Wendy Streets has slammed the decision as “completely unnecessary”.
“People are not prepared to turn back the hands of time. They’ve found a new, fairer, more efficient way of working, they’re not going to be dragged back to the past,” she said.
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According to the Australian Financial Review, when the announcement was made last week on the bank’s internal messaging system, it was hit with hundreds of shocked, angry and broken heart emojis, indicating staff were not happy about the decision.
NAB senior executive Sarah White said the bank was “evolving” its policies to focus more on an “office-based working model” because it supports “collaboration, teamwork and problem solving for customers”.
Junior staff will increase their in-office days from two to three days a week, while team leaders will go from three to four.
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Senior NAB leadership were forced to come into the office five days a week last year and their attendance is unchanged.
But Streets said this increase could cause shockwaves for the Big Four bank and “damage the very culture NAB claims to value”.
“We don’t believe there is any business case for staff to return to the office more,” she said.
“A lot of members are telling us they will walk and they will leave.”
Westpac currently has a minimum of two days a week in the office for staff, while ANZ and Commonwealth Bank workers have to come in for half of their rostered days.
This is part of a much broader move in the Australian corporate landscape.
Amazon, Tabcorp, Woolworths and Coles are some of the other major employers that have recently ordered workers back into the office.
The Australian HR Institute (AHRI) recently found that 45 per cent of employers now have a minimum requirement for staff to be in the office between three to five days a week.
More than 80 per cent of the nearly 1,000 people surveyed expected hybrid working would either increase or stay the same at their organisation over the next two years.
