One of Australia’s largest banks has reportedly threatened to cut workers’ bonuses if they do not comply with work-from-home rules.
Commonwealth Bank staff are expected to be in the office 50 per cent of the time, and those who do not will receive warning letters which may result in a reduced bonus.
The bank told staff in an email that most employees were following the rules, but that there were “some attendance patterns that were not in compliance.”
“This email is to inform you that you have one or more team members who did not meet your connection expectations at least once between June and September 2024,” the email said. The daily telegraph reported.
Workers who do not comply with the work-from-home rules will initially receive an email, but if they do not show up a second time, they will receive a formal letter of instructions.
Bonuses may be affected by continued breaches of the rules along with a formal written warning.
The national secretary of the Financial Sector Union, Julia Angrisano, accused the bank of lack of flexibility.
“Despite lauding itself as the most technologically advanced bank and spending billions on technology so that customers are increasingly forced to self-service, the bank requires its staff to act as if technology and flexibility do not exist,” Ms. Angrisano told the publication.
Commonwealth Bank staff are expected to be in the office 50 per cent of the time, and those who do not will receive warning letters which may result in a reduced bonus.
“If this email is confirmation that face-to-face contact is so important to the bank, we hope the CBA will reopen the bank branches they took away from customers.”
Angrisano said CBA staff were not consulted about the “threats” and claimed many bank workers were struggling to pay rent and did not need the added expense of commuting to work.
“Pressuring workers with threats reflects the worst of big business as a bully and not the national icon the Commonwealth Bank likes to tell the communities it still represents,” he said.
Angrisano said the threatened disciplinary action against CBA staff was “outrageous.”
A CBA spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Building and developing strong teams is key to delivering exceptional service to our customers.
‘In 2023, we set the expectation that our office employees will be in the office for at least 50% of their work time each month and the majority of our people are meeting that expectation.
Financial Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano (pictured) accused CBA of intimidating staff with WFH threats
“For the small number of people who for various reasons have difficulty meeting this expectation, we seek to understand their individual situation and balance their needs with those of the organization and our clients’ priorities.”
Staff have been told there is flexibility to work from home for particular reasons.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Financial Sector Union for comment.
Earlier this year, the Federal Court fined the CBA $10.3 million after ruling that thousands of employees had been underpaid.
CBA’s move follows a survey that revealed the majority of Australian CEOs want staff to return to the office full-time by 2027.
The KPMG 2024 CEO Outlook survey found that 83 percent of 1,300 global CEOs predict the work-from-home era will end within the next three years.
The survey revealed that bosses are taking a stronger stance on working from home in 2024, after 64 per cent of CEOs predicted workers would return full-time the previous year.