[2020] FWCFB 6208
FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION


Fair Work Act 2009

s.157 - FWC may vary etc. modern awards if necessary to achieve modern awards objective

Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020
(AM2020/98)

JUSTICE ROSS, PRESIDENT
DEPUTY PRESIDENT CLANCY
DEPUTY PRESIDENT MILLHOUSE
COMMISSIONER BISSETT
COMMISSIONER BOOTH

MELBOURNE, 20 NOVEMBER 2020

Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020 – provisional view confirmed – extension of Schedule I to 29 March 2021 – survey and research materials

[1] On 28 March 2020 the Commission issued a decision 1 (the March 2020 Decision) granting a joint application filed by the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and supported by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Services Union (ASU), to insert a new schedule, ‘Schedule I-Award flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic’, into the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020 (the Clerks Award). The new schedule came into operation on 28 March 2020 and was to cease to operate on 30 June 2020, unless extended.

[2] Since the March 2020 Decision the Commission has granted three applications to extend the operation of Schedule I. 2 The Schedule is due to cease operation on 29 March 2021.

[3] In the decision which extended the operation of Schedule I to 30 November 2020, 3 the Full Bench accepted the submission of the ASU that there is at present an ‘evidentiary gap’ regarding the incidence of working from home arrangements amongst employees covered by the Clerks Award and the extent to which the flexibility provided by Schedule I has been utilised. The Full Bench proposed that a survey could be conducted in order to address this evidentiary gap.

[4] On 14 October 2020 the Full Bench issued a statement 4 (the October statement) and a draft survey was attached to the Statement. Interested parties were invited to comment on the draft survey and conferences have been held on 27 October, 9 and 18 November 2020 to finalise the survey instrument.

[5] A copy of the transcript from the conference held on 18 November 2020 is here.

[6] Most of the issues in relation to the survey instrument have been resolved. Two matters remain outstanding.

[7] The first matter concerns a proposal by the ASU and ACTU to include an additional question which would ask the employer respondent to identify the employment status of their Clerks Awards employees, that is the number of full-time part-time and casual employees employed. ACCI and Ai Group oppose the addition of this question on the basis of response burden and the absence of any forensic purpose.

[8] We agree with ACCI and Ai Group. The additional question will only provide aggregate employment type data and not provide us with any information on the extent to which employees in various employment categories have worked from home or the nature of their working time arrangements. We see little or no forensic utility in the proposed question and it would simply serve to add to the burden of those asked to complete the survey. We do not propose to add the question to the survey instrument.

[9] The second contentious issue concerns draft questions 15, 16 and 17, which state:

15. Of your Clerks Award employees (other than shiftworkers) who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have either regularly or from time to time undertaken work between 6am and 7am on weekdays during this period?

16. Of your employees Clerks Award employees who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have either regularly or from time to time undertaken work between 7pm and 10pm on weekdays during this period?


17. And of those who have changed their work hours so as to undertake work between 7pm and 10pm, how many have changed their times of work so that they have either regularly or from time to time worked any of their hours between the following times:

a. 9pm and 10pm:

 

b. 8pm and 9pm:

 

c. 7pm and 8pm:

 

d. Another time (please specify)

 

[10] The issue in contention concerns the underlined words in each question ‘either regularly or from time to time’. The principal objection to this formulation is that it conflates two groups of employees – those who regularly work at certain times and those who work from time to time at certain times. The conflation of these two group limits the utility of the data from the answers to these questions. The ACTU and ASU proposed splitting each question so that the employer respondent is asked to separately identify those who regularly work at particular times and those who only work at those times from time to time.

[11] ACCI and Ai Group oppose splitting the questions in this way on the basis that to do so will add to the number of survey questions and hence to the response burden which may adversely affect the response rate.

[12] We acknowledge that adding further questions may adversely affect the response rate. That said, we think there is utility in recasting questions 15 and 16 so that the two groups can be separately identified, as follows:

15. Of your Clerks Award employees (other than shiftworkers) who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have undertaken work between 6am and 7am on weekdays during this period, either:

a. on a regular basis

 

or

b. from time to time

 

16. Of your Clerks Award employees (other than shiftworkers) who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have undertaken work between 7pm and 10pm on weekdays during this period, either:

a. on a regular basis

 

or

b. from time to time

 

[13] The structure of question 17 is quite different and we do not propose to alter the question as to do so would introduce significant complexity into the survey instrument.

[14] A final version of the survey instrument and covering email is attached (Attachment A).

Other research

[15] As we foreshadowed in our Statement of 10 November 2020 5, in order to provide further assistance to parties, academics have been engaged to undertake research to inform the Commission of issues relevant to the determination of an award term to facilitate working from home.6

[16] A report by Swinburne University will explore key trends in data on working from home and will incorporate any new data on working from home to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey and the Business Indicators, Business Impacts of COVID-19 later this month.

[17] These reports will be published in the week commencing 23 November 2020. A report on employee preferences for flexibility undertaken by the University of Sydney will also be published along with a research reference list prepared by staff of the Commission.

[18] A research reference list prepared by staff of the Commission is attached (Attachment B). Parties are invited to submit additional materials for inclusion to the list. Relevant materials should be sent to amod@fwc.gov.au.

[19] Commission staff will also continue to update information notes on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates and advice webpage.

PRESIDENT

Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer

<PR724695>

 

Attachment A – final version of survey

The Clerks Award & working from home during COVID-19

The Fair Work Commission wants to understand how businesses with employees covered by the Clerks Award have adapted to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Complete this survey if:

  You are an employer

  You have employees covered by the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020 (the Clerks Award).

Please do not complete this survey if you have an Enterprise Agreement in place which covers all of your employees who would otherwise be covered by the Clerks Award.

You should only complete the survey once, regardless of how many times you have received an invitation to complete the survey.

What will the survey ask?

We will ask you about your business and your employees. The survey includes questions about where your business is, how many employees you have and how many employees are covered by the Clerks Award.

We will also ask you about any working from home arrangements accessed by your employees. The survey includes questions about any changes to how your employees are working their hours while they’re at home. It also includes questions about what extra help, if any, you’ve provided. The final part of the survey includes questions about your plans for working from home arrangements in the future.

How do I know if my employees are covered by the Clerks Award?

The Clerks Award covers employees who mainly carry out clerical and administrative work in the private sector.

This includes:

  filing and photocopying

  typing and word processing

  managing accounts, invoices and orders

  billing clients and customers

  maintaining records and journals, including payroll

  answering calls

  cash handling

  operating a telephone switchboard

  attending a reception desk

  secretarial and executive support services.

Examples of employees covered by the Clerks Award include:

  an administrative assistant

  a receptionist in an accounting firm

  a bookkeeper in a manufacturing company

If you’re still not sure, you can check with the Fair Work Ombudsman.

What will we do with your responses?

The Commission will use your responses to understand how businesses with employees covered by the Clerks Award have adapted to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Survey responses will remain confidential. We will not be able to identify you by your responses.

If you have any questions or concerns about your privacy or how the data will be used, please contact X

Your business and employees

1. Does your business have any employees covered by the Clerks Award?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No — End survey. Thank you for participating.

2. Does your business have an enterprise agreement?

[ ] Yes — Go to question 2.1

[ ] No — Go to question 3

2.1. Does your enterprise agreement cover any employees who would otherwise be covered by the Clerks Award?

[ ] Yes, all of them — End survey. Thank you for participating.

[ ] Yes, some of them — Go to question 3

[ ] No — Go to question 3

Note: Questions 3 to 6 ask you to identify the number of employees employed by your business, covered by the Clerks Award and who have been working from home since 1 July 2020. If you can, please provide the exact number of employees in response to each question, but if you cannot provide an exact number, please estimate the number of employees to the best of your knowledge.

3. How many employees does your business currently employ?

 

4. How many of your employees are covered by the Clerks Award (Don’t count any employees covered by an enterprise agreement)?

 

COVID-19 response

Note: The following questions relate to your employees who are covered by the Clerks Award. Do not include employees covered by an enterprise agreement.

5. How many of your Clerks Award employees have been working from home since 1 July 2020? (You should include all employees working from home during this period, not just employees who started working from home after 1 July 2020).

 

6. How many of these employees are:

Gender

Number of employees

Female

 

Male

 

Other (Individuals who identify as non-binary, gender diverse, or with descriptors other than female or male.)

 

7. Please indicate whether any of your Clerks Award employees, who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, have changed their times of work in any of the following ways during this period? Tick all that apply

[ ] Starting earlier than usual

[ ] Finishing later than usual

[ ] Breaking up their working day

[ ] Working longer periods on some days and shorter periods on other days

[ ] Don’t know

8. How many Clerks Award employees have changed their times of work in the period since 1 July 2020?

[ ] All

[ ] Most

[ ] Some

[ ] None

[ ] Don’t know

9. Who requested the changes in times of work?

[ ] The employer

[ ] The employees

[ ] Both the employer and employees have requested changes

[ ] Don’t know / can’t say

10. Thinking about the Clerks Award employees who have changed their times of work, why are the different working arrangements in place? Tick all that apply.

[ ] Because of the employee’s family/caring commitments

[ ] Because the employee wishes to attend to personal matters during their usual working hours (other than family / caring or study commitments commitments)

[ ] To accommodate an employee’s secondary employment

[ ] To accommodate an employee’s study commitments

[ ] Because the employer has asked the employee to work these different hours

[ ] Because of the requirements of the work (eg. client availability, manager availability, colleague availability or other work factors)

[ ] Not sure / cannot say

[ ] Other

 

11. Where Clerks Award employees do work from home, who determines when breaks from work are taken?

[ ] The employee chooses when they have a break

[ ] The employer directs the times that breaks may be taken

[ ] Both

12. Have any additional payments or support been provided by the business to Clerks Award employees who have been working from home since COVID-19 restrictions commenced (i.e. since March 2020)? If yes, please tick all that apply and provide further details below:

[ ] Existing laptop, computer or other equipment has been transferred from the employee’s usual place of work to the home (temporarily or permanently)

[ ] New laptop, computer or other equipment

[ ] Allowance or reimbursement for purchasing office equipment

[ ] Allowance or reimbursement to cover home internet and electricity costs

[ ] Mental health support

[ ] Additional training

[ ] Provision of a telephone or payment of a telephone allowance or reimbursement

[ ] Other, please provide details:

 

13. Does your business have a policy about working from home?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

If yes please provide a copy of the policy to the Commission, by email to X. The policy document will only be used by the Commission for analysis about the types of things covered in a working from home policy, it will be de-identified in any published reports and the name of your business will not be disclosed.

14. In which state or territory is your business located (tick all that apply)?

[ ] Australian Capital Territory

[ ] New South Wales

[ ] Northern Territory

[ ] Queensland

[ ] South Australia

[ ] Tasmania

[ ] Victoria

[ ] Western Australia

Flexible working arrangements

The standard spread of ordinary hours (for employees other than shiftworkers) under the Clerks Award is between:

● 7.00 am and 7.00 pm on Monday to Friday; and
● 7.00 am and 12.30 pm on Saturday.

Normally, an employee (other than a shiftworker) who works outside of this spread of hours would be entitled to paid overtime.

The Clerks Award Flexibility Schedule extends the spread of ordinary hours of work. It allows an employee who is working from home to request a change in the spread of ordinary hours of work so that ordinary hours can be worked between:

6.00 am and 10.00 pm, Monday to Friday; and
● 7.00 am and 12.30 pm on Saturday.

Note 1: Questions 16 to 18 ask you to identify the number of employees working from home and their patterns of working hours, if you can, please provide an exact number of employees in response to each question; but if you cannot provide an exact number, please estimate the number of employees to the best of your knowledge.

Note 2: The following questions relate to your employees who are covered by the Clerks Award only. Do not include employees covered by an enterprise agreement.

15. Of your Clerks Award employees (other than shiftworkers) who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have undertaken work between 6am and 7am on weekdays during this period, either:

a. on a regular basis

 

or

b. from time to time

 

16. Of your Clerks Award employees (other than shiftworkers) who have been working from home since 1 July 2020, how many have changed their times of work so that they have undertaken work between 7pm and 10pm on weekdays during this period, either:

a. on a regular basis

 

or

b. from time to time

 

17. And of those who have changed their work hours so as to undertake work between 7pm and 10pm, how many have changed their times of work so that they have either regularly or from time to time worked any of their hours between the following times:

a. 9pm and 10pm:

 

b. 8pm and 9 pm:

 

c. 7pm and 8 pm:

 

d. Another time (please specify)

 

Future working from home arrangements

18. In the future, assuming you were not required by any public health order or other legal obligation to permit an employee to work from home, do you intend to allow your employees covered by the Clerks Award to work from home at least some of the time?

[ ] Yes

[ ] No

19. Are there any impediments to your business allowing Clerks Award employees to work from home? If yes, please tick all that apply and provide further details below:

[ ] Work cannot be completed from home

[ ] Reductions in the quality of the employee’s work performance

[ ] Work cannot be supervised to the same extent as in the workplace

[ ] Loss of productivity

[ ] Security/privacy concerns (including IT)

[ ] WHS concerns

[ ] Costs of facilitating the arrangement

[ ] Other, please provide details:

 

20. If you were to permit some of your Clerks Award employees to generally or sometimes work from home, are there circumstances when you may still require some or all of these employees to undertake some work at your workplace?

[ ] Yes

[ ] Potentially

[ ] No

If the employer answers “yes” or “potentially” move to question 22

21. Why would you potentially require employees to undertake some work at the workplace? Select all that apply.

[ ] because some work activities cannot be performed remotely

[ ] to participate in team meetings/gatherings

[ ] to ensure adequate supervision of the employee

[ ] to maintain regular contact with the workplace, supervisor, peers or clients

[ ] because of concerns about the quality of work performed remotely

[ ] Other, please provide details:

 

Covering email

Dear X,

The Fair Work Commission wants to understand how businesses with employees covered by the Clerks Award have adapted to working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You have been chosen to take part in this survey as a member of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry/the Australian Industry Group (select relevant employer org). Help provide your insights and feedback by completing this survey before [DATE].

What will the survey ask?

The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete and asks about three main topics:

1. Your business and your employees. For example, where your business is, how many employees you have and how many employees are covered by the Clerks Award.

2. Any working from home arrangements accessed by your employees. These include questions about any changes to how your employees are working their hours while they’re at home, and what extra help, if any, you’ve provided.

3. Your plans for working from home arrangements in the future. These include questions about whether you’ll allow your employees to work from home in the future and if so in what circumstances you’ll need employees to come into the workplace.

What will your responses be used for?

The Commission will use your responses to understand how the flexibility provisions in the Clerks Award are being used by employees and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey is conducted by the Commission and your responses are anonymous.

Click here to complete the survey.

If you have any questions or concerns about your privacy or how the data will be used, please contact X.

Attachment B

New FWC Logo.jpg

Research reference list—Working from home
Modern Awards, Economics and Research Section, Fair Work Commission

19 November 2020

Table of contents

1 Australian research 1
1.1 Materials released during COVID-19 1
1.2 Materials released before COVID-19 2
2 International research 2
2.1 Material released during COVID-19 2
2.2 Material released before COVID-19 5

The Research reference list is published as a central depository of references to research papers that parties may choose to draw on in their submissions. The papers selected for publication in the Research reference list have been compiled by staff of the Commission and do not reflect the views of Commission Members on the quality or relevance of the references published. The Research reference list should not be considered to be exhaustive and additional research papers may be referenced by parties in their submissions.

Australian research

1.1 Materials released during COVID-19

Borland J and Charlton A (2020), ‘The Australian Labour Market and the Early Impact of COVID-19: An Assessment’, The Australian Economic Review, Vol. 53, Issue 3, September, pp. 297–324.

Colley L and Williamson S (2020), Working during the Pandemic: From resistance to revolution?, UNSW Canberra Public Service Research Group and CQUniversity, October.

Coslor E and Hyatt E (2020), ‘Flexible Working Beyond COVID-19, Pursuit, University of Melbourne, 18 May.

Dockery M and Bawa S (2020), Working from Home in the COVID-19 Lockdown, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, Research Brief COVID-19 #5, May.

Gross A, Morphet, S and Lyons L (2020), Flex for Success: Five Practices That Build a Flexible Workforce, Chief Executive Women, Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Bain & Company, August. 

Hand K, Baxter J, Carroll M and Budinkski M (2020), Families in Australia Survey: Life during COVID-19, report no.1: Early Findings, Australian Institute of Family Studies, July.

Hensher D and Beck M (2020), ‘COVID has proved working from home is the best policy to beat congestion’, The Conversation, 16 November.

Mattey C, Hilberath C, Sibilio N, Aurora J and Ruiz H (2020), Personalisation for your people: How COVID-19 is reshaping the race for talent, Boston Consulting Group, June.

Nirmalathas TA and Wong E (2020), 'Can our internet cope with so many of us at home?’, Pursuit, University of Melbourne, 20 April.

Nahum D (2020), Work and Life in a Pandemic: An Update on Hours of Work and Unpaid Overtime Under COVID-19, Centre for Future Work, November.

Peetz D (2020), The impact of working from home during COVID-19 on university staff, presentation to the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, 18 November.

Pennington A and Stanford J (2020), Working from Home: Opportunities and Risks: Briefing Paper, Centre for Future Work, April.

Pennington A (2020), ‘Working from home, once a novelty, is now wearing thin’, The Age, 5 November.

Productivity Commission (2020), Productivity insights 2020: Australia’s long term productivity experience, No. 3, November.

Public Service Association and Commonwealth Public Sector Union New South Wales (2020), What Women Want Report 2020, Sydney.

Quiggin J (2020), ‘Have we just stumbled on the biggest productivity increase of the century?, The Conversation, 3 September.

Roy Morgan (2020), Nearly a third of Australian workers have been ‘#WFH’, Article No. 8451, 29 June.

Salt B (2020), ‘Coronavirus: taking the long view’, The Australian, 2 November.

Ulubasoglu M and Onder YK (2020), ‘Teleworkability in Australia: 41% of full-time and 35% of part-time jobs can be done from home, The Conversation, 29 June.

Westar J, Troup C, Peetz D, Ramia I, O’Brady S, Werth S, Campbell S and Ressia S (2020), ‘Working from home during COVID-19: What do employees really want?’, The Conversation, 5 November.

Wheeler MA and Gunasekara A (2020), ‘Forget work-life balance – it’s all about integration in the age of COVID-19, The Conversation, 18 May.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Guide to developing a business case for flexibility, Australian Government, accessed 21 October 2020.

1.2 Materials released before COVID-19

Cassells R and Duncan A (2018), Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and Workplace Gender Equity Agency, Gender Equity Series, Issue #3, March.

Deloitte Access Economics (2011), Next Generation Telework: A Literature Review, report for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, July.

Devinney T (2013), ‘Marissa Mayer is right: your company needs you (in the office)’, The Conversation, 4 March.

Dockery AM and Bawa S (2014), ‘Is Working from Home Good Work or Bad Work? Evidence from Australian Employees’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 17, No, 2, pp. 163–190.

McCrindle Research (2013), Teleworking in Australia: Research Summary, May.

Sander E (2019), ‘It’s not just the isolation. Working from home has surprising downsides’, The Conversation, 15 January.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2014), Developing a flexible working arrangements policy, Australian Government, October.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2019), Flexible working is good for business: The Business Case, Australian Government, February.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency, McKinsey & Company and Business Council of Australia (2017), Women in leadership: lessons from Australian companies leading the way, November.

2. International research

2.1 Material released during COVID-19

Adams-Prassi A, Boneva T, Golin M and Rauh C (2020), Work That Can be Done from Home: Evidence on Variation within and across Occupations and Industries, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13374, June.

Airtasker (2020), The Benefits of Working From Home, Airtasker Blog, updated 31 March.

Alexander A, De Smet A and Mysore M (2020), Reimagining the postpandemic workforce, McKinsey Quarterly, McKinsey & Company, July.

Alipour JV, Falck O and Schüller S (2020), Germany’s Capacities to Work from Home, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13152, April.

Ameriks J, Briggs J, Caplin A, Minjoon L, Shapiro MD and Tonetti C (2020), ‘Older Americans Would Work Longer if Jobs Were Flexible’, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 12, Issue 1, pp. 174–209.

Aum S, Lee SY and Shin Y (2020), Who should work from home during a pandemic? The wage-infection trade-off, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 27908, October.

Baert S, Lippens L, Moens E, Sterkens P and Weytjens J (2020), The COVID-19 Crisis and Telework: A Research Survey on Experiences, Expectations and Hopes, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13229, May.

Bartik AW, Cullen ZB, Glaeser EL, Luca M and Stanton CT (2020), What jobs are being done at home during the COVID-19 crisis? Evidence from firm-level surveys, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 27422, June.

BBC (2020), Coronavirus: How the world of work may change forever, Worklife, Unknown questions, 23 October.

Beland LP, Brodeur A and Wright T (2020), The Short-Term Economic Consequences of COVID-19: Exposure to Disease, Remote Work and Government Response, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13159, April.

Beland LP, Brodeur A and Wright T (2020), COVID-19, Stay-At-Home Orders and Employment: Evidence from CPS Data, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13282, May.

Bellmann L and Hüber O (2020), Job Satisfaction and Work-Life Balance: Differences between Homework and Work at the Workplace of the Company, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13504, July.

Bick A, Blandin A and Mertens K (2020), Work from Home After the COVID-19 Outbreak, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Working Paper 2017, June.

Birkinshaw J, Cohen J and Stach P (2020), Research: Knowledge Workers Are More Productive from Home, Harvard Business Review, 31 August.

Bishop K (2020), What the Dutch can teach the world about remote work, BBC, Remote Control, 24 June.

Boeri T, Caiumi A and Paccagnella, M (2020), ‘Mitigating the work-safety trade-off, COVID Economics: Vetted and real-time papers, Issue 2, 8 April, pp. 60–66.

Boland B, De Smet A, Palter R and Sanghvi A (2020), Reimagining the office and work life after COVID-19, McKinsey & Company, June.

Brussevich M, Dabla-Norris E and Khalid S (2020), Who will Bear the Brunt of Lockdown Policies? Evidence from Tele-workability Measures Across Countries, International Monetary Fund, Working Paper 20/88, June.

Chopra A, Devereux MB and Lahiri A (2020), Pandemic through the lens of occupations, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 27841, September.

Coury S, Huang J, Kumar A, Prince S, Krivkovich A and Yee L (2020), Women in the Workplace 2020, McKinsey & Company, 30 September

Dahik A, Lovich D, Kreafle C, Bailey A, Kilmann J, Kennedy D, Roongta P, Schuler F, Tomlin L and Wenstrup J (2020), What 12,000 Employees Have to Say About the Future of Remote Work, Boston Consulting Group, 11 August.

DeFilippis E, Impink SM, Singell M, Polzer JT and Sadun R (2020), Collaborating during Coronavirus: the impact of COVID-19 on the nature of work, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 27612, July.

Del Boca D, Oggero N, Profeta P and Rossi MC (2020), Women’s Work, Housework and Childcare, before and during COVID-19, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13409, June.

Dingle J and Neiman B (2020), ‘How many jobs can be done at home?’, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 189, September.

European Commission (2020), Telework in the EU before and after the COVID-19: where we are where we head to, European Union, Science for Policy Briefs, accessed 15 October.

Fadinger H and Schymik J (2020), ‘The costs and benefits of home office during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from infections and input-output model for Germany, COVID Economics: Vetted and real-time papers, Issue 9, 24 April, pp. 107–134.

Fadinger H and Schymik J (2020), The Effects of Working from Home on COVID-19 Infections and Production: A Macroeconomic Analysis for Germany, Universität Bonn & Universität Mannheim, EPOS Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224, Discussion Paper Series CRC TC 224, DP No. 167 Project B 06, April.

Farré L, Fawaz Y, González L and Graves J (2020), How the COVID-19 Lockdown Affected Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work in Spain, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13434, July.

Feng Z & Savani K (2020), ‘Covid-19 created a gender gap in perceived work productivity and job satisfaction: implications for dual-career parents working from home, Gender in Management, 7 September.

Forbes-May J (2020), Asia Pacific Research: Remote working is here to stay, but security must be addressed, Barracuda, 19 August.

Golden TD and Eddleston KA (2020), ‘Is there a price telecommuters pay? Examining the relationship between telecommuting and objective career success, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 116, Part A, February.

Gottlieb C, Grobovšek J and Poschke M (2020), 'Working from home across countries’, COVID Economics: Vetted and real-time papers, Issue 8, 22 April, pp. 71–91.

Hatayama M, Viollaz, M and Winkler H (2020), ‘Jobs’ amenability to working from home: Evidence from skills surveys for 53 countries, COVID Economics: Vetted and real-time papers, Issue 19, 18 May, pp. 211–240.

Hensvik L, Le Barbanchon T and Rathelot R (2020), Which Jobs Are Done from Home? Evidence from the American Time Use Survey, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13138, April.

International Labour Organization (2020), Pillar 3: Protecting workers in the workplace, ILO Policy Brief on COVID-19, accessed 2 October.

Jack S (2020), No plan for a return to the office for millions of staff, BBC, 26 August.

Kaufman E, Lovich D, Bailey A, Messenböck R, Schuler F and Shroff A (2020), Remote Work Works – Where Do We Go from Here?, Boston Consulting Group, 30 June.

Kim SS, Glainsky E and Pal I (2020), One kind word: Flexibility in the time of COVID-19, Families and Work Institute, April.

Mongey S, Pilossoph L and Weinberg A (2020), Which workers bear the burden of social distancing policies?, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 27085, May.

Möbert J and Schattenberg M (2020), Working from home: Be careful what you wish for, Deutsche Bank Research, 9 September.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2020), Productivity gains from teleworking in the post COVID-19 era: How can public policies make it happen?, OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), 7 September.

Pabilonia SW and Vernon V (2020), Telework and Time Use in the United States, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13260, May.

Pal I, Galinsky E and Kim SS (2020), 2020 Effective workplace index: Creating a workplace that works for employees and employers, Families and Work Institute, April.

Pouliakas K (2020), Working at Home in Greece: Unexplored Potential at Times of Social Distancing?, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13408, June.

Rahman AS (2020), ‘Why can’t everybody work remotely? Blame the robots, COVID Economics: Vetted and real-time papers, Issue 36, 10 July, pp. 105–128.

Redmond P and McGuiness S (2020), Who can work from home in Ireland?, Economic & Social Research Institute, ESRI Survey and Statistical Report Series Number 87, May.

Templeman L (2020), ‘The future of work from home’, Konzept #18: Life after covid-19, Deutsch Bank Research, 13 May, pp. 75–78.

Templeman L (2020), ‘A work-from-home tax’, Konzept #19: What we must do to rebuild, Deutsch Bank Research, 10 November, pp. 32–34.

von Gaudecker HM, Holler R, Janys L, Siflinger B and Zimpelmann C (2020), Labour Supply in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence on Hours, Home Office, and Expectations, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13158, April.

Yasenov V (2020), Who Can Work from Home?, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13197, April.

2.2 Material released before COVID-19

Allen TD, Golden TD and Shockley K M (2015), ‘How Effective is Telecommuting? Assessing the Status of Our Scientific Findings’, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol. 16, Issue 2, October.

Basile KA and Beauregard TA (2016), ‘Strategies for successful telework: how effective employees manage work/home boundaries’, Strategic HR Review, Vol. 15, Issue 3, June, pp. 106–111.

Batt R and Valcour PM (2003), ‘Human Resources Practices as Predictors of Work-Family Outcomes and Employee Turnover’, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economic and Society, Vol. 42, Issue 2, April, pp. 189–220.

Bloom N, Liang J, Roberts J and Ying ZJ (2015), ‘Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 130, Issue 1, February, pp. 165–218.

Boell SK, Cecez-Kecmanovic D and Campbell J (2016), ‘Telework paradoxes and practices: the importance of the nature of work’, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 31, Issue 2, July, pp. 114–131.

Choudhury P, Foroughi C and Larson B (2019), Work-From-Anywhere: The Productivity Effects of Geographic Flexibility, Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper No. 19-054, Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. #3494473, 4 December.

Coen, M and Kok RAW (2014), ‘Workplace flexibility and new product development performance: The role of telework and flexible work schedules’, European Management Journal, Vol. 32, Issue 4, August, pp. 564–576.

Eddleston KA and Mulki J (2017), ‘Toward Understanding Remote Workers’. Management of Work–Family Boundaries: The Complexity of Workplace Embeddedness’, Group & Organization Management, Vol. 43, Issue 2, 15 December.

Ernst Kossek E and Thompson RJ (2016), ‘Workplace Flexibility: Integrating Employer and Employee Perspectives to Close the Research–Practice Implementation Gap’, in Allen TD and Eby LT (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Work and Family, July.

EUR-Lex (2005), Teleworking, Summaries of EU Legislation, updated 17 May.

Eurofound and the International Labour Office (2017), Working anytime, anywhere: The effects on the world of work, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, and the International Labour Office, Geneva.

Felstead A and Henseke G (2017), ‘Assessing the growth of remote working and its consequences for effort, well-being and work-life balance’, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 32, Issue 3, November, pp. 195–212.

Galinsky E (2016), ‘Research to Action: Review of Research Conducted by the Families and Work Institute’, in Allen TD and Eby LT (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Work and Family, July.

Giménez-Nadal JI, Molina JA and Velilla J (2018), Telework, the Timing of Work, and Instantaneous Well-Being: Evidence from Time Use Data, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 11271, January.

Golden TD and Gajendran RS (2018), ‘Unpacking the Role of a Telecommuter’s Job in Their Performance: Examining Job Complexity, Problem Solving, Interdependence, and Social Support’, Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 12, Issue 1, pp. 55–69.

International Workplace Group (2019), The IWG Global Workspace Survey: Welcome to Generation Flex – the employee power shift, March.

Ipsos (2012), Telecommuting: Citizens in 24 Countries Assess Working Remotely for a Total Global Perspective, Global @dvisor survey, Wave 26, January.

Massman A, Brodie Gregory J, McCance AS and Biga A (2016), ‘Work-Family Practice in Multinational Organizations’, in Allen TD and Eby LT (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Work and Family, July.

Matos K, Galinsky E and Bond JT (2017), National Study of Employers, Families and Work Institute, New York.

Nakrosiene A, Buciuniene I and Gostautaite B (2019),’Working from home: characteristics and outcomes of telework’, International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 87–101.

Schwantes M (2019), ‘A New Study Reveals Why Working From Home Makes Employees More Productive: How do virtual and in-office workers differ? It might surprise you’, Inc., 4 October.

Song Y and Gao J (2018), Does Telework Stress Employees out? A Study on Working at Home and Subjective Well-Being for Wage/Salary Workers, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 11993, November.

Van der Lippe T and Lippényi Z (2019), ‘Co-workers working from home and individual and team performance’, New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 35, Issue 1, 14 November, pp. 60–79.

Windeler JB, Chudoba KM and Sundrup RZ (2017), ‘Getting away from them all: Managing exhaustion from social interaction with telework’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 38, Issue 7, February, pp. 977–995.

WorldatWork (2013), Survey on Workplace Flexibility 2013, October.

 1   [2020] FWCFB 1690.

 2   [2020] FWCFB 1690, [2020] FWCFB 5199 and [2020] FWCFB 6078

 3   [2020] FWCFB 5199 at [89] – 94]

 4   [2020] FWCFB 5484.

 5   [2020] FWCFB 5999

 6   [2020] FWCFB 5999 at [19].