Australian Commonwealth public sector agrees to uncapped work-from-home days

“These significantly improved and enforceable flexible work rights will open doors for individuals who were previously unable to consider APS employment, or had to leave because of a change in circumstances,” she said.

Public service commission chief negotiator Peter Riordan said “this common condition is a significant step for the APS and would create a consistent approach to flexible work arrangements for all APS employees”.

Under the agreement, all APS employees will be able to make a flexible work request, including to work from home, and agencies cannot impose limits on the number of days employees can work from home in a week.

Agencies are required to “lean towards” approving requests with a presumption they should be approved. They can only refuse a request after genuinely trying to reach agreement and there are reasonable business grounds not to approve.

If the agency does not genuinely try to reach agreement, workers can challenge a refusal in the Fair Work Commission.

Agency agreements will also acknowledge the benefits of work performed in a wider range of locations across the country.

The deal follows Mr Riordan proposing no caps on the number of WFH days in May.

The previous government had indicated to agency leaders they wanted officials to “show up” and be present, causing agencies to limit work from home and other flexibility initiatives.

Coalition ministers were also publicly sympathetic to calls for government to lead the way and push for CBD workers to return to their offices.

However, Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher, who is also minister for women, has forcefully argued for greater flexibility to promote better gender balance around parenting and drive up female workplace participation and promotions.

She has also pushed for more flexibility around core work hours and job design, job-sharing and more part-time roles, especially for senior management and executive roles.

A recent survey by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency found that only one in five women are in the top quartile for pay in the federal public service compared with one in three male employees.

Ms Donnelly said “the traditional approach to APS work has hindered the attraction and retention of staff across the service. By embracing this opportunity and becoming a leader in workplace flexibility, the APSC and the government have taken meaningful steps towards establishing the APS as a model employer.”

The push for greater workforce flexibility so public servants can be more easily moved around the public service has been a key productivity goal of government negotiators.

Different pay structures across agencies in the 170,000-strong Australian Public Service have impeded easy transfers.

These are being unwound over several years as part of a key strategy to create a “One APS”. The landmark 2019 report by David Thodey noted the APS inter-agency mobility rate, which measures movement of employees between agencies in a year, has been stuck for decades at a poor 2.5 per cent. Mr Thodey noted nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of the APS had only ever worked in one agency.

Unions have also been seeking to enshrine work from home rights in various sectors for the past 12 months.

Last year, Western Sydney University was the first to introduce a right to work from home for two days a week in its enterprise agreement for non-academic staff and limit the circumstances the university could refuse requests.

The Finance Sector Union has also been fighting to establish work from home rights in its agreements with the major banks.

The CPSU-APSC bargaining will continue to bargain on pay after union members rejected offers of a 10.5 per cent increase over three years and push claims for a 20 per cent wage bump.

Unions are also seeking to lock in 18 weeks as the across-the-board standard for paternity leave, with a push to also include six weeks pregnancy leave.