Workers at one of Australia’s biggest banks openly revolt over compulsory working from home rule as CEO calls ALL 49,000 staff back to the office: ‘It’s a bloodbath’
- Bank staff have opposed move to force them back to office
- Town Hall meeting with furious workers was a ‘bloodbath’
Staff at the Commonwealth Bank have reacted furiously to the company calling time on working from home and ordering them back to their office desks.
On Monday, chief executive Matt Comyn told the 49,000-strong workforce they will be required to come into the office at least 50 per cent of the time from July.
It followed the lead of NAB chief executive Ross McEwan, who admitted he expected his senior staff to return to the bank’s HQ five days a week.
But at an internal town hall meeting with staff to discus the changes, angry CBA staff lashed out at management in a revolt against the mandate.
Leaked comments from the online meeting with technology staff revealed several workers opposed the change and won huge support from hundreds of employees.
CBA chief executive Matt Comyn (pictured) told the 49,000-strong workforce they will be required to come into the office at least 50 per cent of the time from July
Leaked comments from the online meeting with technology staff (pictured) revealed several workers opposed the changes and huge won support from hundreds of fellow employees
Damning screenshots of the comments were leaked to business gossip Instagram account The Aussie Corporate which branded the meeting a ‘bloodbath’.
One staff member said anonymously that returning to the office for just one day a week would be a ‘good balance’.
Another said spending half the working week at their office desk would cause chaos for families who had adapted to years of working from home.
They were worried about the increased costs of returning to office life and the impact on parents.
Staff at the Commonwealth Bank have reacted furiously to the company calling time on working from home and ordering them back to their office desks
‘Is there a consideration for people working in technology to embrace more modern ways of working?’ asked the staffer during the meeting.
‘In a time of increasing interest rates and cost of living, the mandatory 50 per cent at work is going to put additional pressure on our team members and family who will now require additional day care arrangements among others.’
The comment was liked by more than 350 co-workers.
Another said CBA offices across the world didn’t have the space to to cope with the number of staff who would need to return to work.
‘With many teams being split between multiple locations (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, India etc) and most offices not having the space for all engineers to be present at the same time, how should we interpret the recent announcement about 50 per cent time in office?’ they asked.
Another staff member also asked if the bank’s ‘leaders will sign their name on forcing teams back to the office’.
The Commonwealth Bank told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday that they were simply providing a ‘framework’ for staff to get back to the office.
‘Our approach to hybrid working has always been about finding the right balance between our longstanding commitment to flexible working and ensuring we deliver the best outcomes for our customers,’ the spokeswoman said.
One staff member said anonymously that returning to the office for just one day a week would be a ‘good balance’
Another said spending half the working week at their office desk would cause chaos for families who had adapted to years of working from home
‘Over the past couple of years we’ve spent time testing different working models based on our own insights, regular feedback from our people, and the lessons of other organisations.
‘Based on these experiences, we have recently set the expectation that from mid-July, our office-based people will be required to come into the office for at least 50 per cent of their work time over the month.’
The bank said the move back to the office was to continue to drive innovation, increase staff collaborations and improve face-to-face interactions.
The CBA say office workers connect with an additional 11 more colleagues each day and spend between 20 to 30 minutes more time collaborating with each other.
‘Our people also spend 40 per cent or more time connecting with their leader and peers when in the office,’ said group executive of human resources Sian Lewis.
‘We have seen that innovation is an outcome of our people physically working together.’
