Australia's employment laws and regulations must be updated to reflect the changing nature of work, with many people continuing to work from home long after the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's according to University of South Australia Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior Dr. Ruchi Sinha who says labor laws and protections should be updated to clarify issues related to work hours, overtime, and breaks in a remote work context, now that almost half of all employees are working from home at least once a week.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report on the welfare and well-being of Australians launched yesterday found that prior to the pandemic, 13% of people aged 18 and over with a job reported working from home most days, according to the ABS Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey.
By April 2022, 46% of people had worked from home at least once per week in the previous four weeks.
Dr. Sinha says the changing nature of work has brought about a need to ensure remote workers have access to the same employment protections as in-office workers and are provided the same training and development and health and well-being opportunities.
"We need to ensure that remote work policies are inclusive and provide reasonable accommodations for employees, including employees with disabilities," she says.
"Employers should be promoting the adoption of technologies that enable people to work from home, this includes essential equipment like laptops, webcams and audio...
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