Randwick City Council staff outraged over council’s decision to end work-from-home arrangement

By TILEAH DOBSON

Randwick City Council is facing backlash from staff after they had been ordered to the pre-Covid five days a week workplace attendance, with a warning issued by employers that jobs are at risk if they stay away.

The deadline given to staff members is 11th September in the council’s efforts to end the work from home hybrid arrangement that became necessary during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cited reason for this move was that there would be better collaboration, customer service and on-the-job learning, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Randwick City Council had initially sought to have staff return to the office by 31st July, however it was pushed back to September as a way to give staff more notice.

City Hub has reached out to the council’s mayor, Dylan Parker who told the publication that “being in the workplace provides more opportunities for collaboration, incidental learning, coaching and development and better customer service.”

“Council’s work from home provisions were introduced as a response to the COVID pandemic and as we are now entering a new normal phase, we believe having our staff back in the workplace is the best means of providing high quality services and customer experience for our community,” he said.

“We understand the challenges facing some of our staff having to adapt to this change and we have pushed back the return to office date to September 11 to give people more time to prepare. Also staff with particular caring/family or other personal circumstances can request individual consideration for flexible work arrangements.”

Deputy Mayor against the council’s decision

Not all on the council seem to support this move, with Deputy Mayor Rafaela Pandolfini slamming the decision, stating on 2GB that she’s not “supportive of a five-day mandate.”

“I don’t think [that] just jumping straight into that offers any flexibility,” she said.

“I think that it should be staggered or there should be…different options looked at. I think it should remain hybrid and flexible.”

While Cr Pandolfini acknowledges that staff were required in the office pre-Covid, the hybrid model used during the pandemic has helped them to “learn a lot” when it comes to staff productivity.

“What we’ve learnt is that it actually really assists people to have more contact with their children, to be fitter, to put more into their local economy,” she said.