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Australian state orders public servants to stop remote working after a newspaper campaign against it
Public employees in Australia's most populous state have been told to end remote working in a directive from the premier of New South Wales as he seeks to reverse work-from-home habits established during the pandemic.
Chris Minns, the New South Wales premier, said in a notice to agencies Monday that jobs could be made flexible by means other than remote working, such as part-time positions and role sharing, and that “building and replenishing public institutions” required “being physically present.” His remarks were welcomed by business and real estate groups in the state’s largest city, Sydney, who have decried falling office occupancy rates since 2020, but denounced by unions, who pledged to challenge the initiative if it was invoked unnecessarily. The instruction made the state’s government, Australia’s largest employer with more than 400,000 staff, the latest among a growing number of firms and institutions worldwide to attempt a reversal of remote working arrangements introduced as the coronavirus spread. A spokesperson for Jacinta Allan, the premier of neighboring Victoria, told reporters the state’s remote work allowances would remain undisturbed and disgruntled NSW public servants should consider moving there.
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