Work-from-home rights in law ‘a bridge too far': wealth boss
The Victorian government sparked national debate last week when Premier Jacinta Allan vowed to give public and private-sector workers in the state the right to work at home at least two days a week.
George, who runs a business with about 2500 staff, said she supported flexibility for staff, but enshrining in law a right to work from home was 'really difficult'.
While AMP allows most full-time staff to work from home up to three days a week, George said there were businesses – such as some start-ups in a 'collaborative' phase – that needed people in the office full-time.
'I do think that it's ... different horses for different courses, and I think mandating this is really difficult,' George said.
'At the end of the day, we know there's a lot of retail people out there who have to work five days a week in the office, so I don't know if [enshrining WFH in law] is necessary,' she said, speaking after AMP delivered its first-half results.
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'I think we live in a society where values and purpose are really important. They're important to our employees and good employers are going to make that part of their value proposition. To start mandating these things, I think, is a bit of a bridge too far.'
In contrast, the Finance Sector Union backed the Victorian policy last week.
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