ANZ Group Holdings Ltd.’s most recent work-from-home directive has drawn fire from a union that represents financial employees in Australia, after the bank’s staff were reminded to be in the office at least half of the time.
The move “is going to disrupt the lives of thousands of ANZ colleagues and put future performance outcomes at risk,” the Finance Sector Union said in a statement on its website Wednesday. “ANZ colleagues have already demonstrated that they can work remotely without any impact on productivity.”
The union called on staffers to meet on Nov. 27 to discuss the policy after ANZ, one of Australia’s biggest banks, had emailed employees to reiterate its hybrid work expectations. The bank offers flexibility to work up to 50% of the time remotely, whether from home or another location.
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“We expect on average that our people globally spend a minimum of 50% of their scheduled work time in the workplace,” according to the memo sent to ANZ staff in Australia, New Zealand and service centers in India and the Philippines this week. If employees don’t meet the standards expected it may factor into performance ratings as well as remuneration at the end of the 2024 financial year, it said.
A bank spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo.
