This is an edited story from the ABC. Does it matter where one works from as long as one is safe and has insurance?
Flexible working is the new norm for millions of employees, with recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealing 37 per cent of Australians now regularly work from home.
But with some workers using that flexibility to engage in practices such as “quiet vacationing“, you might be wondering just how flexible or creative you are allowed to be with your location, and what counts as ‘home’, when you are working from home.
Remote work and work from home are terms that are often used interchangeably, but as Griffith University Business School lecturer Ben French said, “they do have distinct nuances”.
“Remote work refers to any work done outside of a traditional work environment and could include working from locations such as cafes while you’re travelling,” Dr French says.
Brisbane labour law expert Graeme Orr from the University of Queensland says remote work could also apply to a range of non-office-based professions.
“So, travelling salespeople, fly-in fly-out mining workers for big companies that have multiple sites, architects and people who do environmental consulting and so on,” Professor Orr says.
Dr French says there are several reasons why working remotely from a location that isn’t an approved home office and workers’ compensation is at the top of the list.
“There are other concerns, of course, such as health and safety compliance, data security and confidentiality,” he says.
“Employers have a duty to protect sensitive company information, client information, et cetera, under the Privacy Act as well, so remote work, depending on the role, might not be appropriate.”
Employers also have a duty of care, and must take steps as far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure employees are working in a safe, healthy and digitally connected environment, and that obligation extends to working from home.
“What matters is the principle that you are in a place that’s relatively safe and have the equipment that’s necessary, that is well set up,” he says.
“It doesn’t really matter whether you move from one apartment to another, that will just change the specifics of the environment you’re in.”