Opinion piece by Melissa Donnelly, National Secretary Community and Public Sector Union
There's been a bit of talk this week about flexible work and working from home.
Is it good? Is it bad? Does it work?
The research says that flexible work improves workforce participation, and that people are just as productive, if not more so when working from home. Hybrid working arrangements, which is what overwhelmingly applies in the APS, are positive and productive.
The reality is that flexible work and working from home is important to lots of workers - especially women. Which is why there have never been more women working fulltime in the APS, instead of part-time, than right now.
Earlier this week the Coalition, copying Donald Trump's homework once again, announced they would be ordering all public servants back to the office 5 days a week if they win the next election.
This announcement really is a solution in search of a problem.
Because the real story is that flexible working arrangements and working from home are working well for both workers and public services. In fact, there are clear and enforceable enterprise agreement provisions that establish both the right to request flexibility and the factors the supervisor will take into account when considering the request.
There is not a problem that needs fixing.
The CPSU's 12th What Women Want survey, which we have released just this week, paints a very clear picture about how important flexible work is for women in modern Australia.
96.7% of women said that flexible work arrangements are important or very important to them and the following stats will clarify why.
68.2% of respondents had caring responsibilities for either dependent children, older parents, partners, adult children or other relatives and friends.
And 36.2% of respondents had dual caring responsibilities. That is, they were the primary carer for dependent children and had caring responsibilities for others. And of those with dual caring responsibilities, 7 in 10 also worked fulltime.
These figures make it abundantly clear that women are balancing a lot, and that the ability to be flexible about when and where they are working is helping them to keep their heads above water.
This is probably a good time to mention that the monetary value of unpaid care work in Australia has been estimated to be $650.1 billion, the equivalent to 50.6% of GDP.
So, you'd think governments would be bending over backwards to support people to balance work and care. But Peter Dutton took things in the opposite direction and told women that if his return to the office mandate was a problem, maybe they should consider job sharing instead.
The reality is that flexible work is helping women increase their working hours, with benefits for both them and their families, as well as increased productivity. Indeed, since the introduction of greater workplace flexibility, the proportion of women electing full-time work over part-time has increased. In 2020, 72.2% of women working in the APS were working full-time. And as of June 2024, that had jumped to 79.9% - the highest percentage on record.
It is of course not just women who benefit from increased flexibility and working from home. Flexibility has opened the doors of employment to people who have otherwise been shut out, including people with disability and people from regional and rural Australia.
But it must be said that the biggest winner in all of this is the APS. Thanks to flexible work arrangements, the public service is now tapping into talent from right across Australia.
In the past rigid expectations about where work can be done would have locked many out of pursuing public sector employment.
Fundamentally, it is important for the public service to be representative of the people it serves.
A broader and more diverse public service with connections to communities right across the country is a good thing. It means our public sector can tap into the talents of all Australians, it makes the public sector more resilient and more representative.
And that's important.
It's important that we have people with lived experience of disability working in the NDIA so that families accessing the NDIS can be better supported.
It's important that we have culturally and linguistically diverse Australians in agencies and departments that contribute to policy development and increase the accessibility of our public services for all Australians.
It's important that we have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in agencies like National Indigenous Australians Agency, informing policy development and the services that impacts them.
It's important that we have people from regional and rural Australia working on the ground in regional and rural Australia, supporting the communities they live in.
Representation matters - and you don't achieve it by shrinking the public service or locking diverse talent out of a career in the APS.
Australians don't want to see the Coalition import yet another anti-public service, anti-diversity agenda from the United States. They want a strong, capable public sector-one that's ready to serve the community when it matters most.
Whether it's supporting veterans, safeguarding our biosecurity, regulating aged care, delivering the NDIS, or responding to disasters like Tropical Cyclone Alfred-with agencies like Services Australia, the National Emergency Management Agency, the ABC, and the Bureau of Meteorology working together to protect and support Australians-a well-resourced public service is essential.
Progress has been made in rebuilding public sector capacity and there is still more to do. But the Coalition's plan to cut one in five jobs and strip workplace rights won't fix anything. It will only weaken the services Australians rely on.
The real question isn't whether flexible work is working-we know it is. The question is why the Coalition is so determined to tear the public service down.
This opinion piece was first published in the Canberra Times on the 6 March 2025
