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Working from home going well for Revenue NSW staff, survey finds – The Mandarin 22 April 2020

  21 April 2020

Employees from New South Wales’ revenue management agency have indicated they are happy with their working-from-home arrangements, but identified issues with equipment.

The Public Service Association of NSW recently surveyed members from Revenue NSW — an agency within the Department of Customer Service — about their experiences with working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

All but one of the 186 members who responded said working from home has been made available to them, with 91% stating they have been happy to work from home.

While 88% of respondents felt they were receiving enough communication from management, 15% said they didn’t feel supported in working from home.

Finally, 22% of members believed they didn’t have all the equipment they need, such as chairs, headsets, monitors, and cables.

Respondents also identified key areas for improvement while working from home, including:

• addressing ambiguity around reporting lines and being connected with the team,
• technical issues such as access to or setting up equipment,
• actual protocols and red tape surrounding working from home and whether Special Leave may be appropriate in some circumstances.

ɫ������industrial manager Nathan Bradshaw told The Mandarin the union was “gratified” to see Revenue NSW make the transition to working from home as “pain free” as possible for its employees.

“We’ve all had to quickly adapt to the new demands of widespread working from home,” he said.

“A change of this magnitude which would typically take months of planning was instead managed in mere days, so naturally some members don’t have all the equipment at home they’d normally have in the office.

“The ɫ������is working productively with Revenue NSW to make sure members have what they need to work from home. Members with any concerns should get in touch with their workplace delegates or the union.”

The ɫ������plans to discuss key issues raised in the survey at the next Joint Consultative Committee meeting.