Fleur Fitzsimmons: PSA National Secretary discusses ACC allowing staff to work from home 3 days a week

ACC has backed down and will continue to let staff work from home three days a week. 

The corporation had proposed cutting that allowance back to two days a week at home - so the public service association then complained to the commerce commission. 

National Secretary of the PSA Fleur Fitzsimmons told Ryan Bridge that there was no problem before the proposed change, and that the staff's strong response contributed to the company's decision to back down. 

'We took legal action, we went to the Commerce Commission. And really all of those things have countered towards ACC's decision today.'

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridge.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
So let's go to ACC. They are backing down. They
will continue to let staff work from home three days
a week. The corporation had proposed cutting that allowance back
to two days a week at home. So the Public
Service Association then complained to the Commerce Commission. They've complained
to well, anyone who listened Flurfitt, Simon's national secretary with
me now for good.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Evening, Good evening, Ryan.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
So this all comes down to the job ads, does
it is that what has changed their you know, caused
the change?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I think really what it comes down to is common sense.
ACC had staff working from home up to three days
a week. It went well for staff, there was no
issues with productivity, and ACC then tried to change it
really out of the blue, and actually it was working
for everybody. So when they tried to change it, staff
came out quite strongly, including through the union. We took

(00:50):
legal action, we went to the Commerce Commission, and really
all of those things have counted towards ACC's decision today.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I think when you say that there was no problem
with productivity, that's according to the staff. What the managers
said was something very different, wasn't it? If we're being.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Honest FLIR managers raise concerns about the ability to create
teamwork when you have people working from home up to
three days a week. What our members told us was
that on the days they did come to work, it
wasn't like managers went out of their way to build
morale or to build teamwork. And actually what ACC did
is find ways to build morale and teamwork, including online

(01:30):
and with people working from home.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
How do you build morale online?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
How do you build morelean so much, let's think of
what we did during COVID. There's lots of work together
on teams across the country. So the reality is ACC
is a national organization. It has staff all over the
country in twenty locations. They all need to work together effectively,
and actually working from home where it can work for
roles that it's suitable for does very well.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
What days are they taking so they only have to
go into the office two days a week. What days
are they are they working from home?

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, for some roles that's the case. It varies for
different people. And part of the reason that varies for
different people is that ACC doesn't actually have enough desks
for everybody to be in the office in the same day.
And that's actually the reality for many government departments. They've
downsized to such a degree that even if everybody did
come back to work, So.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
The upside, if they upside, you're happy to come back.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
No, it's about more than that, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
I appreciate your time for if at Simon's Peters For more.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
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Speaker 2 (02:37):
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