New South Wales to ask employees to return to office by March

Premier wants to return to a 'normal way of living' but are workplaces ready?

BY Dexter Tilo 09 Feb 2022

New South Wales (NSW) will end its remote work setup among employees starting March 1, according to reports, as the state sees a decline in COVID-19 figures.

The Daily Mail reported that NSW would be asking its employees to return onsite starting March 1, as the state also lifts its face mask requirements indoors, including offices.

Premier Dominic Perrottet made the remarks ahead of a high-powered roundtable of government this Friday to discuss the recovery of Sydney's central business districts, news.com.au reported.

According to the premier, the event is expected to "inject confidence" to the public that the state is returning to a "more normal way of living."

"Bringing back workers to the city is a civic duty from which we will all derive benefit, socially and economically," Perrottet said as quoted by news.com.au.

The premier recently announced that current restriction in the state are extended until February 28. This includes the following:

Hospitality venues must follow the one person per two square metre rule indoors
Mandatory mask wearing in all indoor settings except residences
Compulsory QR code check-ins in select venues such as hospitality venues and retail shops
Prohibition of singing and dancing in hospitality venues, entertainment facilities, indoor music festivals, and indoor major recreation facilities

How should employers prepare for return?

The latest ELMO Employee Sentiment Index revealed that 69% of employees are concerned about returning to the workplace because of the emergency of new COVID-19 variants.

Danny Lessem, ELMO Software CEO and founder, said in a statement that employers need to prioritise the management of the Omicron spread in the workplace to boost confidence on returning staff.

This could likely include the introduction of introduction COVID-19 measures in the workplaces, according to the report, as 76% of Australian employees back mandatory vaccinations in the workplace.

To help employers evaluate if their workplaces are ready for a possible outbreak of cases, Deloitte has an online COVID-19 Workplace Safety Self-Assessment that could help bosses answer the following questions:

What new mental health and wellbeing risks are my staff exposed to?
What do we do if we have a suspected COVID-19 infection in the workplace?
How do we continue to manage and maintain people working from home safely?
Have we identified how to protect our vulnerable employees?
If so, how do we ensure we are protecting our vulnerable employees?
For essential services - how can we comply with physical distance COVID-19 controls and still work effectively? Etc.