As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the community, two of Australia’s top employers, Westpac and Telstra, are giving staff more freedom to work from home.
It comes days after Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly encouraged Australians to wear masks and work from home if possible.
A Westpac spokesman said that while they did not instruct employees to work from home, they gave staff the option.
Westpac offers staff more freedom to work from home. (AP)
“Earlier this year, we introduced a green, amber and red job classification system to help manage our workplace amid changes in health settings,” the spokesman said.
“Westpac’s work environment is currently amber, meaning those employees who can work from home can do so without having to be in the office. Employees can still attend the office. if they prefer.
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“For employees who have to attend a job, such as our branches, we have a number of safety and health measures in place to keep our people safe.”
Telecommunications giant Telstra is “strongly encouraging” staff to work from home.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the increase in COVID-19 cases will put pressure on the hospital system. (new)
“We strongly encourage our people to work from home if they can, to wear a mask when they can’t distance themselves socially, and to receive the booster shot if they are eligible,” said Alex Badenoch, executive of Telstra group, Transformation, Communications and People. , dit.
“To date, there are more than 5,200 Australians in the hospital with COVID,” he said.
Butler said hospitalizations “were almost certain” to increase, but said there are currently fewer people in intensive care compared to the January wave.