Members in some parts of Legal Aid have told the PSA that they are being required against their wishes to work from the office more than the 1-2 days per week required in the current policy.

PSA enquiries also show that in some areas, Team Design Agreements are being used to place blanket limitations on individual flexible work negotiations. In some cases, such blanket limitations cannot be justified on the basis of business requirements.

As part of discussions with Human Resources on this issue, management has asked the PSA to provide further details, including which offices are of concern and the role played by Team Design Agreements.

Although management has advised us that they do not have access to it, the union believes that management should be able to directly collate this information. Such unavailability of data contributes to the opacity of the current system and works contrary to the aims of the Flexible Work Policy. As part of our project of contributing to the best possible flexible work system at Legal Aid, we have decided to collect our own data. To this end, we have set up a survey using our Survey Monkey service.

The survey asks members to tell us their personal experiences accessing working from home, as well as providing estimates about access to working from home in their own offices.

The survey can be accessed via the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YVXYG7M.

Please take a couple of minutes to complete the survey and encourage your colleagues (including non-members) to do so too. All personal information will be de-identified and kept strictly confidential.

The PSA is committed to your wellbeing at work – interventions such as this one on working from home can only succeed due to a strong membership within Legal Aid. If you wish to become more involved, have a colleague who is interested in joining, or have questions, contact our Member Support Centre on 1300 772 679 or one of the contacts listed below.

Your PSA staff

Andrew Wright Industrial Officer

Glenn Duncan Organiser

Your Legal Aid Delegates

Elanor Canning
Dane Bracewell
Christine Harvey
Sandie Marr
Imogen Szumer
Nicole Corner
Sally Deans
Christina Youssef