The public service commission has urged agency heads to be flexible as new COVID variants force changes in government advice about work-from-home arrangements.
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Updated guidance for public sector bosses also says that working from home "may be a suitable option" for some workers as agencies take measures to keep employees safe from COVID infection.
However agency heads should aim to return workers to offices when it's safe, the commission said.
The update advice has received approval from the main public sector union, which says it will lead to better COVID safety for staff at agencies resisting working from home.
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Melissa Donnelly said most agencies had done the right thing in either pausing return to workplace plans or reintroducing work-from-home arrangements.
"This circular will enable safer workplaces for those agencies or departments that have had their head in the sand," she said.
The Australian Public Service Commission stopped short of issuing a bureaucracy-wide direction to work from home, saying agency heads remained responsible for making COVID-related decisions affecting their workplaces and based on government advice and public health orders.
"Given the emergence of new COVID variants, agencies should remain flexible in responding and adapting to changes in such advice," the commission's guidance said.
It follows calls from the CPSU for greater consistency in work-from-home arrangements across the federal bureaucracy, after several agencies delayed in sending their staff home earlier this month despite the Omicron surge in cases.
The guidance, updated on Friday, said agency heads would need to continue responding to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
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Ms Donnelly said the commission's guidance put much clearer and stronger emphasis on working from home as an ongoing control measure against COVID.
"The CPSU continues to call on the APS to consider future directions and the provision of increased access for employees to working from home," she said.
"Our members want to see more working from home arrangements in the future, where employees wish to access it. We all have different needs, and different lives, and working from home can help mend the gap between work and home."
The commission's updated advice said agency heads were also responsible for determining their agency's approach to supporting employees to get tested for COVID-19, and screening in workplaces, to maintain their delivery of critical functions.
Ms Donnelly said the guidance was "a hint that there may finally be a move on use of rapid antigen tests in the APS".
The union last week called for federal public servants exposed to COVID in the workplace to be provided with free rapid antigen tests and paid leave while awaiting results.
A number of departments and agencies have agreed to allow public servants to work from home during January, however some delayed in deciding on the safety measure.
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