Would you take a pay cut to work from home?
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett is proposing public servants who work remotely should be paid less than those that have no choice but to commute — such as nurses and teachers.
He explained his idea to Sammy J on ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast.
EDIT - Here’s the article in the Herald Sun they’re referring to (unpaywalled): https://archive.is/20230711234402/https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/bid-to-have-employees-salaries-cut-if-they-work-from-home/news-story/6273dad7538f5485e182a6cd5e19cc92
Equal pay for equal work. Why should someone working in an office building be paid more than someone working remotely, doing the same job?
Jeff Kennett desperately trying to remain relevant after dropping out of headlines for a few weeks
And how about politicians only get paid for when they are at work sitting in parliament?
And don’t get a fat cat pension for the rest of their lives.
The lack of self awareness is fucking unbelievable.
A better way is to change travel time from private time to company time with a cap so people don’t abuse it.
E.g. Sydney maximum cap 2 hours each way, Canberra would be like 45 mins. To reduce discrimination for employers to discriminate by choosing closer people, every employer pays the maximum regardless of where the employee is located to the government and the government reimburses the staff, while pocketing the difference.
Teachers and nurses are underpaid and should be paid more because of how important their jobs are to society. Bringing wages down for everyone else is beyond fucking stupid when the same argument can be made about just lifting wages for teachers and nurses.
Teachers and nurses also arguably benefit from wfh. Fewer cars on the road = fewer accidents for nurses to deal with. Parents having better work life balance = more capacity to help their kids learn so teachers are less burdened.
