Westpac boss takes a cheeky swipe at Commonwealth Bank

The boss of one of Australia’s Big Four banks has weighed in on the home debate before delivering a brutal swipe at a rival now facing a staff revolt.

The Commonwealth Bank sparked outrage last week after its 49,000-strong workforce was told to be physically in the office at least 50 percent of the time from July.

Enraged employees later lashed out at executives in a revolt against the mandate in a “bloodbath” internal town hall meeting.

The decision followed shortly after NAB CEO Ross McEwan’s directive that all senior staff return to work five days a week.

Peter King, CEO of Westpac, addressed the recent controversy in a staff memo that was later shared with the business gossip Instagram account The Aussie Corporate with the caption “Westpac holds up to WFH expectations.”

He assured his 40,000 employees that the bank’s “hybrid model” of dividing office time and working remotely has not changed – and that they still only need to come two or three days a week.

“Hello everyone – if you had been watching the news you would have seen that there have been discussions about getting teams back to the office full time,” Mr King’s leaked staff meme begins.

“I wanted to confirm that our approach has not changed.

‘We will continue to operate a hybrid working model, where you are expected to come to the office two or three days a week. Your team days at the office are an opportunity to collaborate and work together in person.”

Mr. King noted that many customer-facing positions are already full-time in the workplace.

“Or if you’re like me, you’re usually in the office or on the road — which I know my family prefers!” he added.

“We are committed to maintaining flexibility for our people, including through hybrid working, and we feel we have struck the right balance.

“We trust you to do your job in a way that works for you and your team. If you have questions about your team’s work patterns, I encourage you to talk to your people leader.”

Westpac confirmed the screenshot was an internal note from Mr King to staff, but declined to comment further.

“He wanted to strengthen the hybrid and flexible working arrangements with our people,” a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

Westpac reiterates that flexible working arrangements are available to many employees.

‘You can choose to work at a different location, including at home, instead of at the office. This works well if you have a job title or tasks that don’t require a high level of face-to-face interaction with clients or co-workers,” the website states.

Commonwealth Bank confirmed to Daily Mail Australia last week that they would provide a ‘framework’ for staff to return to the office.

The banking giant is one of many companies that recently put staff back to work.

“Our approach to hybrid working has always been about striking the right balance between our longstanding commitment to flexible working and ensuring we deliver the best outcomes for our customers,” a spokeswoman said.

“In recent years we have spent time testing different working models based on our own insights, regular feedback from our people and the lessons learned from other organisations.

“Based on these experiences, we recently raised the expectation that from mid-July our people in the office will have to be in the office for at least 50 percent of their working time during the month.

“This provides individual flexibility for where work is done for half of the working month, while also recognizing the important role the workplace plays in collaboration, innovation, well-being and career advancement.”

The bank said the move to the office was to continue to drive innovation, increase employee collaboration and improve face-to-face interactions.

CBA Group Executive of Human Resources Sian Lewis previously told the Australian Financial Review that employees in the office are interacting with an additional 11 colleagues every day and are spending between 20 and 30 minutes more time collaborating with each other.

“Our people also spend 40 percent or more of their time interacting with their leader and colleagues in the office,” she said. ‘We have seen that innovation is a result of our people physically working together.’