Services Australia workers publicly shamed over toilet break
Feb 15, 2024 19:16:22 GMT 7
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Post by bear on Feb 15, 2024 19:16:22 GMT 7
Services Australia employees publicly shamed for toilet breaks over 5 minutes
In short:
Staff at Services Australia say they are being publicly humiliated and face disciplinary action if they take longer than 5 minutes to go to the toilet.
Employees have reported having their names and the length of time they are away from their desks displayed on office whiteboards.
What's next? The agency says it will investigate the reports and work to improve workplace culture.
Services Australia has vowed to investigate reports staff are being publicly shamed for taking longer than five minutes to go to the toilet during a shift.
Independent senator David Pocock told Senate estimates he was "stunned" when staff reported having the time they took in the bathroom displayed in the office, with others being disciplined for "time fraud".
The agency requires call centre staff to enter auxiliary codes into their computer when they change activities, a practice it said is required to manage demand.
The code that is entered when staff need to go to the toilet or fill up their water bottle allows a five-minute screen break.
Senator Pocock said staff who didn't meet that time frame faced potential disciplinary action, including code of conduct breaches.
"Any minutes over that five minutes which you've 'stolen' from the agency is in some cases being put up on a whiteboard," he said.
"You've got people doing their training on their lunch break to try and make up for a few minutes.
"How is it acceptable to use someone's minutes that they take on a toilet break over five minutes to put that on a whiteboard and publicly humiliate people in your agency?"
Agency labels claim a 'myth', says not aware of practice. The agency has denied timing toilet breaks.
The deputy CEO of customer service delivery, Jarrod Howard, insisted the codes, which are entered when changing task or leaving the desk, are necessary to direct call centre traffic.
"We have done a lot of work to bust what I say is a myth," he said.
"It is not acceptable and I'm not aware of it happening.
"There will be times where staff will be coached by their team leader about the fact they may have been in an auxiliary code for longer than what is expected.
"If they are utilising reasonable time to go to the toilet that is not something we are going to have a code of conduct breach for."
New head says timing breaks 'not our policy'
Services Australia CEO David Hazlehurst, who has been in the role for about a month, said he would continue to investigate the reports.
"If that's happening it's unacceptable," he said.
"It's certainly not our policy to approach it in that way.
"I'm happy to give you my undertaking that we will continue to look into this and create ongoing positive culture about how we manage staff."
Thousands of new staff join Services Australia
Wait times for Australians calling the agency had blown out to an average of more than 40 minutes, a massive number of unprocessed claims were stuck in the system, and the Robodebt scandal cast a long shadow over the agency.
His deputy, Mr Howard, said the matter accounted for less than point one per cent of concerns raised with him.
"Every day we will have non-adherence to those schedules for a variety of reasons and some of them where it's completely appropriate, some of them where we will need to have conversations with staff," he said.
"Culturally we are working really hard to move where we find pockets of concerns, like the ones you are raising, we are working really hard to dismiss and abolish those practices because it's not the environment we are trying to create.
"I'm happy to look into those individual circumstances because it's not a position that we take at a holistic level across the group."
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) president Melissa Donnelly said there needed to be less micro-managing of staff at the agency.
"The Fair Work Act provides a range of industrial rights that protect employees when they're accessing their entitlements and conditions at work," she said.
"So this kind of situation where people are facing being named in on a whiteboard for accessing toilet breaks, you know, is absolutely ridiculous and does not protect employees and their entitlements at work."
Call wait times persist
Service Australia has long been criticised for the length of time customers wait on the phone before speaking to a staff member.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten recently announced the government had met its target of employing an extra 3,000 staff to manage call times and the claims processing backlog.
The agency told Senate estimates that would flow through to reduced call wait times from April.
However, as of the end of December average waiting times remained lengthy.
Mr Hazlehurst says he will continue to investigate the toilet break allegations.
The longest call wait time for Centrelink was 52 minutes for families and parenting payment enquiries.
Average wait times for employment services, disabilities, carers, pensioners and youth and student allowance queries were all over 46 minutes.
Emergency management payment calls had the shortest wait time, with an average of 4 minutes.
Mr Howard said claims processing was the focus.
"Resources are not allowing us to deliver the services that we want to deliver the services," he said.
"We will see across the next few months as the 3,000 additional staff for the agency come online we will see an increase in average speed of answer across the telephones and we will see a decrease in customers waiting for their claims."
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-14/staff-publicly-shamed-for-toilet-breaks-over-minutes/103465210?fbclid=IwAR3DMRt0ADdSDytqRLakEcut2FwZ6e7LmelqfZcp9-7ds9iMp9Vmh6X_oL4
In short:
Staff at Services Australia say they are being publicly humiliated and face disciplinary action if they take longer than 5 minutes to go to the toilet.
Employees have reported having their names and the length of time they are away from their desks displayed on office whiteboards.
What's next? The agency says it will investigate the reports and work to improve workplace culture.
Services Australia has vowed to investigate reports staff are being publicly shamed for taking longer than five minutes to go to the toilet during a shift.
Independent senator David Pocock told Senate estimates he was "stunned" when staff reported having the time they took in the bathroom displayed in the office, with others being disciplined for "time fraud".
The agency requires call centre staff to enter auxiliary codes into their computer when they change activities, a practice it said is required to manage demand.
The code that is entered when staff need to go to the toilet or fill up their water bottle allows a five-minute screen break.
Senator Pocock said staff who didn't meet that time frame faced potential disciplinary action, including code of conduct breaches.
"Any minutes over that five minutes which you've 'stolen' from the agency is in some cases being put up on a whiteboard," he said.
"You've got people doing their training on their lunch break to try and make up for a few minutes.
"How is it acceptable to use someone's minutes that they take on a toilet break over five minutes to put that on a whiteboard and publicly humiliate people in your agency?"
Agency labels claim a 'myth', says not aware of practice. The agency has denied timing toilet breaks.
The deputy CEO of customer service delivery, Jarrod Howard, insisted the codes, which are entered when changing task or leaving the desk, are necessary to direct call centre traffic.
"We have done a lot of work to bust what I say is a myth," he said.
"It is not acceptable and I'm not aware of it happening.
"There will be times where staff will be coached by their team leader about the fact they may have been in an auxiliary code for longer than what is expected.
"If they are utilising reasonable time to go to the toilet that is not something we are going to have a code of conduct breach for."
New head says timing breaks 'not our policy'
Services Australia CEO David Hazlehurst, who has been in the role for about a month, said he would continue to investigate the reports.
"If that's happening it's unacceptable," he said.
"It's certainly not our policy to approach it in that way.
"I'm happy to give you my undertaking that we will continue to look into this and create ongoing positive culture about how we manage staff."
Thousands of new staff join Services Australia
Wait times for Australians calling the agency had blown out to an average of more than 40 minutes, a massive number of unprocessed claims were stuck in the system, and the Robodebt scandal cast a long shadow over the agency.
His deputy, Mr Howard, said the matter accounted for less than point one per cent of concerns raised with him.
"Every day we will have non-adherence to those schedules for a variety of reasons and some of them where it's completely appropriate, some of them where we will need to have conversations with staff," he said.
"Culturally we are working really hard to move where we find pockets of concerns, like the ones you are raising, we are working really hard to dismiss and abolish those practices because it's not the environment we are trying to create.
"I'm happy to look into those individual circumstances because it's not a position that we take at a holistic level across the group."
Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) president Melissa Donnelly said there needed to be less micro-managing of staff at the agency.
"The Fair Work Act provides a range of industrial rights that protect employees when they're accessing their entitlements and conditions at work," she said.
"So this kind of situation where people are facing being named in on a whiteboard for accessing toilet breaks, you know, is absolutely ridiculous and does not protect employees and their entitlements at work."
Call wait times persist
Service Australia has long been criticised for the length of time customers wait on the phone before speaking to a staff member.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten recently announced the government had met its target of employing an extra 3,000 staff to manage call times and the claims processing backlog.
The agency told Senate estimates that would flow through to reduced call wait times from April.
However, as of the end of December average waiting times remained lengthy.
Mr Hazlehurst says he will continue to investigate the toilet break allegations.
The longest call wait time for Centrelink was 52 minutes for families and parenting payment enquiries.
Average wait times for employment services, disabilities, carers, pensioners and youth and student allowance queries were all over 46 minutes.
Emergency management payment calls had the shortest wait time, with an average of 4 minutes.
Mr Howard said claims processing was the focus.
"Resources are not allowing us to deliver the services that we want to deliver the services," he said.
"We will see across the next few months as the 3,000 additional staff for the agency come online we will see an increase in average speed of answer across the telephones and we will see a decrease in customers waiting for their claims."
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-14/staff-publicly-shamed-for-toilet-breaks-over-minutes/103465210?fbclid=IwAR3DMRt0ADdSDytqRLakEcut2FwZ6e7LmelqfZcp9-7ds9iMp9Vmh6X_oL4