We had a great response to our recent attendance attitudes survey, with over 2700 ATO staff taking part. Thanks to all those who took the time to have their say.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it
One of the key results is that ATO staff understand their enterprise
agreement obligations and entitlements when it comes to accessing personal
leave. Responses show that you believe the overarching approach to personal
leave should be one of trust and respect and that employees should be valued and
treated like the responsible adults you are. Respondents were concerned about
this attitude changing and the majority thought the current ATO approach in
their workplace was respectful and fair and did not want to see this change for
the worse.
What is also clear is that the many managers also understand their enterprise
agreement obligations when managing personal leave. Many managers (who also
attended recent staff meetings on attendance management) said that the
attendance management policy undermines their working relationship with their
team and this is summed up in one quote in particular “the ATO should trust me
to work with my team and respond appropriately to their work/life balance
needs.”
Over 95% of respondents said they would prefer to notify an absence to
their team leader rather than an attendance manager.
Only 1% of respondents believed their colleagues accessed personal leave
when they where not sick.
The Good
82% of respondents said it was OK for them to take personal leave in
their workplace when they where unwell
72% of respondents said their managers where supportive of them
accessing their personal leave
The Bad
Over 81% of respondents saying they have come to work when sick or when
they had caring responsibilities and over 75% of those reported being less
productive at work as a result.
Nearly 70% felt that high workloads had an influence on them not taking
personal leave when needed.
51% of members said that the impact of their absence on their colleagues
influenced their use of personal leave.
The ugly
One in five responding staff indicated they had been asked to take flex
or other leave when requesting personal leave.
Many respondents who had been counselled about the nature of an illness
when returning to work reported that they felt stressed, humiliated or
harassed, that they were “very disappointed” and it was “an invasion of
privacy”.
Full survey results will be available to members soon.
