Omicron surge puts return to work target in peril
Commonwealth Bank and Telstra are considering the onsite use of rapid antigen tests for staff in the new year, with the surge in Omicron cases forcing large employers across corporate Australia to rethink their return to work plans.
While February was widely deemed the defacto return-to-work deadline by companies with large cohorts of employees, in NSW and Victoria, soaring infections numbers and the greater risk of office-based infections has got them telling staff to keep working from home for a little longer. “We will continue to monitor the situation and any government announcements, but anticipate this may be something that we do for employees working in key operational roles in the future.”
“The revenue we used to generate in one week or one hour, we can’t even generate that in a whole day at the moment.” Paul Signorelli of the Doltone House Group has been working from home since contracting COVID-19 at Christmas.He was forced to cancel a New Year’s Eve event at Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont after 70 per cent of the 350 guests cancelled their tickets. Three grooms with COVID-19 postponed their weddings which were scheduled for January. And the long-awaited January reopening of Biaggio Cafe, closed since March, has also been put on hold.
“We have seen a bit of a hand brake pulled up [on staff returning to the workplace], all services will be affected in January and February as we come out of New Year’s Eve,” he said.
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