By Vasso Zangalis
The Allan Labor Government has announced it will legislate Working From Home at least two days a week for at least office based workers.
Many are honing in on the debate, and I myself fully support this initiative.
I may be a bit of an outsider, but COVID for me brings many fond and irreplaceable memories. I had two children – one preschooler and one in grade prep.
I was a working mum who needed to lead my team from training in the classroom to training online while using modern and unique ways of engaging an audience.
I relished the challenge and was excited to breach new borders in my online communication world. Suddenly ZOOM was not a sound my youngest’s rocket made going to the moon, but an enabler of learning, growth and development on many levels.
Being a bit of an environmentalist, I was privately thrilled with the environmental benefits of COVID thinking, ‘yes – that is a win for the environment for once.’ I looked at the sky and it was clean. I looked at the road and heard nothing. No fumes. No transport costs. No noise.
The productivity commission has stated that workers save on average 100 minutes a day on travel, and workers in fact work longer – voluntarily. The Australian Unions research paper – presented to the Victorian Government – listed research that indicated workers were at least 13% more productive.
For me, COVID was about opening doors. At the time, I was one of very few females on a mostly male dominated board of 19 members, with two young children and a partner who is a shift worker. I would often need to forward apologies to meetings as I could not be at two places at once and children always came first.
COVID opened doors.
I was able to be a mum (thank you for cartoon versions of the Odyssey in Greek available online), supervise children and participate in board meetings. This opportunity allowed my voice to be heard and exposed the board members to a different perspective of how we (and women) operate and balance life. Being in that space and voicing other ways of doing things is all part of the change process.
I now work in a workplace that is female dominated, and has embraced Working From Home and the technologies that flooded during this period (i.e. online video communication tools). I have heard some older women say, ‘we had none of this when we had children – i.e. no parental leave, no baby bonus, no work from home, less flexibility and no jobs when we did have children… what an entitled bunch.’ I would like to say to these brave pioneering women ‘thank you’. You have paved the way for a better society moving forward.
The other fond memory I have of COVID is being with my dad every day. I would grab the computer, sit next to him and work. In his final days that’s where I was. Five minutes after knocking off my regular paid work, I was next to him being his secretary, his carer. Him dictating emails, messages, articles, audio recording his radio show and forwarding it to the community ethnic radio station 3ZZZ to be aired the next day.
It was these small acts and changes that kept my dad’s brain active and engaged to his last days. And for that I say ‘thank you.’
Thank you to the Victorian Government for being brave enough to have the vision to change people’s lives – and predominantly care givers/women’s lives for the better. And for being the test case in Australia for it. I just can’t wait for it to be legislated.
