What do you mean by rotating roster arrangement? Does this mean that staff will potentially have different rostered hours of work each week, changeable every four weeks?
The span of the shifts each week will be the same, what will change on a four weekly basis is the shift start time each employee will work.Further, approximately 75% of the impacted cohort are already working to this rostering arrangement, we are looking to move where possible those that are not working to that arrangement.
Where staff have current rostering arrangements to manage their caring or other responsibilities, will they be able to retain those arrangements?
We are committed to creating a work environment that allows people to meet their personal and career goals while ensuring the needs of the team and business are met. We are in the process of consulting with our employees about their personal circumstances and preferences and the impacts this may have on their availability to work certain shifts within the roster. We will genuinely consider employees’ personal circumstances and preferences before any changes are made and when proposing changes to rosters we will do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and in a way that satisfies business needs while taking into account those matters.
How will this process work in practice? Will all staff be asked to submit their preference for hours of work?
We are holding 1:1 conversations with all impacted employees between 3 – 9 November. Employees can raise during this meeting or at any time during consultation any feedback, personal circumstances and preferences they would like us to consider.
How will you ensure that staff needs are genuinely taken into account in rostering?
Where compelling personal circumstances are raised, we have an escalation process and Employee Relations will support in assessing those circumstances before any rostering changes are implemented. Where it is determined that there are genuine personal circumstances that mean a change should not be made to employees’ current rostering arrangements and/or which mean a rostering restriction is required, this will be recorded in a master document for the workforce planning team and will be taken into account in the rostering process.
If rosters are intended to change on a four-weekly basis, are staff required to continually update their availability and personal circumstances?
No, this is not a requirement. As noted above, where a rostering restriction is required, this will be recorded and taken into account when rosters are set. These arrangements will be reviewed periodically.
What are the arrangements if a staff member is not able to work the new roster proposed by ANZ?
In all cases we will try to find a compromise that balances customer and employee needs. In some cases we may need to consider whether the employee’s or the business’ interests can be met in different ways and seek alternative suggestions from the employee or other employees. It is possible that together we will be able to identify new alternatives ensuring that both the business’ needs and that of the employee can be accommodated. Where necessary, we will escalate for Employee Relations case management.
You have stated that “our ability to deliver the best customer service we can, is presently restricted as the constraints prevent us from rostering employees at the times we need them most.”. Does this mean that you do not have enough staff at present to staff peak periods in the contact centre, and this process will involve compelling some staff to work during those peak periods?
Some employees are currently rostered on days where there is not enough call demand to give them meaningful work to do due to their historical rostering restrictions. There are other days that they could be better utilised as we have identified call volume is higher on those days.
How will these arrangements work in practice? Will there be a completely new roster every four weeks? How is it intended for this to reflect the personal circumstances of staff?
It is already current practice for there to be a new roster every four weeks for the majority of the impacted population. For those employees, there is no change. But for some employees, this change means that their rostering will move to be aligned with the majority of the population. As noted above, where it is determined that employees have genuine personal circumstances that require a rostering restriction, this will be recorded and taken into account when rosters are set.