13 min read
Working from home
NEW October 2025
This chapter explains your legal obligations to employees who work from home and how to meet them.
Why might an employee work from home?
An employee may work from home for many reasons, including:
- temporary disability, e.g. an illness or broken leg;
- the business model of an organisation encouraging home-based or flexible working;
- a government or employer direction;
- personal circumstances, e.g. carer’s responsibilities; or
- there being an unreasonable distance from the employee’s home to the workplace.
Important: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a huge shift in Australia, with an overwhelming number of people working for extended periods of time at home. Many organisations and employees have chosen to maintain a level of home-based work.
How to determine whether working from home is suitable for your employees
Depending on the type of work your employee is required to perform, it may not be appropriate for them to work from home. To assess whether the employee’s role is suitable to perform from home, consider whether:
- all the employee’s tasks can be carried out safely and efficiently away from the regular workplace; and
- the quality of the work is likely to be affected if work is performed away from the regular workplace.