How Victoria’s WFH laws could exacerbate psychosocial hazards

Psychosocial hazards are in danger of becoming “more opaque” in the face of a legislated right to work from home in Victoria, one expert has said.

The Labor government in Victoria announced, last month (under now-former premier Jacinta Allan), that it would codify employees’ right to work from home, two days a week, in the state’s Equal Opportunity Act.

Since that time, criticism has come thick and fast, from the potential for myriad HR concerns, a likely increase in the volume of employment disputes, and therefore the workload for the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, fears for negative impacts on business operations, and an acceleration of offshoring of jobs.

There are also, DLPA chief executive Karlie Cremin pointed out, inherent dangers for psychosocial risks and hazards, which Victorian workplaces are already bound to manage in the same way they must treat physical workplace safety, under the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025.

The looming legislation, Cremin said in conversation with HR Leader, could well make psychosocial hazards “more opaque” for those who are working from home, particularly for medium-sized employers, where there might be complications with scheduling. “You can’t have everyone off on Friday or at home on Friday. There’s a lot of moving parts,” she said.

Moreover, “it makes a lot of the interpersonal stuff less visible, so it’s harder for employers to actually be managing”.

Such developments will add friction to work processes, she said, and therefore risks will increase. A bigger issue that will then arise is how managers will have to navigate such shifts: “The psychosocial hazard that I’m most concerned about is the managers having to have these conversations, knowing that you’re squished between [multiple] regulations.”

“I think [there’s going to be] a lot of pain ahead.”

When asked what unforeseen psychosocial hazards may arise as a result of the WFH mandate, Cremin first pointed out that, given the short time frame from announcement of the legislative change to codification by Parliament, smaller or medium-level hazards may end up “with a higher risk rating on them”.

For customer-facing businesses, she said, “you’re going to have customers who are really [unhappy], which is a key psychosocial hazard for a lot of organisations these days”.

Elsewhere, Cremin went on, there are currently businesses that are “actively investigating how to not employ people in Victoria”, given how “unattractive” the industrial relations and employment law environment is becoming. “We’re hearing a lot of people talk about how to move the workforce out of Victoria and be in other jurisdictions,” she said.

What’s more, Victorians are aware of this, adding another layer of stress for the state’s workers.

Finally, Cremin noted that making changes to the state’s Equal Opportunity Act risks having WFH entitlements “tarred with the same brush” as longstanding equality frameworks, which could, she said, result in those laws being “trivialised, or almost delegitimised”.

In response to such risks, Cremin suggests a number of steps for employers to take in the new-look landscape.

“Open dialogue, as much as it’s ever possible, is going to be the highest-impact thing you can do with any change,” she said.

“Most people, I think, are going to want to work through a solution. People generally want to be working for successful organisations, because it means you stay employed. So, I think just having open dialogue early, but also building the capability of particular managers to recognise these risks, to assess the risks, have somewhere to communicate them, and really have the competency to be able to engage in these conversations around how we address these things, [will be essential].”

Because, Cremin concluded, “as with any change, there’s going to be something unexpected”.

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Jerome Doraisamy

Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Momentum Media’s professional services suite, encompassing Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times. He has worked as a journalist and podcast host at Momentum Media since February 2018. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.