If you employ people in administration, reception, accounts, payroll or other office-based roles, new working from home rules under the Clerks – Private Sector Award may apply to your business.
From an employee’s first full pay period starting on or after 26 October 2026, the Award includes a new process for employees to request to work from home and for employers to record any arrangements they agree to.
The new rules don’t give employees an automatic entitlement to work from home. Instead, they provide a process for employees covered by the Clerks Award to request a working-from-home arrangement. You may agree to the request, in which case the arrangement must be documented in writing in accordance with the Award.
Could this apply to your team?
The Clerks Award can cover a range of clerical and administrative roles, including:
- administrative assistants and office administrators
- receptionists
- accounts and payroll officers
- bookkeepers
- executive and personal assistants
- customer service administrators
- sales support and sales administration employees
- scheduling and rostering administrators
- HR administrators where the work is mainly administrative
- office coordinators.
Job title alone doesn’t determine award coverage, so it’s important to look at the employee’s actual duties and how the award applies to your business.
What’s changing?
If an employee covered by the Clerks Award wants to request a working from home arrangement, their request needs to be in writing and include either:
- the specific day or days of the week they want to work from home, or
- the number, proportion or pattern of days they want to work from home.
This allows for both set working from home days and arrangements where the days may vary.
If you agree to the request, the working-from-home arrangement must be recorded in writing and comply with the requirements of the Award. You and the employee may also agree to modify how certain Award provisions apply to facilitate the arrangement, including provisions relating to ordinary hours of work and rest and meal breaks.
What should you do?
If you have employees who may be covered by the Clerks Award:
- check which employees the Award covers
- review any working from home arrangements you already have
- make sure you have a way to receive and document written requests
- check whether your working from home policies or templates need updating
- make sure managers know about the new process.
It is important to note that the Clerks Award working-from-home process is separate from an employee’s right to request flexible working arrangements under the National Employment Standards. Employees who are eligible to make an NES flexible work request may have additional rights and employers may have additional obligations when responding to those requests.
Need help?
If you’re not sure whether the Clerks Award applies to someone in your team, or what the changes mean for your existing working from home arrangements, our HR team can help.
P | 1300 731 988
