Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker

• Green logistics is a holistic approach aimed at minimizing the environmental impact associated with logistics operations.
• The core goal of green logistics is to enhance operational efficiency while prioritizing sustainability, encompassing initiatives to reduce emissions, adopt eco-friendly operational processes, and mitigate environmental pollution.
• Financial institutions are integrating eco-friendly logistics practices, supported by governments and banks that provide loans to green logistics projects.
• North America leads the green logistics market, with a focus on sustainable practices driven by environmental regulations and awareness of carbon footprint reduction.

• The Commonwealth Bank kick-started this conversation recently, with reports the organisation is requiring staff to work at least half the week on-site.
• Earlier research (by the lead author of this article) shows working from home has particular benefits for employees with disability.
• Read more:
  Part-time work is valuable to people with disability – but full time is more likely to attract government support

A much shorter commute

• We repeated our survey of almost 5,000 public servants (just over a quarter who identified as living with disability) in 2021.
• We found disabled employees valued working from home highly.
• Almost half (47%) of employees with disability would like to work from home two or three days a week.

But commuting isn’t the only issue

• One respondent told us:
  Due to disability, less distractions and calmer environment, [I am] able to manage my conditions better and perform better.
• Due to disability, less distractions and calmer environment, [I am] able to manage my conditions better and perform better.
• Another person said it means greater working capacity:
  I am disabled, and [working from home] reduces fatigue and pain.
• Read more:
  Australia is lagging when it comes to employing people with disability – quotas for disability services could be a start

Benefits to organisations

• In a tight labour market, organisations need to keep their workers.
• A large study of almost 24,000 people across 27 countries found a quarter of employees said they would quit if forced back to the office.
• Increasing the employment of disabled people enables organisations to access an under-utilised talent pool.

What else can employers do?

Creating inclusive workplaces that value and accept disabled workers means including those working from home. This can be facilitated by:
• Some employees may benefit from spending more time in the office.
• For disabled employees, enabling them to exceed a mandatory – and often arbitrary – work-from-home cap may deliver the best outcomes for both organisations and employees.

• The event featured world-class speakers including:
  Matt Comyn, CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, participated in a dynamic fireside chat with Ambati.
• For more information about H2O.ais H2O World event, the companys Wizard tool or its AI 4 Good work, visit https://h2o.ai/ .
• H2O.ai is the leading AI Cloud company, on a mission to democratize AI and drive an open AI movement around the world.
• A strong AI for Good ethos to make the world a better place and Responsible AI drive the companys purpose.

• = Court-enforceable undertaking to drive better privacy practices at Commonwealth Bank =
  The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) will be required to substantially improve its privacy practices under a court-enforceable undertaking given to the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner.
• Our inquiries identified deficiencies in CBAs management of personal information, specifically its internal access controls and approach to retention and destruction.
• As a result of this work, CBA has committed through a court-enforceable undertaking to substantially improve their privacy practices.
• Commissioner Falk said all organisations regulated under the
  Privacy Act 1988 should proactively manage their data holdings to protect peoples personal information.
• The enforceable undertaking requires CBA to review its privacy policies, procedures and retention standards, and provide staff training to ensure compliance.
• The OAIC may take court action at any stage if CBA does not fully comply with the terms of the undertaking.
• The enforceable undertaking is part of the OAICs ongoing work in regulating data handling practices in the financial services sector, including compliance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.