Services Australia executives were asked to reveal how long they take to use the bathroom at Wednesday's estimates, as senators took the agency to task over reports that staff are being policed for exceeding timed toilet breaks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Call centre staff at Services Australia have alleged that breaks are limited to five minutes every hour, and that the fear of reprimand for exceeding this time has seen some skip bathroom trips during shifts altogether.
ACT independent senator David Pocock told officials he had spoken to a number of Services Australia staff who claim they have been threatened with a code of conduct complaint for "stealing agency time" if they take too long to use the bathroom or get a drink of water.
![ACT senator David Pocock said that staff claim they risk punishment for exceeding their hourly break time. Pictures Karleen Minney, Keegan Carroll ACT senator David Pocock said that staff claim they risk punishment for exceeding their hourly break time. Pictures Karleen Minney, Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3BUUzmFAhrhLyX9rFCubPq5/6998ab57-0fd5-4325-a365-9f7655d4b3c8.jpg/r0_0_3840_2159_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The senator said his office had heard that, in some cases, these stolen minutes were written up on a whiteboard in the office as a way to shame offending staff.
Services Australia deputy chief executive officer Jarrod Howard acknowledged that staff are required to input an auxiliary code into the system to mark the start of their break, and change it back at the end, as a way to signal when calls shouldn't be diverted to that member and "make sure we have the right people in the right place to serve customers".
But he rejected the claim staff were being punished for taking too long in the bathroom.
"We have no way, without having a conversation with the staff member, of knowing when the staff member is going to the toilet," Mr Howard said.
"There will be times where staff will be coached by their team leader around the fact that they might have been in auxiliary code for longer than what is expected, but those conversations are standard practice across not just the service delivery environment, but a number of environments where a staff member might not be where they're suppose to be and their supervisor is asking questions about it."
"... Now if there are staff members out there that are concerned about the fact we are doing this, I welcome and I will be incredibly supportive of supporting staff in taking the time they need to take to go to the toilet."
READ MORE:
Senator Pocock eventually asked officials whether they had timed how long it takes them to go to the bathroom - a question that saw Mr Howard share that he had a kidney stent inserted last year.
"I haven't timed how long I take to go to the toilet, senator ... I will say I had to have a conversation with the CEO last year where I had a kidney stent put in," Mr Howard told senators.
"... I had to have a conversation with my supervisor about the fact that I would be going to the toilet more often during committees and those sorts of things. It's a completely reasonable thing to have to do with my supervisor."
Mr Howard later revealed that Services Australia does have a dashboard that monitors performance outliers, and that team leaders receive reports on "non-adherence".
"... What I suspect has occurred is that there has been a team leader at some point that has had a conversation with a staff member around why they were in a particular aux code for a longer period of time than expected," he said, responding to questions from Greens senator Janet Rice.