Covid-19 triggered a mass social experiment in WFH. Like many businesses, Allianz Australia closed its workplaces indefinitely in February 2020 and moved its workforce of approximately 4,600 people to WFH arrangements. As the pandemic continued unabated, Allianz Global created a New Work Model (NWM) (Appendix A). NWM included expediting upgrades to network servers, monetary investment to roll out hardware, and decommissioning office spaces (Allianz, 2020).

Allianz Global and Australian Senior Management communications supporting NWM included statements like “flexible working is not just a dream but an achievable reality”, “embrace the flexibility of zero commute time” and “work from anywhere, anytime” (Allianz, 2020). While increased employee flexibility and company agility was advocated as a positive change, the reality described by employees, was notably different.

Difficulties reported by employees included delays in hardware roll outs, poor internet connectivity, software failures, shortages of ergonomic equipment, lack of privacy and information security in the WFH environment, an extended span of work hours, additional caring responsibilities as well as reductions in customer satisfaction (Allianz, 2020).

In August 2021, following 18 months of WFH and NWM, Allianz Global announced the roll out of its new Ways of Working (WOW). Like its predecessor NWM, WOW is a globally mandated change. However, in contrast to NWM, the key focus of WOW is RTO.