I was advocating that more people should work from home seven years ago but HR people were incensed. Now it has come to pass.
Before the virus disrupted our lives, only 8 per cent of Australians regularly worked at home. That number has jumped to about 40 per cent at the height of lockdowns and has remained high.
A study released in September by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the US found 35 per cent of Australians said they would quit their job or start looking for another if their employer forced them to return to the office full time.
The Australian government’s Productivity Commission released its working from home research paper, found most people like to work from home and said they would take a pay cut or change jobs in order to keep doing it.
Before COVID, full-time workers in Australia’s capital cities spent an average of 67 minutes a day travelling to and from work. That has been slashed for many.
A large group of workers has settled into a pattern of working from home Mondays and Fridays and heading into the office Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — earning the nickname “TWATs”.
Since lockdowns eased and most people got vaccinated, companies and their staff are figuring out the right balance between returning to the office and working from home.
Organisations have been reticent to offer too much freedom. They have asked, ‘will they actually do their job?
One of the key opportunities or benefits for organisations, employment wise, is the ability to attract talent that isn’t geographically based.
So you can have people working anywhere, not just in Australia, but around the world.
If workers are happy with their work-life balance and have more control over their time, they are generally more productive.