Working From Home: The Next Great Debate

AS arguments about where COVID-19 originated and how effective our response to it was continue to linger, a quieter debate lurks in the background: is it now time for employees to go back to the office full-time? And if so, how do companies achieve this?

The Current State of Office Occupancy

It’s clear that city centres are suffering from empty offices, as occupancy rates remain below 2019 levels. And it’s no secret that companies are concerned that working from home impacts productivity, with both NAB and CBA coming under fire for attempting to mandate full-time office attendance in their employees. But they’re not alone: in Australia, 90% of employers have implemented mandatory in-office days, according to a survey by recruitment company Robert Half.

Employee Resistance to Full-time Office Return

Yet, despite these measures, the genie appears to be out of the bottle, and employees are not returning in droves. A recent LinkedIn survey found that most office-based employees continue to work from home 2-3 days a week, despite figures from the Melbourne Institute showing that just 6% of the population worked from home before the pandemic. Then there’s the sobering statistic that only 35% of jobs can be done remotely. While technology has undoubtedly moved on, with services like Zoom – which, incidentally, reportedly told its staff to get back to the office for at least two days a week if the commute is no more than 80 kilometres – making it easier to stay connected, there’s still a huge disconnect in how many people were working from home before 2020 and how many are now.

Crafting a Hybrid Work Solution

So, how do we fix the problem and develop a home/office solution? The most important thing is to work collaboratively with employees. Experience has shown an organised, voluntary hybrid is significantly more effective than imposing blanket quotas. In a market where more employees are moving jobs more than ever, forcing people back into the office against their will is unlikely to improve productivity. Allowing employees flexibility to work around school hours on certain days should lead to more gains in company loyalty and longevity than losses on productivity levels. There is even evidence to suggest that, when harnessed in conjunction with some office time, working from home can be more productive. A two-year study of 3 million employees across 715 US companies showed working from home improved employee productivity by an average of 6 per cent, while anecdotally, workers talk about being able to get more done when not being constantly interrupted.

It's clear that working from home isn’t for everyone. Nor does it suit every profession or business. But it’s also clear that in a competitive market, companies need to take the wishes of their workers into consideration because, unlike dissatisfied employees, working from home is not going anywhere.

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