Working from home here to stay in a 'big way'

As the virus became increasingly endemic this year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the percentage of people regularly working from home dropped from 40.1 per cent in 2021 to 37 per cent in 2023.

Until this year, the work-from-home trend had been consistently rising.

Demographer at the Australian National University's centre for social research and methods Liz Allen noted a clear preference for being able to work flexibly since current numbers were still above pre-pandemic levels.

She said suspected a push from employers to bring workers back into the office, but said there would be a pushback from employees because they had learned the benefits of working from home.

"Working from home is here to stay, and here to stay in a big way," Dr Allen said.

"It's clear that Australians are finding ways to navigate what is now an endemic COVID situation alongside work, paid commitments and family needs."

She said flexible working arrangements were a good thing for workers and employers because the productivity of labour would increase.

The survey also found almost two-thirds of managers and professionals were regularly working from home in August 2023 as compared to about one in five across other occupations.

As for workers who have never been able to work from home (for example, in the hospitality industry), the expert said businesses would diversify the way they function as time goes on.

Australian workers reported a drastic difference in their reasons for wanting to work from home in 2019, before the pandemic, compared to 2023.

In particular, the number of people who worked from home to catch up on their workload has reduced while workers who simply wanted flexible working arrangements has increased.

Dr Allen said the changing trend meant people expected flexible arrangements at work and that businesses needed to accommodate this in their hiring practices.

She predicted more and more employees would have access to work-from-home flexibility in the future.

"It might be one of the first questions people ask during job interviews: 'can this be done flexibly?'," she said.

"In order for work and workplaces to remain competitive they need to be able to offer reasonable adjustments and [flexible] working arrangements."