Paul O’Halloran is back in town. The employment and workplace safety lawyer, who quit the daily commute in Melbourne’s CBD to base himself in regional north-eastern Victoria 18 months ago, has returned to the city after finding the boundaries between work and private life blurred too much.

For Mr O’Halloran, the full-time move to his holiday home in Beechworth offered a productivity boost in beautiful surroundings, but also brought a downside that the corporate law firm partner found too much – the lack of distinction between his work and private lives.