Developer Harry Triguboff says ‘parasite’ bosses must stop employees working from home

Billionaire highrise developer Harry Triguboff has described businesses who allow their employees to work from home as “parasites”, saying they only work “half the time”.

Australia’s richest highrise developer has labelled companies who let their employees work from home as “parasites”.

Meriton founder Harry Triguboff told a business breakfast that employees working from home are only “working half the time”.

Mr Triguboff believes the city’s office assets will be wasted if banks and government agencies allow employees to work from home.

He is also concerned these organisations aren’t pulling their weight in the city’s economic recovery from COVID-19, which is threatening to see empty office towers converted to apartments.

“We have to also stop this work from home,” he told the Urban Taskforce event on Wednesday.

“You can have figures that they will work; I say they only work half the time.”

Harry Triguboff says employees working from home are only half as productive. Picture: Adam Yip

Mr Triguboff, estimated to be worth more than $11 billion, then joked that you can’t get service from the banks “because they don’t work”.

“The bosses of the banks cannot tell me any more that they are very careful; that nobody gets sick,” he said.

“Nobody’s sick and nobody got sick in their lousy banks so, forget about that. They should stop being parasites — they have to work.”

But Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said workers “are not looking to bludge, they want to do their jobs and get home to their families a little quicker”.

A Business Western Sydney/Astrolabe Group report found that Western Sydney’s metropolitan centres could share in a $450 million annual boost to their local economies and attract more jobs if the hybrid working week becomes a permanent fixture.

Employees have been saving time on travel while working from home. Picture: John Grainger

Headlining this report is a request to establish a $1 billion Western Sydney Renewal Fund that will over five years allow more than 100,000 people to work closer to home and generate an economic surge in city centres such as Liverpool, Bankstown, Blacktown, Campbelltown and Penrith.

“Western Sydney is home to some of the hardest-working people in the country,” Mr Borger said.

“They are not looking to bludge, they want to do their jobs and get home to their families a little quicker … who wouldn’t want to work closer to home if the option is available?

“If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is that we don’t have to be chained to a desk in a CBD office five days a week.”

Many outer Sydney councils have been pushing for the hybrid working week to continue after seeing local economic booms.

Liverpool Council in Sydney’s southwest is ready to provide a co-working space of 20 desks immediately, with scope to offer more in the near future.

This gives people the option to work in a quiet, professional space without the 90-minute door-to-door commute.

“We want to help locals work from Sydney’s third CBD in quality surroundings with decent Wi-Fi, close to their homes,” Mayor Wendy Waller said.

“Workers will have a greater life balance and there is evidence their productivity will improve as well.”