Work from home will be dead in three years, according the results of a KPMG survey of CEOs

More than eight in 10 Australian chief executives surveyed by KPMG believe working from home will be gone within the next three years.

Australian businesses are rolling out promotions and pay rises in a bid to get workers back into the ­office.

And a growing number of chief executives believe the Covid-era work-from-home phenomenon is likely to be over within the next three years.

That’s the conclusion of KPMG’s latest survey of the nation’s chief executives. More than four in five, or 82 per cent, of respondents expect traditional white-collar roles to fully return to the office within the next three years.

This is a significant increase on the 66 per cent who were of that opinion when surveyed last year and comes as businesses such as Tabcorp and the NSW government increasingly wind back work-from-home rights.

Only 27 per cent of respondents expect hybrid office/home roles to continue, and not one expects jobs to be fully remote.

Australian leaders’ opinions are in line with their global peers, of whom 83 per cent predict a full return to office-based work for white collar employees within three years, the survey revealed.

The survey covered 1325 chief executives in 11 economies, including Australia.

KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates told The Australian he did not believe work from home would end, but it would probably evolve into flexible working arrangements, as seen at the professional services firm.

“We focus on a flexible environment at KPMG and that is likely to be the case moving forward,” he said.

Mr Yates said it appeared that many business leaders wanted workers to return to the office for development and collaboration, and to lift productivity which they claimed had slumped since the pandemic.

“From a commercial point of view, the big issue in the Australian market at the moment is productivity and how do we get productivity gains,” he said.

“I suspect that many CEOs probably feel that the remote working environment is impacting productivity negatively. And I suspect it’s two of those things. So one is the sort of personal growth and wellbeing of people. And then secondly it’s productivity.”

Of those who responded, 78 per cent of Australian CEOs surveyed said they were likely to reward employees who made the effort to come into the office with incentives such as raises, promotions or better projects.

Mr Yates said that although there wasn’t evidence that work from home had caused productivity to slump, many business leaders were questioning why productivity had slowed and what could be done to reverse it.

“People are looking at all the reasons that have contributed to slowing productivity. And many people feel that (work from home) may be one,” he said. “When it comes to wellbeing, we bring in over 700 young grads every year; and when you’re trying to introduce young people to the workforce, and then look after the wellbeing of the broader workforce, there is no substitute for people being together, learning from each other.

“It’s a combination of those things … a workforce that feels better about themselves, that is learning more, probably is more productive. So there is probably a link between the two.”

Although the focus is on the workplace debate, CEOs acknowledge there are other talent-related issues that could affect their future growth.

More than a third of Australian CEOs say they are concerned about labour market shifts – specifically the number of employees that would soon retire – and the lack of skilled workers available to replace them.

Work from home could be a thing of the past in the next three years. Picture: Nikki Short

Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan this month instructed the wagering giant’s 1000-plus employees to return to the office five days a week. Staff have been told the default position was to be in the office but there was flexibility if someone needed to work from home for a particular reason.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has told hundreds of thousands of government sector employees that they should work principally in an approved office, workplace or related work site, and mandatory compliance was expected by executive agencies.

ANZ says it expected its employees to spend half their time in the office.

Internationally, Amazon has announced staff will be required to be in the office five days a week from January 2025.

Originally published as Work from home will be dead in three years, according the results of a KPMG survey of CEOs