The ‘work from cafe’ trend Australian employees are keeping secret

Covid has made ‘WFH’ widely accepted – but what about ‘WFC’? Experts reveal their dos and don’ts for this practice.

Australia’s remote workers are spending up to two hours a day at cafes – and many are switching their cameras off during work meetings to hide their location from their boss.

Exclusive findings from reservation platform OpenTable reveal almost half of remote workers are working from cafes and other venues, with many admitting two hours is their normal length of stay.

But most are hoping to keep their “WFC” habit secret, with four in five of those who have embraced the trend saying they always turn their camera off when joining a meeting from a hospitality venue.

Thirty per cent admit they would not tell their boss they do their work at a cafe, the research finds.

Why the secret?

Productivity expert Donna McGeorge is not surprised so many people are opting to work from cafes, and says bosses should not be either.

She believes silence is best for focused work. But she notes some evidence suggests hospitality venues can be “reasonably productive places to hang out”, as demonstrated by apps that recreate the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost creativity.

“Bosses aren’t silly – they probably are aware (that people are working from cafes),” McGeorge says.

“But if you’ve got the type of relationship with your boss where you are hiding from them that you’re working from a cafe, then working from a cafe is the least of your problems.

“Have open and honest conversations with your boss about where you work so that if there is ambient noise (during calls and online meeting) they know what it is.”

Know the rules

It’s imperative to remember cafes are not primarily a place for work, so those using them as such must be respectful to other patrons, McGeorge says.

Loud phone calls are best kept for home and briefcases, as well as cords for charging laptops and phones, should not become tripping hazards for cafe staff or diners.

Most importantly, McGeorge says workers must purchase food and drinks throughout their stay to “pay” for the electricity, Wi-Fi and table space they are using.

“You should be ordering a drink at least every hour to 90 minutes,” McGeorge says. “Or as an alternative (to ordering), maybe slip (the cafe owners) 50 bucks.”

Survey participants commented that basic work-from-cafe etiquette also includes not complaining about a venue’s noise levels and leaving as soon as it becomes apparent other diners require the table.

Workers welcome

OpenTable senior director Drew Bowering expects WFC to become an increasingly popular way to break the monotony of working from home.

He says most hospitality venues welcome workers, noting they typically visit at non-peak times when tables would otherwise be empty.

“Any table that’s not being used for an hour is wasted so having workers there (purchasing drinks and meals) does give you an incremental income,” he says.

“Sometimes workers just need the hum and ambience of a cafe to get into the zone (work mindset).”

Kathryn rates a shift in focus

Kathryn Ingler for the Careers page

Kathryn Ingler often finds it easier to focus on work at a cafe rather than at home.

`”When you’re working from home, there are always things to distract you – like throwing a load of washing on or going to the post office or you just see other things and think you should be doing that when really you should be working,” Ingler says.

“I take my noise-cancelling headphones to a cafe and do a lot of different focus work, a lot of typing and admin work. It’s a fair bit more effective (working) at a cafe (than home).”

Ingler, who works remotely as a senior account executive with Sydney digital design start-up Qwilr, conducts most of her work calls from home, where she prefers the quieter environment.

But she also works from her local cafes two or three times a week, staying about two hours each visit.

“It’s not an obnoxiously long amount of time,” she says. “It’s long enough that I can sit down, get focused and smash out a bunch of work.”

Ingler is now “pals” with the barista of the cafe closest to her home and staff are familiar with her regular order of coffee, juice and a pastry.

She often tells her boss when she is working at a cafe and says there has never been a problem.

“Some people have the option to go into their home office (to work) but I live in a one-bedroom apartment, so it’s a nice change of scenery,” she says.