Hamish Macdonald’s work-from-home rant sparks debate on The Project

Hamish Macdonald has divided viewers after saying he believed continued working-from-home arrangements was “diminishing the value” of work.

Hamish Macdonald has sparked a major debate about work-from-home practices, after he said the remote working diminished the value of a job.

On Wednesday night, The Project host implored younger workers to return to the office.

“I hate it. I think if you’re a young worker, you want to be in a workplace where you can learn from people,” Macdonald said.

“Unless we think really clearly about this, I think you’re actually just pulling apart what the purpose of a workplace is.

“I think it’s diminishing the value that you can get from having a job.”

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Hamish Macdonald implored young workers to reconsiders the benefits of returning to the workplace. Picture: Channel 10

His impassioned plea directly clashed with those made by corporate adviser Tina Paterson, who said that remote working options were now a prerequisite for employees and new jobseekers.

“If you don’t offer your employees flexibility, others will. Great employees always have options,” she said.

Comments on news.com.au’s Facebook posts backed Macdonald. Some people feared that employees who solely worked remotely would miss out on valuable training.

“Hamish is 100 per cent right. How can the new staff learn if there [sic] suppose [sic] mentors are at home. Just dumb from a very selfish group of self-entitled people,” one comment read.

“Corporate Australia is doomed thanks to Dan. He set the ‘new normal’ and now business has to work with it,” wrote another, referring to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

“Work from home employers will find out they can get the same jobs done by workers remotely from India for half the price and have no need to pay people that live in Australia at all to work there.”

The latest census data has revealed that Australian workers are still enjoying working from home, and there’s very little bosses can do about it. pic.twitter.com/y3klhuyuIh

— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 12, 2022

But others said the “new normal” way of working should be respected by workplaces, as it allows employees flexibility and for some it even increases productivity.

“The fact that most do better working at home shows the problem with Australian work culture,” read one Twitter response.

One commenter also responded to fellow panellist Rachel Corbett’s comments that remote working is “geared better towards people who are high-performers and high-achievers”.

“Managers often find it difficult with people who aren’t performing and sometimes being at home by themselves isn’t the best place for them to be,” she said.

In response, one Twitter user said she finds her work-from-home set-up less distracting.

“I’m a high performer who works entirely remotely. The only thing I don’t have now is a gossip when running into someone in the kitchen, the lift, etc,” she said.

“I’m more connected now than I was when I worked in the office and have still formed meaningful relationships. I won’t be going back.”

Man employees welcomes the new trend of blended and flexible working-from-home arrangements. Picture: iStock

According to recent research from the Australian HR Institute, more than half of human resources professionals believe that businesses and workplaces will continue remote working arrangements over the next two years, while 25 per cent believe the rate of working from home and remote working will increase.

Results revealed that out of 1200 companies surveyed, while 34 per cent encouraged people to work in the office, they had no set number of in-person days. However, 30 per cent of those surveyed had implemented a minimum of three office days a week, with 16 per cent requesting two days.

For employee marketplace Seek, working from home has become a major employer drawcard, with jobseekers opting for flexibility over title or industry.

“Instead of just searching for … a software programming job, instead of putting those words into the keyword search, they’re putting, ‘work from home’,” Seek senior economist Matt Cowgill told news.com.au.

“People are telling us as well when we ask them that they are likely to resign and look for a different job if work from home isn’t offered.”