‘I think staff can do more hours when WFH rather than in the office’: Gen Z boss pushes back against WFH trend
Australia’s working from home debate is always a tense issue and a 25yo’s WFH photos expose just how divided we are.
Whether workers should have the right to work from home is among the most hotly debated issues in Australia right now, but one Gen Z boss has claimed employees need to be free to do their best work.
Market research agency Roy Morgan released data this year that found a staggering 6.7 million people in Australia work from home at least some of the time.
A substantial figure, considering that over the past two years, there has been a real pushback from employers on WFH options that were introduced during the pandemic.
Late last year, we saw a huge increase in companies issuing strict return-to-office mandates, with many requiring staff to be in the office five days a week starting in 2025.
Among the businesses that have issued these types of orders are Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Tabcorp, AT&T and Dell.
The Siren Group PR agency founder Emma Gillman said she’s certainly not jumping on the bandwagon to roll back WFH options for staff.
“I’ve always had the belief that people do their best work when they feel trusted, nurtured and autonomous,” she told news.com.au.
“So when I started my own agency, it was important for me to be led by staff when it came to flexible working arrangements.”
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Ms Gillman, 24, said that letting her staff make up their own hours means she has to be really careful with who she hires.
“It definitely requires vetting potential new staff members to see if they have self-discipline and a passion for the job, but in many ways, I think staff can do more hours when WFH rather than in the office,” she said.
“I have a formalised ‘flexible Friday’ arrangement, where staff know that as long as they are contactable by me, or clients, they can get their housework done, do personal admin tasks and work from wherever they like.”
Generally speaking, though, the Gen Z boss is happy to fit in with her staff members’ schedules.
“That being said, my staff know I will happily work to their schedule should it be feasible, without reducing client output.”
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The Gen Z boss said she knows her relaxed WFH system works, because she has worked from pool resorts, bars, coffee shops and even in Ubers.
That doesn’t mean she sometimes doesn’t wish she could completely switch off.
“That being said, I’m talking to you from a street front bar in Majorca where I’d really like to be enjoying the atmosphere, and yet, I’ve been out all day,” she said.
“So I guess that’s the pay-off to keeping business afloat.”
Nina Chandler, 25, works for Ms Gillman, and says the freedom her boss gives her has been an absolute game-changer.
“I feel like I’m able to lock in and get more done since I’m going off my energy and not off strict hours,” she told news.com.au.
Ms Chandler has a lot of overseas clients, and often has meetings either super early in the morning or late at night and flexibility is the key to making it work.
“If I were in the office, it would just mean I’d be having crazy long days with no time to recharge,” she said.
The PR worker argued that working from home allows her to have a far more “healthy lifestyle” because she has time to take care of herself.
“I can cook, I can go to the gym, sleep longer hours and go for walks if I need to clear my head after a long meeting,” she said.
“If I were in the office, I feel like I have more pressure to get things done in a specific time frame rather than when I’m feeling my most motivated.”
The 25-year-old likes to fit in work alongside her lifestyle, and sometimes that means doing work from quite literally anywhere.
“I recently went to Indonesia for 10 days and did respond to a few emails off the back of a motorbike,” she said.
“I was also answering them on a beach as a herd of buffalo went past! So magical and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to do those sorts of things.”
Ms Chandler argued the reason some bosses want their workers back in the office is due to “control and mistrust”, which she believes stems from misconceptions about Gen Z.
“I don’t think those companies have enough trust in their employees to actually get the work done, and feel like they need to be monitoring everything,” she argued.
The young worker explained that she doesn’t want to stereotype, but she does think a certain generation is stuck on believing workers should remain in offices.
“I don’t want to necessarily group it in as an age thing, but I definitely think it’s a stereotypical boomer mindset to not admit to the fact that the way society runs has changed,” she said.
“You can choose to progress or you can choose to stick to a structure that no way proves more success than a modern work-life.”
Ms Chandler argued she also believes it is “fair to get things done” like grocery shopping, heading to the gym or attending doctor appointments within working hours as long as your actual work gets finished.
“I also think it’s nice to get those things done during the week, so then when it comes to the weekend, you can actually enjoy the time off; otherwise, if you are doing so many life admin things, it almost feels like there’s no break,” she said.
The young worker said that she believes the traditional 9-5 working day from the office is also a very “male-centric” norm.
“It is not applicable to someone who has a monthly cycle. It feels great working for a female-led company that takes into account that for a certain week out of the month, maybe I can’t run a meeting as well because I’m in my luteal phase,” she said.
“If anyone thinks that makes me less competent, that’s on them as they don’t understand that the comfort of having that support means I appreciate my job even more.”
She also doesn’t think pushing workers back into offices makes much sense, if any, at all, because so much valuable time gets chewed up with commuting.
“What’s the point of making me do two hours of travel when I could be spending those two hours getting work done at home and fit in a workout to get more endorphins to boost my mood during my post-lunch slump?” she asked.
Ms Chandler said now she’s experienced flexibility with work she’d never accept a job that didn’t offer the same.
“After working for the company I do now and being able to work from a pool in Bali or in a bar in Amsterdam why would I accept anything else?” She asked.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to expect people to spend so much of their life in an office environment, and these expectations will only cause resentment towards their job and the company they work for!”
The 25-year-old added that she even thinks travelling while working should be normalised because it doesn’t impact her productivity.
“Just because I’m able to enjoy my life and travel doesn’t mean I can’t get great results and keep clients happy,” she said.
“Honestly, if people can’t understand this, I think they are just jealous. But I’m happy to deal with that jealousy, thanks to my wonderful tan from two weeks in the sun, while they’ve trudged it into work in torrential rain.”
Ms Chandler said that because she’s given such freedom, it means she’s always “pretty honest” with her boss, even when she’s away from her laptop.
“Maybe she didn’t expect me to be at the dog park having a coffee at 10am, but there’s a trust there that I’m going to get things done, and a lot of my work can be done from my phone anyway,” she said.
