Full-time office employee’s WFH ‘theory’ about Sydney goes viral
An expat working in a full-time office job has shared her working from home theory about a major Aussie city, after noticing a key detail during her commute.
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A full-time Sydney office worker has weighed in on the ongoing working from home debate after noticing a key detail during her morning commute throughout the week.
Brooke Laven is originally from Minnesota in the US but has been living and working in Sydney for a few years.
The 31-year-old recently started working as a social media lead in a role where she is required to be in the office five days a week.
She commutes into the city every day, taking the same bus route and has noticed a big difference on the amount of people heading into the city on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This had led to her developing a “theory” about how hybrid workers operate in Sydney.
“I have a theory, it’s called everyone who works in the Sydney CBD works from home on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays,” Ms Laven said in a recent TikTok video.
“On Tuesdays and Thursdays it takes me literally like 15 minutes longer to get a bus in. I’ll see full buses, like 15 full buses just going past.
“If anybody who works in the Sydney CBD can either confirm or deny this … I can add it to my work from home argument arsenal.”
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The video kicked off a major discussion about working from home, with hybrid workers sharing their own experiences and seeming to confirm her “theory”.
One person confirmed that Tuesdays and Thursdays were easily the busiest days in their office, with noticeably fewer desks available.
Another worker agreed, noting the change was so widespread that many companies are now holding social events on Thursdays instead of Fridays.
One person revealed they were required to go in three days a week between Tuesday and Thursday, with the start and the end of the week being the work from home days.
Some commenters claimed they had started avoiding going into the city mid week after noticing this trend.
“Monday is dead, great day to go in. Thursday is insane,” one person said.
“I only work from the office on Fridays for exactly this reason – everything is easier,” another wrote.
Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Laven revealed that, during the pandemic, she switched to a freelance marketing role where she was able to work remotely, having previously only been in full time office roles.
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Now, being back at an office five days a week, she is very aware of the differences between being in the office and hybrid or remote work.
Having confirmed her theory that there are certain days where more people head into the office, she thinks some changes should be made to accommodate the increased number of commuters.
“If there’s any way NSW Transport can plan for more buses to go from North Sydney [or the] Northern Beaches to CBD during that time, that would be so great,” Ms Laven said.
We have seen a growing number of major businesses forcing staff back into the office, with Woolworths becoming the most recent Australian company to roll back their working from home policy.
Last week, the supermarket giant announced it would be ordering 10,000 employees back to the office for at least three days a week.
Coles also announced a three-day-a-week hybrid model to its staff, with Amazon, Dell, Tabcorp, and Flight Centre among other major companies recently introducing return to office mandates.
Despite the increasing return to office push, Aussie workers are hesitant to completely abandon the flexibility that hybrid and remote work offers.
A recent survey run by LinkedIn found that 53 per cent of Australian professionals say they feel pressured to return to the office more frequently than they would like.
A further 17 per cent fear flexible working conditions will worsen over the next 12 months.
LinkedIn career expert, Cayla Dengate, told news.com.au that the way we work is changing.
“The future of work in Australia is evolving, with the traditional nine-to-five being replaced by a flexible model to enhance productivity and work-life balance,” she said.
“New LinkedIn data found that the desire for a better work-life balance is one of the top two factors for 3 in 5 Australians looking for a career change in 2025.
“In fact, over half (57 per cent) of Australians hope to find a job that allows them more flexibility, with 80 per cent saying that hybrid working and flexibility are key to their decision to stay with their current employer.”
In fact, the data showed that more people are concerned about losing flexible working options (30 per cent), than they are about losing their job due to increased economic uncertainty (26 per cent).
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Originally published as Full-time office employee’s WFH ‘theory’ about Sydney goes viral
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