Working from home rebellion: commuters who don't want to return to the office

Like thousands of Sydneysiders, Jacinta Hanemann was liberated from a long daily commute by the pandemic. And, after months working from home, she’s not interested in a return to the old routine.

"Now that I reflect on how we were doing prior to COVID, I can't imagine going back to a situation like that," says the public servant who routinely commuted five hours a day between her Blue Mountains home and Parramatta office.

"We have a lot more time with the family. We get to sit down and have dinner every night."

Ms Hanemann is not alone – recent surveys show a sharp rise in the share of Sydney employees who want to work remotely in future.

So do employers expecting a smooth post-COVID return to the office have a worker revolt on their hands?

Professor Rae Cooper, an employment relations expert at Sydney University’s Business School, expects many employees will push back against a full-time return to the office after demonstrating their productivity while working from home.

"I think the rebellion will happen if there is no accommodation of the needs of people for flexibility," Professor Cooper said.

"Employees have shown they can make it work well and productively for businesses and I would be very surprised if people aren't out there asking for these kinds of measures as a regular part of their jobs."

Independent economist Terry Rawnsley says the workers "rebelling most" are those with long, expensive commutes.

"They are the ones leading the revolt in terms of not wanting to return to the workplace because they’ve got one or two hours back in their lives each day," he said. "There’s a strong spatial aspect to this."

The way employment is distributed across Greater Sydney, along with the high cost of housing, is likely to stoke the work from home trend.

'For the commute in the winter, I was leaving home in the dark and returning home in the dark.'

Jacinta Hanemann

Many Sydneysiders have had little choice but to settle in affordable suburbs, a long way from traditional employment hubs, and put up with a lengthy commute. Working from home during the pandemic has transformed that trade-off.

For Ms Hanemann, working from home has not only saved her time. She now gets to keep $60 in weekly train fares and $100 on childcare costs. The opportunity to exercise in daylight hours and the extra time she now enjoys with family have meant she does not want to go back to working four days in the office. Longer term, she hopes to limit the commute to one day a week to maintain face-to-face contact with staff.

"For the commute in the winter, I was leaving home in the dark and returning home in the dark," she said.

The appetite for change among commuters is not surprising, given the distaste for long, repetitive trips to work. When researchers ask people to nominate the least desirable activities in their daily lives, commuting is routinely ranked among the biggest gripes. International studies have found long daily commutes take a toll on life satisfaction and family relationships.

Commuting can also be very expensive, especially for motorists who use Sydney’s extensive tollway network. Analysis of household spending on tolls between May and September by analytics firm Alpha Beta, a part of Accenture and credit bureau illion, found the highest 10 per cent of toll-paying households in seven Sydney local government areas are paying more than $6000 a year in tolls, on average.

Alison Winstone has enjoyed the flexibility that comes with working from home. Credit: Janie Barrett

As a working parent, Alison Winstone enjoys the flexibility of working from home in Dulwich Hill three days a week, which makes it easier to drop off and pick up her two daughters from the nearby primary school. She spends less money on takeaway and no longer pays for public transport to her office in Camperdown five days a week. Post COVID-19, she hopes she can continue working from home three days a week.

"I prefer it the way it is as a working parent. It is so much easier," she said.

There is evidence those working from home are feeling less harried because they spend less time commuting.

Melbourne University academics Lyn Craig and Brendan Churchill surveyed 2772 Australians between May 7 and May 30 about how rushed or pressed for time they felt before and during the pandemic.

For women, 44.27 per cent felt rushed or pressed for time before COVID-19 but that fell to 19.11 per cent during the pandemic. For men, 35.38 per cent felt rushed or pressed for time before the pandemic, and 21.88 per cent felt that way after it had started.

"It shows that, in the normal course of events, getting to and from work and getting their family to school and back again is quite a stress which was removed," Professor Craig said.

"Notwithstanding higher overall workloads, and doing more activities at the same time, feelings of being rushed broadly fell."

The researchers said that "lower time stress" could continue if workplaces allow more employees to continue to work more flexibly from home.

Professor David Hensher said the number of people who commute after the pandemic could drop by 10 per cent. Credit: Louie Douvis

Research by Professor David Hensher, director of Sydney University’s Institute for Transport and Logistics Studies, shows 66 per cent of NSW employees worked only from home in March, during the early stages of the pandemic. Despite the easing of restrictions since June, the share of days worked only at home by NSW employees was still 40 per cent in September.

Professor Hensher says the "new normal" for remote work may not become clear for some time but he thinks the number of Sydneysiders who commute to work could be 10 per cent lower than before the pandemic.

"Over the next year, we expect to see people in some occupations work from home one or two days per week whereas before they didn’t," he said.

The shift in work habits has the potential to reduce the level of work-related activity in Sydney’s central business district and sap demand for office space.

But Ken Morrison, chief executive of the Property Council of Australia which represents many office building owners, said offices would continue to be a big driver of business productivity, collaboration and culture.

Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison said offices will still remain a large part of our economy. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

"If we’re to get the economy going again, we’re going to need thriving CBDs," he said.

"Supporting the return to offices will be an important part of the recovery process. That’s why governments have an important role to play in showing leadership by encouraging Commonwealth and state public servants to return to the office, along with private business."

On Tuesday, seven of Australia's top chief executives urged the Victorian government to "permit the careful and staged return to the workplace of office workers and the small businesses that provide services to them."

University of Sydney workplace expert Professor John Buchanan expects standard work arrangements to become more flexible after the pandemic. But faced with pressure from employers to return to offices during a time of higher unemployment, he thinks workers will have less scope to insist on working from home.

"People have very little bargaining power," he said. "I think you will see a rise in resentment and dissatisfaction but [with] employers' powers only being increased through this."

National Assistant Secretary of the Finance Sector Union, Nathan Rees, said big financial institutions have indicated remote work will be "part of the future" and that up to 80 per cent of their people could be working from home.

The views from Finance Sector Union members are mixed. "Some people love it and enjoy working from home," said Rees. "Others like the social interaction knocking around face-to-face with their peers. Even those who do like working from home say they wouldn't mind going in once or twice a week."

But Mr Rees predicts "a reduction in occupation of commercial space".

Joel Baltaks is a software engineer who is enjoying working from his North Richmond home.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Joel Baltaks, a software engineer, said he was enjoying not having to commute by train from his home in North Richmond to the office at The Rocks in Sydney's CBD.

"It was almost four hours per day," he said. "I've got a young family so it is great to be able to spend more time with them just cutting out that commute.

"In a way I feel like COVID has improved my quality of life a little bit just by being able to spend more time at home."

He is also saving about $50 on train fares and $50 on lunches each week.

"There are more positives to negatives working from home," he said.

'In a way I feel like COVID has improved my quality of life a little bit just by being able to spend more time at home.'

Joel Baltaks

The only thing he misses is face-to-face time with his colleagues.

"We do the best we can with video-conferencing and phone calls," he said. "There is a drive to be more communicative now than otherwise."

Mr Rawnsley, who is an expert in urban economics, said the pandemic has simply hastened an existing trend for an increasing share of work to be done remotely.

"It has accelerated the digital transformation that’s been going for many years."

But he thinks personal preferences will still play a role in shaping the future balance between work from home and office.

"There seems to be a bell curve of responses to remote work," Mr Rawnsley said.

"Most people are in the middle and could go either way, some are vehemently determined not to go back to the office and some are keen to return as soon as possible," he said.

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