Office life: no going back now for thousands of Australians

Hundreds of thousands of Australians could abandon the office in the wake of COVID-19, in a ­boon to small firms and regional towns.

Josh Lee films Talea Bader from Workit Spaces as she interviews Alex Durkin for the online series COVID Reality. Picture: John Feder

Hundreds of thousands of Australians could abandon the office in the wake of COVID-19, in a ­potential boon to small businesses and regional towns able to capitalise on a crisis that has driven the rapid digitalisation of the economy.

About four in 10 workers have shifted to working from home during the pandemic, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Demographer Bernard Salt told The Australian he believed this could settle at about 10 per cent versus 5 per cent before the crisis: a huge shift in the context of more than 12 million employed Australians.

 

“We’ve never had a social ­experiment like this, where 40 per cent of the workforce has worked from home,” he said.

Mr Salt noted the past five censuses between 1996 and 2016 had shown the proportion of employed Australians working from home stuck at about 5 per cent, despite technology moving “from modem, to dial-up, to 5G”.

“Now the argument is ‘I’m just as productive working from home’,” he said. “Millennials recognise that there is a better life to be lived working from or near home, and then going into the ­office once a week or so.”

A survey commissioned by ­accounting software firm Xero showed that many firms see the COVID-forced changes to the economy as an opportunity to grow.

The Rebuilding Australia report, prepared by Mr Salt’s The Demographics Group for Xero, revealed nearly half of small businesses were optimistic about the future.

The report found one in four small firms expected revenue to jump by more than 10 per cent by December, with most saying they were exploring new ways of operating.

The “common themes” behind small business success stories were an ability to adapt to the environment and find new markets. A move to flexible working hours and remote working arrangements were also “common enablers allowing businesses to prosper” through the downturn.

Over the three months to May 20 — a period which saw massive job losses — there was a 217 per cent increase in the number of workers employed as multimedia specialists and web developers, according to ABS data.

 

Talea Bader, the founder of Sydney co-working business Workit Spaces, said he had many sleepless nights in the early stages of the pandemic.

But Mr Bader said after an initial collapse in revenue, it became clear a few weeks into the pandemic that COVID had boosted the number of people shopping and accessing services online.

“Hibernation wasn’t an option for us. We decided to invest more in our e-commerce offering and to fast track our digital strategy,” he said.

Mr Bader said he had added three staff and planned to add a further 10 over the coming two months, which would bring his headcount to 18. “What started as a threat has turned into an opportunity,” he said.

The COVID-19 crisis may also leave its mark on regional towns.

Of the 86 labour force regions classified by the ABS, only six ­recorded a net increase in jobs over the three months to May 20, the Rebuilding Australia report showed.

 

The three leading regions for jobs growth were Toowoomba, west of Brisbane (up 9 per cent), ­Illawarra, which includes Wollongong, up 7 per cent, and Geelong (up 4 per cent).

Mr Salt said he expected the attractions of the cosmopolitan life for Millennials would wane in the wake of the crisis.

He said the telecommuting trend would open up “middle suburbia” in big cities, as well as “lifestyle zones” within 100km-150km from major urban centres, whether that be Kiama near Sydney, or Lorne, within striking distance of Melbourne.