‘Back to the office’ a step in the wrong direction

Ben Thompson, CEO and co-founder of people management platform, Employment Hero. Picture: Supplied

As a business leader, as a past employment lawyer, as a working parent, and as someone from a regional town, I am worried about the future of work in Australia.

I fear that in a post-COVID world, we will revert to ‘business as usual’, once again leaving behind the most overlooked groups in society for the sake of workplace ‘tradition.’

In late October the Industrial Relations Minister called for workers to get back to the office ‘as quickly as possible,’ and ever since July, corporate landlords have been urging a mass return to our Central Business Districts.

For people with disabilities, carers, the geographically constrained, working parents and low-income households, these calls are an erasure of the social progress we have made over the past eight months. For them, remote work is more than just a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a lifeline.

Remote work enables freedom, flexibility, choice and in some cases, a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture for marginalised groups, and even those who simply want a better life outside of their job.

COVID-19 has proven that remote work on a massive scale is more than just possible; it’s productive, benefiting employers and employees alike.

Research conducted by Citrix shows that two-thirds of workers say they are more productive when working from home, while Riverbed’s Future of Work Global Survey suggests that employers stand to save up to 50 per cent on office spaces and related costs.

More importantly, remote work is the preferred option by the majority of workers. In an external survey we conducted earlier in the year, 92 per cent of employees said they would like to work from home more often if given the opportunity,

Yes, the office will always serve a purpose for some, but COVID-19 has proven that more permanent remote work models are the best way forward for all.

Levelling the playing field

I grew up and went to University in Armidale, a small city halfway between Sydney and Brisbane. I wanted to pursue a career in law, and like many other career-driven Australians, that meant I had to leave my hometown.

Our country is home to some incredible businesses and opportunities, but we are also an island. For ambitious talent in search of endless career prospects, they typically have to go overseas or congregate to the big cities – driving up already exorbitant rent and living costs.

But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if people could still access lucrative roles within some of our best locally-owned small and large companies, and continue to contribute to regional economies and communities all across the country?

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that regional and remote parts of Australia need sustainable, long-term stimulus, and the solution is more permanent remote jobs.

Where you live should not influence your career prospects. We are now at a critical juncture in history where we can choose to rewrite the rule book and eliminate the age-old binary choice between opportunity and lifestyle.

A tech-led solution for a digital revolution

It’s no secret that technology has played a central role in the pandemic-induced remote work ‘revolution.’

Salesforce’s recent acquisition of Slack is proof that some of the world’s most successful companies are betting on a reimagined future of work, while big names like Atlassian and Twitter have vowed to let their teams work from home ‘forever.’

So where do the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stand in this equation?

SMEs are our backbone, making up 99 per cent of firms in Australia. When COVID-19 first struck, we realised that without extensive Human Resources, tech or financial teams, non-brick-and-mortar small business owners were struggling to adapt to remote work.

As a direct result, we created Global Teams; a platform designed to empower SMEs to manage remote teams members and employ new ones from anywhere within Australia and the world – levelling the playing field with big enterprises.

As a business, we practice what we preach. I’ve seen staff move out of the city to be closer to their family, to afford a house for their children to grow up in and to escape the suffocating urban sprawl of Sydney. We’ve also added exceptional talent from around Australia to our ranks.

COVID-19 has accelerated a mass digital business landscape shift. We need to continue developing technology to make remote work, and all of the benefits that come with it, more accessible. If large enterprises claim a stronghold over remote work, we will leave behind a massive portion of businesses, and this could have a damning effect on our communities, economy and employment.

To leaders and business owners of all sizes, when it comes to the remote work debate, I urge you not to listen to the biggest and loudest voices in the room, but the ones who office spaces were never designed to accommodate.

Hear your employees’ needs, and put them before the self-interest of archaic corporate structures.

Ben Thompson is CEO and co-founder of people management platform, Employment Hero