Telstra workers desert the office

The telco’s ‘work from anywhere’ policy is proving popular – and productive. Its workers are averaging only one or two days in the office.

Alex Badenoch says Telstra is committed to a hybrid office.

One of Australia’s biggest employers – Telstra – has revealed its workers are averaging only one or two days in the office, in a radical realignment of work after two years of Covid-19.

Telstra group executive, transformation, communications and people, Alex Badenoch, said on Tuesday the company’s flexible hybrid model set no rules about how much time should be spent in the office.

“We are committed to hybrid but that means a blend of working from home, working in the office, a mix of people working virtually and really working from anywhere,” she said after delivering a speech to the Trans Tasman Business Circle.

“We think that creates the best employee experience, the best productivity and in a world where talent is scarce, it’s a really important part of attracting and retaining people. We advocate strongly for not telling people what to do,” she said.

“I have a belief we’re adults, and people start with the right ­intent.

“And when you tell people what to do, you’re pretty ­guaranteed that they don’t want to do it.”

Ms Badenoch said that Telstra had embraced flexibility before Covid-19.

Before the pandemic staff worked on average two days a week from home.

Now staff expected to work in the office between one and two days a week.

She said that the shift had not created any problems.

“We’ve got really high employee engagement, we are seeing really strong productivity, and we are seeing employees feeling more connected to their colleagues and to the company,” she said.

The flexible approach led to Telstra moving last June to “agnostic recruitment”, so that other than roles bound by a retail store location or serving customers in the field, location was no longer a part of the terms and conditions of working at Telstra.

Ms Badenoch said the so-called Great Resignation was not happening at Telstra. While attrition (through resignations) basically stopped during Covid-19, it had returned to normal levels.

However, there had been a profound change in the workforce – the Great Realignment – with people making “more discerning judgments about who they want to work for”.

“We have been equipped to work from anywhere, and given permission for our professional and personal lives to work in sync rather than as two opposing forces,” she said.

“People are taking the time to consider why they work, what they do and who they work for. Companies that really invest in a strong employee-value proposition and focus on employee engagement and experience can be great winners. It’s up to all of us to think about how we’re responding rather than thinking there’s some sort of unmanageable (Great Resignation).”

However, the “great skills shortage” was real:

“Technical skills have become even more problematic,” she said.

“They were a significant problem pre-Covid, so it’s really important not to think it’s a new problem.

“But we closed our borders for two years, so skill supply was reduced, and every single company had to move to digitise much faster than expected.

“Supply went down, demand went up.”

Ms Badenoch said macro trends, including the metaverse, AI and robotics, were driving the greatest workplace revolution in our lifetime.

“Now is the time we should be seizing the opportunities these innovations present,” she said.

“However, organisations will only be able to keep pace with innovation … if they have the right talent and skills.

“The Technology Council Australia predicts that by 2025 we will need 260,000 more tech workers than we currently have.”

A solution would need government, education and industry to invest in skilled migration, programs to attract people to STEM careers and support them to build skills and then keep those skills in Australia.