Coronavirus: New normal as workers home in on remoteness

Some 81 per cent of people working from home say their work/life balance has improved as a ­result of the enforced lockdown.

Two in three Australians working from home expect to spend more time in their home office or at the dining room table after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

And 81 per cent say their work/life balance has improved as a ­result of the enforced lockdown.

The work/life silver lining is ­revealed in a new behavioural change survey conducted by Venture Insights and commissioned by NBN Co, which also finds more than half those working from home had created a new or dedicated office space.

“As working habits have changed over the past several weeks, many preconceptions about the viability of long-term ­remote working seem to have shifted,” Venture Insights managing director Nigel Pugh said.

“For many Australians, this change in routine has given them the freedom to embrace greater work/life flexibility. In light of this, it’s not surprising that two-thirds of respondents who worked from home are interested in maintaining their new ways of working, even after restrictions are lifted.”

The embrace of working from home is not evenly spread, however, with a significantly higher proportion of people in the cities willing to continue on (69 per cent) compared with those in rural and regional areas (54 per cent).

Broadband traffic during business hours through the NBN has increased 70 per cent since the COVID-19 crisis began on March 1, and more than four in five of those surveyed said they could not have managed in their job without access to fast broadband.

“The way Australians use the internet to work, learn new skills and connect with their family, friends and colleagues has been transformed, and we expect that many of these new behaviours are here to stay,” NBN Co chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the survey results were evidence of the importance of rolling out a reliable fast broadband platform across Australia. “The immense challenges presented by COVID-19 have prompted businesses and their people to become more flexible, adaptable and innovative in how they go about their work,” he said.

“The NBN is available to more than 11.4 million homes and businesses and has been essential in enabling a rapid shift to remote working. If the NBN was still being rolled out in line with Labor’s original plan, some 3.5 million fewer households would have been able to connect to the NBN when Australia was hit by COVID-19.”

The survey of more than 1000 Australians taken on April 28 also finds people are retooling their homes to better equip themselves for work, with 79 per cent of those working from home having purchased one or more devices to support their online activities since the onset of COVID.