Why the Australian obsession with lifestyle will transform the workplace
And it makes sense – we are a lifestyle people who for the better part of a century have created, celebrated and even good-humouredly parodied the notion of suburban living. John Williamson got it right when he sang “give me a home among the gum trees, with lots of plum trees”. So too did Kath and Kim, Darryl Kerrigan and Dame Edna Everage, each with their respective (often biting) parodies of the Australian way of life.
But of course the development of lifestyles that “speak to new markets” is ever-evolving. In the late 2000s the push for sustainability and urban sophistication delivered a new option to students, singles, upwardly mobile couples and downshifting Baby Boomers. This was the idea of buying a swish New York-style apartment with dramatic city views.
Where to from here? By my measure that’s three lifestyle iterations that have materialised in the past quarter-century. What could top seachange, treechange and inner-city living? We’re running out of geographies. Perhaps ageing, ailing Baby Boomers will develop lifestyle precincts around hospitals, medical imaging centres, yoga and pilates studios… in seachange locations?
But I believe the next big development in the lifestyle genre won’t be so much about geography but rather a specific function of everyday life. What if the relentless pursuit of lifestyle were to focus not on where we live but rather on the way we work? Of course! The workplace was always the last refuge of the fuddy-duddy old order with its nine-to-five strictures and its rigid office hierarchies. Here’s my case for the imminent colonisation of the workplace by Australia’s lifestyle values.
First, the time is right. Falling fertility rates are reducing the labour pool. Bosses this century have less bargaining power than bosses last century because, well, there’s fewer workers to choose from. The logic from at least some workers could be along the lines of, “Sorry, I’m not interested in working for a business that doesn’t allow me to work from home.”
The concept of working from home, which took off during the pandemic, has an irresistible allure: it means reduced travel costs and improved mental health by not commuting, and more time spent with family.
The no-after-hours contact with the workplace is another example of how lifestyle is shaping the workplace. Prior to the pandemic, tech companies – especially those based in Silicon Valley – were already accommodating a work-lifestyle fusion trend by creating fun spaces within the workplace.
Whether any of these trends are good or bad for the workplace is another question. My point is that, based on my reading of lifestyle trends over the past 25 years, Australians are likely to continue to push for the fusion of lifestyle with work in years to come. Perhaps the conclusion is that in future we will all get a bigger say in how we deliver workplace value.
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Thus far in the 21st century the Australian lifestyle has been shaped by a series of new ways of living, including seachange – the idea of living wholly or part-time by the beach. This was closely followed by treechange, which is much the same thing, only for those more inclined to the green scene than a blue view.