More than a third of Aussies still working from home

More than a third of Australians are still working from home nearly four years on from the start of the Covid pandemic.

More than a third of Australians are still working from home nearly four years on from the start of the Covid pandemic.

Analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) suggests hybrid working arrangements have remained broadly the same as a year ago despite the best efforts of bosses to coax employees back to the office.

Thirty-six per cent of Australians were working from home on a regular basis in August, virtually unchanged from 37 per cent in 2023, according to the ABS. In the 2016 Census, this figure was just 5 per cent.

Sixty per cent of managers and professionals reported working from home, unchanged from 2023, compared with just 21 per cent for all other occupations.

Twenty-five per cent of people who worked from home said flexibility was main reason, nearly 24 per cent said they operated a home business or had a home-based job, and more than 20 per cent said it was to catch up on work after hours.

More than a third of Aussies are still working from home. Picture: iStock

More than 10 per cent did it to spend less time commuting or save money, while 8 per cent of women said they worked from home for childcare or other family considerations.

“Groups such as these that were previously less likely to have a job continue to benefit from the shift to hybrid work since the Covid-19 pandemic,” CEDA said.

“New Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data released last week shows workforce participation in jobs where people could work from home jumped by 9 percentage points for women with young children and 4.4 percentage points for people with a disability or health condition from 2019 to 2023.”

CEDA said its analysis showed employers now had access to a broader talent pool thanks to the growth in WFH “we must not lose sight of these benefits as some employers opt to send more staff back to the office”.

A recent study by Stanford University Economics Professor Nicholas Bloom found hybrid working from home improved employee retention without damaging productivity.

Many CEOs want a full return to the office. Picture: John Grainger

The randomised control trial of more than 1600 employees at a Chinese technology company found hybrid working for two days a week improved job satisfaction and reduced quit rates by one-third, particularly among non-managers, female employees and those with long commutes.

The study, published in Nature in June, found no difference in performance grades or promotion rates over a two-year period for hybrid workers, and there was no effect on the lines of code written by computer-engineer employees.

“Despite these benefits, many senior business leaders remain less convinced,” CEDA said.

“A KPMG survey of more than 1300 CEOs across 11 countries found 83 per cent now expect a full return to the office within the next three years, a notable increase from 64 per cent in 2023. In Australia, the result was similar, at 82 per cent.”

In Australia, however, around two thirds of company directors still believe flexible working arrangements are good for staff retention, attraction and health, according to the latest Director Sentiment Index Survey by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

“Their views on the impact of working from home on productivity and innovation have improved slightly over the last year but remain negative – only 39 per cent believe that work from home is good for productivity, while only 28 per cent believe work from home is good for innovation,” CEDA said.

“Our findings clearly show working from home should not become an industrial relations battleground.”

Originally published as More than a third of Aussies still working from home