By Roy Ward
More people are dragging themselves into their CBD offices a couple of days a week, a new survey has found, but the number of five-day-a-week warriors has plunged.
The hybrid work model looks here to stay, with three-quarters of Melbourne’s city workers now settled into a mix of home and office workdays.
Most city workers have settled into a mix of home and office days.Credit: Scott McNaughton
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says its latest office occupancy survey shows 76 per cent of responding employers do not believe staff will return to five days a week in the office.
The survey found 46 per cent of employees were working three to four days in the office in March, compared with 41 per cent last November. Some 38 per cent were working one to two days in the office, also up 5 percentage points over the same period.
However, the 19 per cent who were heading into the office every day in November collapsed to just 8 per cent in March.
Chamber chief executive Paul Guerra said office workers had settled into new routines.
“While respondents are clearly telling us that they are enjoying the in-person collaboration and social connection that comes from working in-person with their colleagues, we can also see that the number of people committed to working five days in the office has dropped off significantly,” Guerra said.
“The trend from November until now shows consistency in numbers back into CBD offices on weekdays. It means business owners that rely on CBD foot traffic should now be able to plan accordingly.”
Guerra said the return of tourists and international students should also make the CBD busier Monday to Friday.
“Ultimately, this is what a post-COVID CBD will look like, and we can now turn our thoughts to innovative ways to stimulate our CBD as part of our ... path to the future,” he said.
The survey found 9 per cent of respondents had not returned to the office at all, while two-thirds of businesses that responded were using events such as team lunches, in-person meetings and after-work drinks to attract people to the office.
It found 38 per cent of respondents listed work-life balance and home duties as the main reason for not returning to full-time office work, while 21 per cent said time wasted commuting was an issue.
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