Hybrid working models are here to stay – or at least they are in Australia.
A survey conducted of 50 of the nation’s largest companies, which between them employ more than 1 million staff in Australia and overseas, has found that an overwhelming majority expect to continue allowing employees to work at least part of the week from home post-COVID.
Agreeing with the findings is the chair of Australia’s Productivity Commission and leading economists, who say remote working could end up making us more productive.
Michael Brennan told The Sydney Morning Herald: “On balance, I think there’s good grounds to be optimistic when it comes to the overall impact.”
University of Michigan economics professor, Justin Wolfers, who is currently working from home in Australia, added: “Everyone is better off – no question. Total output has gone up.”
Up to 42 of the companies surveyed confirmed they would permanently adopt the hybrid working model for office-based employees.
Another six plan to have many staff onsite – a majority of the time due to operational reasons – though they also have flexible working policies where appropriate.
Two companies had not finalised their policies yet.
Of the businesses that do plan to adopt hybrid work, only seven explicitly stated a minimum number of days they expect staff to be in the office.
The survey was conducted by The Age and Herald and comes after 60% of managers were reported to have had an improved perception of working from home after live agents were forced to following the pandemic.
Research from Metrigy has found that a staggering 56.3% of business leaders and management now feel comfortable with the prospect of remote working post-pandemic.
The survey asked managers how COVID changed the viability of remote working for them. 56.3% said their perspective had improved, 21.7% said there was no change in their option on working from home, 20.1% said it had worsened and 1.9% said they were unsure.
Robin Gareiss, Metrigy CEO, said: “For years, many business leaders have been hesitant about allowing employees to work from home. In some cases, they didn’t trust that they would do their work–or at least not as productively as they do in the office. In other cases, they did not understand how collaboration technology would work.
“In fact, many doubted the effectiveness of video conferencing, the quality of home-office connectivity and security, and the value of team collaboration channels. If it weren’t for the pandemic, the work-from-home naysayers likely would never have experienced it.
“Once they did, however, the majority became convinced that work-from-home can, in fact, improve employee productivity. And they were in many cases blown away by how effective collaboration applications were at bringing teams together and enabling effective management.”
