Yahoo Finance Aussie bosses unveil date of WFH demise: 'Five days in the office'
Major companies have ordered staff back into the office this week and new research has revealed the date you can expect to head back too.
Aussie bosses have warned staff the days of work from home are coming to an end. Major companies like Amazon and Tabcorp have ordered staff back into the office this week and new research has revealed when the tide will start turning for everyone else.
Most Aussie CEOs want traditional white-collar workers fully based back in the office in three years. The findings come from KPMG’s latest CEO survey, which found 82 per cent of bosses have this expectation, up from 66 per cent last year.
Only a minority of Aussie bosses - 27 per cent - thought roles would be hybrid, while no Aussie leaders thought they would be fully remote.
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Bosses have also warned that staff who don’t head into the office could be punished, with 78 per cent saying they would reward employees who made the effort to come into the office with promotions, pay rises and better projects.
Companies like ANZ, Suncorp Bank and Origin Energy have already warned staff that bonuses would be linked to office attendance, while Amazon told workers they may not get promoted if they didn’t come into the office as required.
While Aussie bosses are predicting an end to the flexible workplace, the research found there was a bright spot when it came to overall staff numbers.
On headcount, 54 per cent of leaders forecast staff levels to grow 5 per cent, while 36 per cent expected a 6 to 10 per cent growth in numbers. Only 4 per cent predicted staff cuts, a significant shift from last year.
KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates said it was encouraging to see CEOS were “generally upbeat” despite fears of an economic slowdown.
“It seems that most are looking beyond what may be a sluggish next few months to a brighter two or three years after that,” Yates said.
“For example, while the unemployment rate is tipped to rise over the next six months, our respondents are confident that staff levels in their companies will grow over the following two years or so.”
Amazon, Tabcorp orders staff back to the office
This week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy ordered staff back into the office full-time and said it would no longer be “a given” for staff to work remotely.
“When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant," Jassy said in a memo sent to staff globally.
The e-commerce boss said it was easier for staff to learn, collaborate and brainstorm in the office, it allowed the company to “strengthen” its culture and teams to be “better connected to one another”.
The move drew criticism from fellow tech giant Atlassian, who said mandates "aren't the solution to the real problem".
Aussie gambling company Tabcorp also joined the tide, with CEO Gillon McLachlan ordering 1,000 employees back into the office effective immediately and said this would drive a “winning culture”.
“Having us together as a team, focused and driving towards our goals will deliver outcomes and success,” he said in an email to staff.
WFH ‘pendulum is swinging back’
About two in five Aussie employees are now expected to head into the office five days per week, research from Robert Half recently found. This is double the number recorded last year.
Robert Half director Andrew Brushfield said employers were taking advantage of the tight labour market and a lack of “candidate leverage” to get staff back to the office.
"The pendulum is swinging back to pre-pandemic levels where working from home was an anomaly rather than an expectation,” Brushfield said.
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