Aussie bosses have been warned to be strategic when implementing a return-to-office mandate otherwise they could have staff running for the hills. The tide is slowly turning against the work-from-home (WFH) lifestyle that many have enjoyed for the past few years.
The private and public sectors have recently announced major changes and are requiring staff to come back to the office either part-time or even five days a week. But Angela Anasis, Executive General Manager of Randstad Australia, told Yahoo Finance that employers should be careful.
“I feel like the genie is out of the bottle,” she said, referring to businesses forcing Aussies to come back.
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“After four years of remote and hybrid work, officer workers feel they have earned the right to work from home and many have made life choices, such as buying a pet or relocating further away from the office based on the assumption that this flexibility was here to stay.
“It’s no surprise therefore that they’re concerned about this right being stripped away without proper justification.
“Given people are prepared to walk away from a job if they’re forced back into the office, employers should carefully consider how to incentivise attendance, focusing on the carrot rather than the stick.”
Randstad recently crunched some numbers and found many white-collar working Aussies (52 per cent) now view working from home as a fundamental right and fear it is being unjustifiably taken away.
The New South Wales government, Amazon, Tab Corp, Dell and Flight Centre are some of the big names who have recently announced major changes to WFH privileges.
But this return-to-office mandate can massively backfire
Randstad found that 24 per cent of Aussies would actively search for a new hybrid role if they had to go back to the office full-time, while 6 per cent would resign without another job lined up.
That’s exactly what happened with Rachel*.
The senior account executive was happily enjoying her fully remote job at a PR agency after joining last year. But just after Christmas, staff were sent a directive that they had to come back to the office from the start of 2024.
“It was a big shift to go from working from home to then being told that I needed to be in an office for three days a week without any kind of notice to organise my dog or anything like that,” she told Yahoo Finance.
But what was even more frustrating was the reality of actually being in the office.
Rachel said it was a small team and there wasn’t even a fridge to store her food, which meant she had to unnecessarily fork out a lot of money each week on lunch.
“I didn’t have a desktop or a computer chair or any amenities that you would expect if you are going to into an office,” she explained.
“I was like, ‘Why am I here?’ I’m sitting at a dining table like mine at home. I can’t even put lunch in this fridge. It was just little things like that. It was just very dull and I just didn’t feel it.
“It felt like I was just there because I was forced to be there against my will.”
Rachel started looking for a new job two months after coming back to the office.
So how do you get staff back in without making them quit
Randstad found that if workplaces are going to bring people back into the office then they need to be prepared to make it worth employees’ while.
“When you’re looking at sourcing talent and retaining the best talent, I think it’s going to be very hard for them to attract people if they don’t provide some level of flexibility,” Anasis explained to Yahoo Finance.
An overwhelming 79 per cent of respondents said that offering staff better office perks would be the trick that could get them to return.
The survey found it would cost bosses or companies around $4,034 per employee to introduce these perks, which include free lunches, free transport or parking, or even free gym membership.
Anasis said the cost-of-living crisis meant returning to the office can put a massive strain on some workers and these small perks can go a long way in keeping everyone happy.
Another 24 per cent of people said a “significant” pay rise would be the only factor in enticing them back to the office full-time.
“I think it’s always a good conversation for workers and employers to really start to have that kind of dialogue and see if there are avenues that they can be supportive of that,” Anasis said. “But if employers can lead the front, they’re going to be at an advantage because they’re proactively messaging it.”
Funnily enough, even though Rachel’s new job has a hybrid work policy, she now comes in three days a week because the vibe is much better.
“It’s just a way better setup,” she explained to Yahoo Finance.
“It feels way more professional and you just want to go there because you feel like it’s more collaborative.”
She said there are plenty of professional advantages to coming into the office, but having those perks here and there is a game-changer.
*Name changed at worker’s request
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