Anthony Albanese's handpicked economic adviser issues an urgent message to Australia about working from home
Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, who Labor appointed for a five-year term in 2023, said fully remote work was having a bad effect on economic output for every worker.
'Maybe fully remote work might have some drag on productivity,' she told the National Press Club on Monday.
'You miss out on those gains you get from being face-to-face in the office, training and spillovers.
'Hybrid work two or three days a week in the office, two or three days at home seems to not have a negative impact – in fact it might be slightly positive and it introduces great benefits for workers avoiding the commute, much greater flexibility to manage family and life.
'I've described that as a sweet spot for productivity. The market has naturally found that sweet spot.'
Ms Wood said Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan's plan to legislate the right to work from work two days a week therefore was unnecessary.
'The market does have a way of finding that sweet spot so if I was to apply a growth mindset to this, I would think, "What's the problem we're trying to solve here?" It's not clear to me there needs to be a role for government in that,' she said.
Ms Wood argued that employers who required all staff to work in the office full-time would struggle to retain employees.
'I speak to employers who say, "I want everyone back full time" and I say, "Yep, you can do that but you will struggle to attract and retain staff."
'You have to pay a wage premium.'
Victoria's Labor government has this month announced a plan to enshrine the right to work from home if someone could 'reasonably' WFH in both public and private sector roles.
More than a third or 36 per cent of Australians worked from home last year, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.
WFH became mainstream in 2020 during Covid lockdowns.
'It has been a very substantial shift that we've seen in the post-Covid world,' Ms Wood said.
The issue has become so politically charged that former Opposition leader Peter Dutton had to dump an election campaign policy of making Canberra-based public servants return to the office.
Victoria's Labor government last week announced a plan to enshrine the right to work from home if someone could 'reasonably' WFH in both public and private sector roles (pictured is Premier Jactina Allan addressing the Labor State Conference in Melbourne)
But in a sign of her political independence, Ms Wood also used her National Press Club address on productivity to call on the government to revisit tax breaks for drivers of electric cars.
'It means winding back duplicative and high-cost policies like such as fringe benefit tax concessions for electric vehicles,' she said.
During its last term, Labor removed the requirement for employers to pay a fringe benefits tax if they provide an EV to a staff member under the $91,387 luxury car tax threshold for fuel efficient vehicles.
Ms Wood is a key participant at this week's Economic Reform Roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra with business and union leaders.
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The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Air Canada flight attendants' strike declared illegal after planes grounded for days
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The Herald Scotland
5 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Is this Victorian relic the answer to Scotland's frayed yarn story?
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Having brought it to Ardgay, they then set about using old manuals and Donald's know-how from working in construction and heavy plant machinery, to bring it back to life. While he used old diagrams to make his own spare parts, Donna rolled up her sleeves, washing her Hebridean fleeces by hand in giant tubs, while swotting up on how to operate the 'new' old machines. Donald Gillies, who inherited his parents' Sutherland farm, has restored the Victorian carding machine (Image: Highland Wool) 'None of us had used them before, but carded fleece has a lot of possibilities: spinners can spin, it can be used for felting, be twisted to be used in peg looms or for stuffing. 'It has taken us a year to learn how to work the picker and the carder, and we've also had to learn how to work with each breed's fleece.' Far from a one size fits all process, different fleeces require different approaches. 'Even within Shetland one fleece might need a different treatment to another," she adds. 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The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
A reckoning, talkfest or Canberra Coachella? What to expect from the economic reform roundtable
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