04-04-2025
Surprising WFH revelation for millions of Aussies: 'Don't want to'
Predictions that work-from-home (WFH) rights will be stripped from millions of Australians have been met with surprising new data. It actually looks like office attendance is actually going down, not up, in some places.
The Australian HR Institute (AHRI) found that 45 per cent of employers now have a minimum requirement for staff to be in the office between three to five days a week. But that's down from 48 per cent in 2023.
Angela Anasis, Executive General Manager of Randstad Australia, told Yahoo Finance the WFH "genie is out of the bottle" and employers need to weigh up their options appropriately.
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'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," she said.
A poll of more than 4,300 Yahoo Finance readers found 59 per cent would quit their jobs if they were forced back into the office.A Woolworths Group worker recently told Yahoo Finance that he took a $50,000 pay cut and resigned after the supermarket ordered office workers back in a staggered approach.
The AHRI research found 98 per cent of Aussie organisations now offer some form of flexible working arrangement, which is up from 95 per cent in 2022.
Similarly, the number of workplaces that have no requirements to be in the office has grown from 25 per cent in 2023 to 28 per cent now.
An interesting aspect of the data arose in the types of workplaces these shifts were taking place.
The private sector saw no movement in office attendance or changing WFH policies.
The non-profit sector has shifted towards having staff in the office more, with two to three days a week the most common. That rate has jumped from 3 per cent in 2023 to 9 per cent this year.
However, it was the public sector that had seen the biggest switch-ups.
Even though the NSW government and Peter Dutton have pledged to bring public servants back to the office, it looks like, on the whole, it's not a national trend.
"While a requirement to attend the workplace for two or three days a week remains common [in the public sector], the proportion of organisations mandating this has fallen from 58 per cent in 2023 to 47 per cent in 2025," AHRI said.
"In contrast, the share of employers who do not impose a minimum attendance requirement but encourage employees to come into the workplace has risen from 29 per cent in 2023 to 37 per cent in 2025."
AHRI found that "internal stakeholders" were the biggest driver in pushing staff back to the office.
Senior management was the biggest cab off the rank at 82 per cent, followed by the board at 29 per cent, HR at 9 per cent, and staff at 7 per cent.
The top three reasons behind the return-to-office (RTO) mandates are:
To fix a feeling of disconnection between colleagues (57 per cent)
To improve staff collaboration (38 per cent)
Monitor performance (35 per cent).
But interestingly, it seems like this is easier said than done.
The data found that 60 per cent of employers that ordered staff back to the office found it hard or very hard to do.
Larger companies like Woolworths had to divide into subsidiaries to make determinations, while the NSW government pushed the rollout back on to managers to work out.
Additionally, 31 per cent of organisations that have tightened WFH days over the past two years said their ability to recruit or retain has been "negatively impacted".
"The survey data suggests that the tighter mandates have had a net negative impact on employee engagement and the ability to recruit and retain staff," AHRI said.
"Among those organisations that have tightened attendance requirements in the physical workplace over the past couple of years, a third (33 per cent) of organisations say that this has resulted in a decrease in employee engagement among their workforce.
"By comparison, 22 per cent say that the revised requirements have had a positive impact on employee engagement."
If the Coalition wins the May 3 election, tens of thousands of public sector workers will be ordered back to the office.
Alternatively, Anthony Albanese has reaffirmed his support for WFH policies.
UNSW Professor Manju Ahuja believed a hybrid model of a few days in the office per week will likely be the long-term model for many Aussies - particularly as bosses bend the knee to the youngest workers.
'We're seeing this even more with Gen Z; they just do not want to go back to the office," she said.
"They've grown up with this lifestyle, and it's what they want to stay with.
"If we want to leverage their talents, we're going to have to provide at least some remote work.'
But if you want to keep those WFH rights, you might suffer in other ways in the future.
Recruitment agency Robert Half found three in four Aussie employers believe office attendance "significantly" impacts an employee's likelihood of a promotion.
Around 45 per cent of workers surveyed said they would be willing to spend more time in the office if attendance were required for a promotion.
'As employers increasingly value staff being physically present in the office, employees seeking continued remote work may face career progression challenges,' Robert Half director Andrew Brushfield said.
'The 'out-of-sight, out-of-mind' effect is real. In-office presence increases visibility, fosters collaboration, and signals dedication and commitment, all factors employers consider for promotions."
