policy & reform
campusreview.com.au
technology will certainly continue to be
used to support collaboration, but that it will
still need to be balanced with ensuring we
have the opportunity to see our colleagues
in person and continue to have that human
contact with our teammates. informal conversations and that human
interaction will continue to be an important
part of our wellbeing.
You also mentioned in the article that, while
it’s too early to judge how most people are
dealing with WFH, there seem to be three
distinct types of people. It will depend on the industry and the type
of work that people do. For workers who
don’t need to be on-site every day to do
their job, then yes, I expect that into the
future, there will be wider opportunities for
those workers to work from home. I think
particularly as many organisations will now
have been able to see just how effective
working from home can be, and that
people can be just as productive working
from a home office as from a traditional
office. The sorts of workers I’m particularly
thinking about are those white-collar office
job type of workers.
But post-pandemic, I think there’ll
obviously be jobs where the nature of
the work doesn’t lend itself quite as easily
to working from home. So, for example,
workers who still need to have a daily
interaction with customers or clients or
patients. I’m thinking healthcare workers,
teachers, maybe people in warehousing
distribution, or those in retail hospitality that
are particularly customer-facing.
So, I think industry and type of work will
play an important role in determining what
WFH looks like into the future. But also, the
pandemic has required many businesses
to think a bit more seriously and reassess
their cost and overhead. So one cost many
businesses have is real estate – the cost of
leasing office space. Many businesses might
look to lower those office space costs and
potentially reduce the amount of office
space they have. One way they could do
that is by continuing to encourage some
WFH practices and perhaps think more
creatively about the type of workspace they
need for their business.
I think workers generally fall into
three broad categories regarding their
preferences for working from home and
their experiences of it. Some people find
it hard to create office space – maybe
their home space simply has too many
distractions to be able to work effectively.
Especially in the context of this pandemic,
some workers, me included, need to
manage home-schooling and childcare
alongside part-time or full-time paid
employment, and that can certainly be
challenging. So going to an office can make
it easier to get work done.
Some people prefer a clear demarcation
between work life and home life, and the
best way for them to generate that is to
have an office to go to every day to get their
work done. So for people in this category,
their preference will probably continue to
be going to the traditional office every day.
But another category of people have
probably fallen in love with working from
home, and for them that short walk to
the home office or desk is probably much
preferred to the hour-long or maybe even
longer daily commute to an office space.
So they’re probably also enjoying that
flexibility of starting and finishing their
work when they’re most productive in the
day, and they might find that their home
office actually has fewer distractions than
a traditional office. So they can work better
and get more done when they’re at home.
These people also enjoy how WFH flexibility
allows them to better manage their work as
well as their other life responsibilities.
I think, for most of us, we fit into the third
category: people who are keen to get the
best of both worlds. That is, to get those
WFH benefits I just mentioned, particularly
around that flexibility of when and how
work is done, but also to have the benefits
of being able to go into an office.
Some of these benefits can include just
being able to see our colleagues and have
a chat with them, which we can’t do in
person at the moment. But having those
Many people have argued that COVID-19
will change our work lives forever. Do you
think WFH practices are here to stay?
Productivity is always the key surrounding
WFH practices and policies. But are there
other impacts, say, on individuals and
communities, that we need to consider?
Absolutely. Productivity is one aspect, but
there are many others to be mindful of.
For example, it’s important to ensure that
workers are not experiencing a blurring of
those lines between what is home time and
what is work time. Particularly when we
work from home, it can be easy to keep the
work email open or keep the work laptop
on and say, “Oh, I’ll just finish this after
dinner.” But we know that adopting a 24/7
mentality to work does not support good
physical and mental wellbeing.
So there need to be clear expectations
for managers about when work starts and
stops and ensuring that there isn’t that
blurring between home time and personal
time, because workers still need to have
that time away from work.
Conversely, workers need to be supported
in developing an effective WFH routine. That
links a little bit to productivity. For example,
when we’re at home, it can be easy to get
distracted by other things, like getting the
washing done, talking to family members or
playing with the dog.
Interestingly, I was talking to a colleague
last week and he said one of his challenges
in working from home was social
distancing, not necessarily from people, but
social distancing from the fridge. Maybe
some of us can relate to that!
It’s important that
organisations don’t just assume
that people will automatically
find a routine when they work
from home, or even necessarily
find it an easy thing to do.
So, I think it’s important that organisations
don’t just assume that people will
automatically find a routine when they work
from home, or even necessarily find it an
easy thing to do, particularly if they’ve never
done it before. Organisations might need
to step in there and provide some guidance
and strategies to help their workers create
the WFH routine that is best for them.
On a positive note, I think we may see
some more personal and community wide
benefits from a broader shift to working
from home. For example, when people
can cut out that long daily commute to
an office, suddenly they find they have
more time and energy to get involved in
things like local neighbourhood activities or
meeting up with friends, exercise, taking the
kids to the sports field, and so on.
So we might find that people suddenly
have more time and space to engage in
connection-based, community-oriented
activities. Those are great for supporting
both personal and community wellbeing. ■
11