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PJs or pin-stripes – what will it be ?
‘ Return-to-office ’ mandates are on the increase . Management wants their power back , and here ’ s how they ’ ll get it .
“ In the past five years , we ’ ve seen a monumental shift in how we work and meet ,” says Tim Duggan , author of Work Backwards : The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better . He predicts three main trends that will sweep through Australian workplaces in 2025 .
Employers have been in the pound seats for as long as we can remember , but the paradigm has shifted since the pandemic .
The first work trend will see management exerting power to enforce ‘ return-to-office ’ mandates over the next 12 months , adding to the ongoing workplace tension with employees wanting hybrid-style flexibility . The most recent example is President
Trump signing an order to end remote work , mandating that US federal workers return to office .
Duggan ’ s second prediction is that more businesses will enact their version of “ quiet cutting ”, a term that refers to the process where an organisation ’ s leadership rearranges resources subtly and without fuss to enact some of their goals instead of making people redundant . Practically , fewer salary increases and smaller budgets might result in employees leaving a company of their own free will . A third prediction for this year will be “ office peacocking ”, a term that describes increasingly redesigned workplaces with extravagant inclusions to lure workers back in . For example , rooftop bars , kitchens or gyms were previously only available at large corporates .
Zooming out , the wider theme behind all of this is the attempted wrestling of control back into a more traditional organisational structure . Is it going to work ? We will have to wait and see . S
“ Employers have been in the pound seats for as long as we can remember , but the paradigm has shifted since the pandemic .”
Autumn Issue 2025 | Executive PA 17