“In the history of modern work and workplace, there is no doubt that 2020 will rank as one of the most significant years in terms of accelerating the pace of change,” Mr Alcock said.
“Already new opportunities and attitudes are starting to emerge and it is clear that if 2020 was a year of change, 2021 will be one of both tremendous opportunity and significant challenge,” he said.
A survey shows 70 per cent of workers want to work at least one day per week from home.
Professor McDonald said the COVID-19 pandemic had been a “natural experiment” on workplaces and had changed the face of workplaces in the future.
“I think it already has, most definitely and probably, permanently,” Professor McDonald said.
Professor McDonald said there was already significant shifts in workers’ expectations to work from home.
“They expect to be able to work from home at least part of their working time,” she said.
“By the same token there has been a real shift from managers and employers in their level of acceptance of work from home arrangements.”
Professor McDonald said organisations “benefited greatly” during the pandemic from workers working from home because information technology made it possible.
“Imagine how many employees would have been furloghed, or how much additional revenue they would have lost, how much lost productivity they would have lost without their employees working from home.”
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She said there was in 2021 a lot more acceptance from employers and managers about “semi-working from home arrangements”.
“This natural experiment we have been through has engendered greater levels of trust around that.”
Professor McDonald predicted smaller-scale office spaces, a “greater churn” in gig economy workers, and more opportunities for employees to live and work in different cities and towns.
“There is likely to be increased expectation of employees – not just to work from home in the same geographic location as their workplace – but to also live elsewhere,” she said.
“To live in Sydney, for example, but be employed by a company that operates from Brisbane.”
The Committe for Brisbane breakfast is being held at The Grove, 480 Queen Street, on May 20 from 7-9am.
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