It's great for flexibility but could hurt productivity and, in some cases, even leads to loneliness. Working from home has been a hot - and divisive - topic since the end of pandemic lockdowns.
Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest survey indicates that the number of people working from home has dropped since the 2021.
This series set out to gauge employers' sentiments and ask if they embrace this practice or plan to phase it out.
Private firms in Canberra providing services which can be delivered digitally, online or through calling, have given their verdict on whether flexible working is essential to growing their business.
One of the Big Four accounting firms, Deloitte, said their philosophy around flexible working conditions had not changed since the pandemic.
The accountancy giant doesn't have a prescribed number of days people needed to attend the Canberra office. In fact, the firm was proud to introduce the DeloitteFlex policy which, according to their website, allows 13 ways in which people can work flexibly. The policy includes switching up work timings, locations and leave.
Phil Roberts, managing partner at Deloitte Canberra, says employee feedback showed these offerings to be a main reason for attracting and retaining talented people, something which is crucial to "a sustainably successful business".
"We trust our people to make great decisions about when and where to work, to meet the needs of their clients, their teams and themselves," he says.
"For example, a client workshop might work better face to face, whereas writing a report might be easier to do from a quiet place, which for some people is at home."
Having a new office can encourage people to return
A study by COS, an Australian office products company, reports 39 per cent of workers who had an office redesign said it made the coming in to work "more enjoyable" and "productive". The post-pandemic redesign changes included a larger office space, more open-plan design and more areas to collaborate.
At the height of Covid, Deloitte was busy designing a new workplace to give their Canberra teams a "world-class" office experience. The firm moved its office to Brindabella Business Park in May 2023.
Mr Roberts observed employees were usually in the office two to three days a week, while others attended client sites full-time.
"I firmly believe that the flexible working environment is here to stay," he says now.
The culture and cost of hybrid workplaces
The completely hybrid office at IVY Social, a social media agency in Fyshwick, has benefited from the flexibility offered by co-working spaces.
With four of their 10 employees working remotely and servicing clients in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, the rest of the team in Canberra is free to work from home whenever they want.
To accommodate shifting numbers in the office, director Emily Coates says a co-working space is very cost-effective.
"I think if we [leased] our own office, it would be potentially more frustrating from a financial perspective because you could be paying a large amount of money for an office space that could go unused," Ms Coates says.
But the team is at their desk almost every day of the week. They only work from home about once or twice a fortnight when they feel under the weather or are "in the zone" to maximise productivity.
"There's no hard and fast rules around it," Ms Coates says.
But employees living locally prefer to come to the office so they don't miss out on the culture.
Throughout the work day, the IVY Social office Slack chat lights up with non-stop notifications. Their creative team finds ways to bond and build camaraderie online, whether its work-related brainstorming, or simply something funny that happened in the office.
"It almost feels like you get a bit lonely at home. You just want to be part of the team culture that is in the office," Ms Coates says.
"But all our systems are set up to make it seamless and easy for our staff members working remotely, they're completely included in all of the communications throughout the day."
She says the pandemic turned the traditional workspace on its head and helped give employees more control over their own schedules.
"Covid made a lot of businesses, including myself, realise that it is possible to have a successful business with a hybrid model," she says.
Technology has had a major facelift
As a marketing company that has practised flexible working for more than 15 years, Threesides Marketing has largely benefited from advancements in technology.
Platforms for business communication, like Microsoft Teams and Zoom, have supported their employees working remotely far better than the pre-pandemic era.
"The majority of the team is based in our headquarters here at Dickson, but we've always had remote workers. We've got one based in Sydney at the moment and one who is temporarily based in Germany for six months," company director Rachel Wright says.
She didn't have to ask staff to return to the office once Covid cases subsided because the team wanted to come back. She says the key was not to force a single policy on employees but to let them decide what works for them.
"It's great, we're glad and very thankful that that's the culture we have," Ms Wright says.
However, if a new member were to join their team, they would need to come to the office for about two weeks to undergo training.
In terms of expenses relating to remote-working equipment and technology, Ms Wright says they have been less compared to the "efficiencies" they had gained, including increased retention.
People want a work-life balance
Head of marketing at Threesides Kate Mason says there is now a greater emphasis on achieving the work-life balance. She says the flexible working question always comes up in discussions with potential new recruits, with people wanting to know if they had the option of working remotely if they were hired.
While remote working is certainly welcome at the company, she says trust is an important element of the work from home practice.
"You trust people to get their work done," she says.
"If you're demanding that people come into work, it's almost like you're saying you don't trust them to work from home, and if you don't trust someone in your organisation, why are they there in the first place?"
