Research paper: What can we learn from Australian organisations that re-opened the office?

Australia has had its COVID-19 related challenges, like everywhere else around the globe. Like many places, Australia endured significant periods of lockdowns in 2020 and witnessed a mass exodus from working in the office to working from home (Ziffer, 2021).

However, in general, Australia has experienced lower rates of infection overall, when compared to most other nations (Our World in Data, 2021). Therefore, the major Australian metropolitan areas have spent less time in lockdown when compared to other major cities around the world, except for places like New Zealand, China, Singapore and South Korea (Financial Times, 2021).

In terms of the world of work, many Australian and New Zealand based organisations were able to enact ‘return to the office’ plans sooner than others around the world (ABC, 2020). This has given many the opportunity to test, experiment and experience what others are still just theorising about (Varagur, 2021).

The Veldhoen + Company team in Australia and New Zealand have been working with many organisations to re-imagine their future of work and co-creating workplace strategies for the post-pandemic workplace. Unsurprisingly, hybrid ways of working have been at the forefront of the strategies developed. What can we learn from the workplace strategies post-pandemic of Australian organisations?

About the report

The team has partnered with organisations as they test different return to work approaches and hybrid ways of working strategies. They also recently surveyed a range of organisations in a variety of sectors across Australia and reaching over 1500 respondents, to understand how people were experiencing working remotely for extended periods and working in increasingly hybrid ways.

Some results and findings have been surprising, leading to a number of key insights. Such as:

• There is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ hybrid way of working
• Viewing work through the lens of activities is crucial to develop a meaningful hybrid way of working strategy - even for organisations who do not have a workplace strategy based on the activity-based working principles
• A fixed ‘3 in the office, 2 at home’ approach will not provide staff with the levels of autonomy and choice they need to thrive in a post-pandemic workplace

The full report includes results from the survey, comparative results from the APAC region, and insights from the Veldhoen + Company AU/NZ team on the future of work. 

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