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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/28/working-from-home-not-to-blame-for-dip-in-productivity-australian-report-says>
"The national shift to working from home is not to blame for the sharp drop in
productivity in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the Productivity Commission
says.
A new report by the PC examines causes for the brief productivity “bubble”
during the height of the Covid-19 health crisis and its subsequent collapse,
finding that the whiplash was driven in large part by the sharp drop in working
hours through the lockdowns, followed by a surge in hours worked as the economy
roared back to life.
Alex Robson, the PC’s deputy chair, said the “pandemic was a rollercoaster for
productivity, but we are now back to the stagnant status quo”.
The PC report finds that Covid-19 did not fundamentally alter the country’s
productivity, including one of the lasting societal shifts: the big lift in
Australians working from home.
Before the pandemic, 11% of working age Australians reported they worked from
home at least once a week, and a similar proportion said they worked from home
on all or most days of the week.
During lockdowns in September, a lower 9% worked from home at least once a
week, but the share working most or all days at home had jumped to 31%.
By April 2022, most restrictions had been lifted, leaving a higher 18% working
at least one day at home, and 27% most or all days.
And in August last year, an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey showed 36%
of employed Australians reported they usually worked from home.
Despite fears that workers would slack off at home, the PC report said the
research suggested hybrid working had not dragged on productivity, although
“studies suggest that fully remote work during the pandemic was likely to be
detrimental to productivity”.
“Workers do not need to be in the office full-time to experience the benefits
of in-person interactions. As a result, hybrid work (working some days remotely
and some days in the office) tends to be beneficial to productivity, or at
least is not detrimental to productivity,” the report said.
Studies show working from home lifts job satisfaction, and that employees were
willing to sacrifice 7-8% of their pay in return for the additional flexibility
and to avoid long commutes, the PC said.
“Remote work also reduces breaks and sick days, and results in less
distractions, all of which are typically found to be beneficial for
productivity.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
