Working from home (WFH), the necessity of the pandemic, is now under attack from all sides but that new way of life is far from dead, especially at agencies.
A string of big name companies, including Amazon, want everyone back in the office a full five days a week.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassywould said the move would help staff be "better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected”.
In Sydney, public servants have been ordered back, in a move to improve mentorship and building culture.
Among advertising agencies, a 100% return to the office would mean additional overheads.
The global groups have saved so much money cutting office space that it makes a full return to the office expensive.
Much has been said among the senior ranks at agencies of the need to have staff in the office, to interact creatively and to help mentor the non stop flow of early career people.
This is countered by other staff, mostly middle ranks or juniors, who love saving commuting time, finding a better work/life balance with more margin for family and personal pursuits.
In Australia, working from home has taken hold but those who moved to regional areas during the pandemic may have a problem. Few employers are open to 100% working from home.
Amazon has told those who can’t be in the office to look for another job elsewhere.
Lee Shorter, practice manager, design & technology at recruiters Aquent Australia, said most candidates seem to be happy with two to three days per week in the office.
The majority prefer three to four days.
So three days on site is the happy middle ground.
“One of the big issues with the hybrid model is where the number of days in the office are mandated but the specific days required to come in are not,” said Shorter.
“It's great to give the flexibility for employees to choose, but often means people coming into half empty offices and still conducting meetings virtually. They're left wondering what the point of coming in was when their immediate team and stakeholder group aren't with them.
“The jobseekers having the toughest time appear to be those who moved regionally when working fully remote was the norm.
“Those roles are now few and far between, so they're faced with a choice of being out of work for extended periods while they wait for such an opportunity to arise, making the move back to a big city, or dealing with very lengthy commutes.
“Full-time roles working onsite are still very much undesirable. I'd say on the whole there are more agencies wanting this than for in-house roles, again highlighting the lack of flexibility as a key reason why agency folk look to make the move brand-side."
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