Australia's biggest WFH winners revealed

Some readers might think we’ve said all there is to say about working from home.

We’ve discussed the subject from all angles, and returned to it again and again and again this year.

But it’s also too important a topic to not keep discussing, affecting everything from workplace culture and relationship-building, to how we design our offices and how much time we spend on public transport, to name just a few. In fact, it’s difficult to recall another change in the workplace as significant as this that took place so suddenly.

And so it seems fitting that our final newsletter of the year contains two more stories on the issue.

The first, based on new analysis of HILDA survey data by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, confirms that carers, women with young children and people with a disability or health condition are some of the biggest winners from the switch to remote and hybrid working.

The research found disproportionately large increases in workforce participation in these groups after the pandemic, as the growth and acceptance of WFH “helped overcome barriers that previously made it harder for these groups to participate in the labour market”.

Three-time Paralympian Shelley Matheson, PLY , who works for Medibank alongside playing for the women’s national wheelchair basketball team, told?The Australian Financial Review earlier this year that the switch to working from home not only meant she could work in a step-free environment that catered to her needs, but also that?she no longer had to ask for special treatment.

The second story, from senior Chanticleer columnist James Thomson , suggests the wide range of hybrid working policies at large ASX-listed companies is evidence that the work-from-home debate is far from settled.

“While?the annual Chanticleer CEO poll?does suggest a broad acceptance of the need for companies to embrace hybrid ways of working, it’s also clear that four years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many chief executives are wary of a workplace shift that was forced on them and remains in the experimental stage,” Thomson writes.

His piece explores what CEOs see as the pros and cons of remote work – and where the debate might turn next.

Elsewhere, BOSS editor Sally Patten sits down with property developer Tim Gurner to find out why he quit alcohol and what he learnt from it.

We ask three career coaches for their best advice on how to audit your career before the end of the year, so you can put your best foot forward on January 1.

And Chanticleer walks us through the five biggest corporate stuff-ups of 2024.

Merry Christmas, and thanks for reading the newsletter over the past 12 months. We’ll see you back here on January 10.

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