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Transport experts believe post-pandemic work habits have finally stabilised and that the return to the office is unlikely to progress any further.
The average working Australian is spending 27% of their working hours at home, calculated across full and part-time employees.
However, the figure is broadly higher in capital cities than in regional areas according to the latest Transport Opinion Survey conducted by the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, published on Wednesday.
There is also an occupation divide favouring office workers – particularly professionals and managers – over essential workers.
In Sydney, workers spent 31% of their work week at home, while in Melbourne the figure was 35% and in Brisbane 33%.
The institute has run its transport survey twice a year for the past 10 years, and its director, David Hensher, noted the most recent figures – based on surveys conducted in March – were almost identical to those in the previous one from September.
As a result, Hensher said he was confident the data represented the new normal for work-from-home habits in Australia, and that governments and businesses should feel safe adjusting their operations accordingly.
“We’re at the stage now where we can finally be confident that the incidence of work from home has stabilised, but it does vary by location,” Hensher said.
In addition to discrepancies between regional areas and capital cities, he noted a stark contrast with Western Australia, which was, notably, relatively unaffected by lockdowns compared with other states. He said in WA, the average worker spends 11% of their working hours at home, compared with Victoria’s 34%.
“It’s interesting that it took the pandemic to test some thinking about remote working and, most importantly, what’s made it work is the productivity implications have not decreased. If employers found they weren’t getting value from their staff, I suspect it wouldn’t have continued.”
Using the survey data, the researchers modelled the probability that people work from home by looking at their occupations, where they are located and other factors.
This map shows the probability of working from home in August and September 2022, a rate that researchers say has mostly stabilised. The area around the inner city has the highest probabilities of working from home.
Hensher said current levels of working from home would reduce Australia’s CO2 emissions related to passenger and freight movements by 8%.
The survey found those working from home were taking advantage of time savings from not commuting – 88% of respondents during the survey period made trips for leisure, shopping and personal business during work-from-home days.
“They’re still putting in the working hours but it’s not 9-5, they’re doing hours in the early morning and on weekends, and they’re making the most of that time during their work day for personal reasons, as well as time they’ve saved from commuting.”
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Hensher said that 80% of this non-work-related time was being spent on in-house activities, such as chores and renovation and maintenance work, while 20% was leaving the house to go to the shops, and seeing relatives and friends.
He said that despite the time spent on personal endeavours, roughly half of the time savings gained from not commuting were being spent on extra work, often unpaid.
“It’s a gain in productivity.”
Previous surveys found commuters in Greater Sydney were saving about 63 minutes a day on average from not having to commute. Almost half of the time saved (45.9%) instead went to leisure or family activities, and as the amount of time saved from commuting increases, the share going to paid work decreases.
Hensher said while there was evidence Monday and Friday had emerged as the most popular days to work from home, office rates were roughly only 5% lower on Mondays and Fridays.
As well as occupation, the survey found cost of living also determines working from home habits.
“People have repeatedly mentioned high petrol costs, increasing public transport fares and other fees such as toll roads,” the survey report found, noting cost-of-living pressures were affecting people’s work from home decisions.
“If someone chooses to work from home every day, that could be a saving of a couple of thousand of dollars a year,” Hensher said.
Hensher’s comments come as the incoming New South Wales government announces that Prof Allan Fels, the inaugural chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, will lead the overhaul of the state’s toll network, which premier, Chris Minns, promised in the lead-up to the March election.
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