Is WFH your new normal?

Discussion in 'Property Market Economics' started by albanga, 11th Dec, 2020.

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  1. PropDir

    PropDir Well-Known Member Business Member

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    At the moment, due to having to work from home the last 9 months or so, yes, I would say my default mindset is working from home. I started going to the office around 2 days a week around 3 months ago, and will be attending around 3 days per week starting from the new year.

    I think going forward, companies should give employees a standard rule to go to work a specified number of days per week (such as 3 days per week), and provide flexibility for the other days. Overall, I think it will be beneficial both from an employee perspective and also to help save real estate for the company given there will be a less number of people in the office at any given time.

    It depends on the industry of course - the scenario above relates to technology and property industries. Things would be different of course if you're running a restaurant/cafe or some other business where in-person communication is essential.
     
  2. PropDir

    PropDir Well-Known Member Business Member

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    Yes, agree.
     
  3. albanga

    albanga Well-Known Member

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    Zero benefit if back to business as usual.
    But longer term the goal would be to reduce floor size and rent.

    Employers can also use WFH as part of a salary package. Less money for more flexibility.
    Not for everyone, but a lot of people will gladly have a reduced salary if it means WFH.

    20k difference in pay some people would gladly accept if it means saving on PT/Travel costs, maybe it means 1 less car, maybe like me it means moving slightly and saving 200k and once interest over the loan factored in double that.

    From an employers perspective it also opens up so many more recruitment options.
     
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  4. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    By not working from a CBD or suburban office, an employer saves roughly $500-$1000/m² (workstation, circulation space, amenities etc would add a little more) - why would the employer keep the extra $10k of floorspace which they can forgo rather than offer it as a benefit to employees?
     
  5. Melbourne_guy

    Melbourne_guy Well-Known Member

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    You still need the idea generation, creativity and social inclusiveness the office environment brings to a team. I note certain individuals in my work area are unproductive at work (most offices have them) and that is unlikely to have changed WFH. Management of individuals is important irrespective if its in the office or WFH.

    What is meant by greater flexibility - flexibility for whom? If people start wanting 2 hours off in the day to be flexible and someone else wants a different time off to be flexible and another person....where does it end? The time during the week to have group discussions greatly reduces. Is it fair to give flexibility to one person because they have children but not another because they don't?

    I'm in favour of it in general and will avail myself to the facility where it suits but I can also foresee workplace difficulties if not managed properly with a recognised policy in place before it commences.
     
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  6. Firefly99

    Firefly99 Well-Known Member

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    If my employer had that attitude they would have no employees.
     
  7. Robbo80

    Robbo80 Well-Known Member

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    100% WFH could be great for some business owners.

    Save on rent, give unrealistic timeframes for staff to complete tasks as they now no longer have barriers between home/work and have 24/7 access to systems, less sick leave, less holidays in general as they would be expected to bring their work with them, no need to deal with office politics and health and safety etc, no need to visible to the people you are paying to show that you are working harder than they are, outsource tasks on Freelancer for below minimum wage, no need to shout anyone food or coffees and no need for payrises since you are saving them a bundle and can blame Covid.

    Win- win - win -win :p

    This will enable owners to all move to Byron Bay whilst the next generation of commoditised knowledge workers into estates in [insert affordable location]..
     
    Last edited: 12th Dec, 2020
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  8. inertia

    inertia Well-Known Member

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    yes, but... change is required to deliver effectiveness under a new model.
    Some people adapt easily, some dont. There are companies that have had a distributed workforce for some time. It takes effort to make it work well, and it is definitely not suitable for everyone, but surely everyone can improve to some degree?

    yep, again, it takes effort to make it work, and understanding from both parties. If there is X amount of work to get done in a week, does it matter when it happens? When it comes to collaboration, it will require more organisation - and doing it on purpose as opposed to depending on ad-hoc interations.

    Absolutely.

    Think also about how much time is "wasted" in the office - constant interruptions by people walking up and asking a "quick question", poorly run meetings, transport time... Communication doesn't always need to by synchronous (probably rarely does actually), and may actually give a more valuable response if a bit of consideration time is taken. Collaboration wise, meetings need to be efficient and effective - how it should have been when everyone was in the office all the time, but with reduced face to face time, maybe people will actual include an agenda for meetings, and participants with actually prepare ahead of time?

    Interactions have to be more mindful (a word people here love to use for investing and life in general!) - when everyone was in the office, we could be lazy and depend on organic interactions, but we will have to put a bit more effort in to that side of things now.

    cheers,
    Inertia.
     
  9. Lacrim

    Lacrim Well-Known Member

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    Yeah and maybe they'll work out that they can outsource to employees based in rural, back of Bourke areas with bugger all rent/housing cost....and pay them 30% less.

    Or perhaps they'll just go a little further and outsource it to some smart cookies in Philippines or India...and save an additional 30%.

    Be careful what you wish for.
     
  10. Lacrim

    Lacrim Well-Known Member

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    No, they will have have employees, but not you if you have that attitude. There's always someone hungrier who's willing to put out and step up, deal with more crap etc.

    I think people are more expendable than they think.
     
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  11. inertia

    inertia Well-Known Member

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    Its already been happening... Interestingly, Telstra has pulled back a significant amount of call centre functions from the Philippines as they have been badly affected by covid and unable to provide adequate staffing...
     
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  12. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    Reckon the gap between the wealthy and the poor will widen.
     
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  13. Lacrim

    Lacrim Well-Known Member

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    I can definitely see the merits of WFH as much as possible, and am a beneficiary of this myself having worked from home 4 days a week for the last 3-4 years. It gets to a point where I don't even like coming in once a week.

    However, I still think the future model, at least in the next 10 years, will be a hybrid office/WFH model whether that is 2-3, 3-2, 4-1. Not complete autonomy.
     
    Last edited: 14th Dec, 2020
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  14. essendonfan

    essendonfan Well-Known Member

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    Training remotely and giving timely feedback is horrible. Nothing will replicate being able to understand the employee, review and go through.

    Spend so much time on loom/screen shots/emails/video on basic reviews
     
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  15. Redwing

    Redwing Well-Known Member

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  16. albanga

    albanga Well-Known Member

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    Alot of outsourced work is finding its way back to our shores. Our company a software developer just pulled all our Indian developers and brought it back in-house. The communication issues are not worth the savings which actually cost us more money when you quantify the wasted time and opportunities.

    Also don’t underestimate the new “Australian made” as part of selling a product.

    Also as I mentioned an Indian dev might be 30% Cheaper but maybe a skilled local developer would be willing for a 15% pay drop to work from Byron bay.
     
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  17. The Y-man

    The Y-man Moderator Staff Member

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    Which brings an interesting point as to how many % of oz call centres are WFH.....

    The Y-man
     
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  18. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    And companies will use smart bots to answer the more standard questions. So a few less call centre staff are needed to handle the workload. Just like the automated store checkouts.
     
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  19. Lacrim

    Lacrim Well-Known Member

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    Self checkout at Coles/Woolies is fine but those 'smart bots' on live chat....grrrr :mad:. Just want to talk someone for gods sake.
     
  20. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    They will become better in the future though as the "intelligence" (coding) gets refined
     

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