Most Australians working from home were happy to do so before COVID hit, but research has identified several key factors in whether these arrangements are likely to work out well for you.
Remote working in London, March 2020.
EPA-EFE/Neil Hall
We asked 1,400 managers to rate working from home. Some 8.4% said their teams were less productive, 57% said it was the same, and 34% said it was higher.
About seven times as many Americans are working from home since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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Working from home has become the new norm for many during the pandemic. But it’s an opportunity that divides along racial and economic lines – and isn’t as beneficial to the environment as many believe.
We estimate 39% of all jobs in Australia can be done from home, with men more likely to have teleworkable jobs.
COVID-19 has required many employees to work from home and set up home offices, incurring costs and bringing their employer into their private space.
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Some companies are moving permanently to remote work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. But are they simply passing on costs to employees while invading their personal space?
Do we really want to go back to daily commuting as the default way of working?
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The change in our behaviour in response to COVID-19 has created an opportunity to build on this moment and transform our local neighbourhoods into vibrant mixed-use centres of activity.
Some new habits we’ve seen emerging during the pandemic could help us solve tricky problems like traffic congestion, which have challenged our cities for a long time.
Working from home isn’t an option for low-income employees and primarily benefits those who make more money — and save more money as a result.
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The higher a person’s salary, the most likely they are to be able to work from home; it’s not an option for most low-income workers. Here’s what governments can do to help encourage more remote work.
Working from home is an accommodation long sought by many people with disabilities.
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With vast swaths of society forced to work from home, people with disabilities can overcome many of the challenges they face in a normal office environment.
After the ‘world’s biggest work-from-home experiment’, many people (and their employers) might decide they needn’t commute every day. If even a fraction do that, infrastructure needs will change.
Essential workers expose themselves to the coronavirus every day.
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Futurists have been predicting a working-from-home revolution since the 1970s. The pace of the revolution has been limited by factors other than technology.
A busy workspace: Dad works while toddler does online-preschool, twins adjust to home-kindergarten and mom, on a break, takes the photo.
(Lesli Harker)