Since COVID many office workers have become used to being able to spend a large part of their week working from home. But many companies are now trying to lure staff back to their desks more permanently. Some of the nation's biggest employers are now linking bonuses to turning up.
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TVTranscript
00:00 COVID forced office workers home and they got used to it.
00:06 We have been through a big shock. It's been a huge change.
00:09 Normally shifts in the labour market take decades. Remote work took weeks.
00:14 We've gone in just a couple of years from very, very few people working from home to a substantial minority of Australian workers.
00:21 Office blocks are filling up again, but it's not even nationally.
00:25 On an average day in our biggest capital cities, more than three quarters of offices are occupied.
00:31 In Melbourne, that figure is much lower.
00:34 The peak days of Tuesday to Thursday are busier, but on Fridays, offices are dead.
00:40 We'll never go back to full time in the office.
00:43 Businesses are changing their approach to get workers back.
00:46 They might have been offering free food or free coffees to come back into the office,
00:51 but as you said, now the larger organisations are pushing a bit harder.
00:57 Some of our biggest employers want people back at their desks.
01:01 We've said three days a week, and for our very senior leaders, it's five days.
01:06 And a warning.
01:07 There's no way you're building a career in this organisation working from home.
01:11 ANZ is reportedly linking bonuses to the amount of days spent in the office.
01:16 Origin Energy and Suncor too.
01:19 Beyond the threats, a lure.
01:22 Companies aren't taking smaller, cheaper spaces, quite the opposite.
01:25 They're using the lure of more luxurious offices with better facilities to try to get workers back more often.
01:32 Brand new spec suites, larger kitchen breakout areas for collaboration,
01:37 upgraded building lobbies with on-site cafes and lounges, inter-trip facilities.
01:42 Making office work, work.
01:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]