Office owners push for workers to return
Office landlords are stepping up their push to get workers back behind desks, with the $12bn Investa property platform releasing a major study showing that productivity suffers when workers are not together in offices.
The study questions the push for more permanent flexible working arrangements, pointing to the critical role of office workers collaborating in order to achieve productivity gains.
The study, by Investa’s research department, found that while output as assessed by workers at home was up, on wider economic productivity measures it was in fact below previous trends.
Investa head of research and strategy David Cannington said that while a variety of surveys had concluded that the COVID-enforced “work from home” experience ”substantially improved” worker productivity, recent labour productivity data shows otherwise.
The study highlights the ramifications of ABS national accounts data showing Australia’s office workforce productivity declined by 3 per cent in the June quarter, when the majority of office workers were in their first phase of working from home.
“While a quarterly fall in white collar labour productivity in an economic downturn is not unusual, it does provide counterevidence to the view that office worker productivity has increased with the enforcement of working from home through COVID,” Mr Cannington said.
“In comparison to the outperformance of recent years, white collar labour productivity has declined sharply through COVID despite the ability to transition most office-based work to home offices,” he said.
Cannington said while office workers had been working fewer hours and producing less, office worker productivity had not improved, but remained broadly unchanged, with office-based labour productivity per hour of work increasing a meagre 0.1 per cent in the June quarter.
The debate about the return to work has sharpened with major landlords, including Dexus, leading the charge for new guidelines on public transport use, and also arguing the COVID-safe nature of many workplaces should be recognised.
Fresh data shows office building occupancy in major CBDs is well below pre-COVID-19 levels despite very low or no community transmission being reported in most cities.
Most federal public servants were on Tuesday ordered back to their offices and Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for business and state public services to follow suit.
A Property Council of Australia survey found occupancy levels had remained static or risen slightly in most capital cities. Melbourne’s occupancy rate of 10 per cent was the lowest in the country and reflected the impact of stringent stage four restrictions.
Occupancy in the Sydney CBD was at 35%, up from 30% the previous month.
Many workers prefer to stay clear of the CBD during the pandemic, but office landlords say their return is crucial for business recovery. Picture: Bianca De Marchi
Canberra office occupancy was essentially unchanged at 4%, while Brisbane increased from 45% to 52%, and Perth rose from 55% to 63%. Adelaide’s occupancy rate bumped up to 67%, up from 61%.
The push to get people back into CBDs has also been cited as a crucial plank in the recovery of major capitals, including Melbourne, where incentives are being used to keep businesses afloat and then reactivate them once people return.
Flexible work advocates, including major finance and technology companies, have adopted more flexible routines for their staff.
However, Investa warned surveys of employees at home were “riddled” with both subjective responses and sample bias rendering their results and conclusions ”highly questionable”.
Staff were “significantly motivated” to respond that their productivity had increased when asked by employers, particularly during a weak economy when lay-offs were being made.
Investa also pointed to differences between productivity and how much was being produced at home, as some staff actually adopted longer hours at home and others were affected by home schooling and shared living arrangements.
“The balance of evidence suggests there are some benefits to providing a work from home option for office workers among a mix of flexible workspace options,” Mr Cannington said. ”However, office worker productivity and the economic performance of the business services sector are greater with an office presence.”
Cannington said that looking beyond the COVID crisis, workplace flexibility, resilience and adaptability were important in navigating potential shocks in future.
The Executive Centre’s Australian country director Robert How said companies were realising that workplace flexibility was going to play a critical role in business. He called on organisations to give employees the option to work from different environments, both at home and in an office environment by employing a hub-and-spoke model, boosting business efficiencies.
“The biggest revelation here is that human connections are essential and difficult to replicate in a fully remote system, and that the office is and will continue to play a fundamental importance in the future of work,” he said.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
