Liam Dann: Death of the office? Let's hope not

Working from home saves time on commuting and putting on trousers but there are perks to office working too. Photo / 123RF

Financial giant AMP made headlines this week with plans to move its head office out of the city and let its staff keep working from home if they want.

Meanwhile, I headed into the office. It was good to be back in the city.

Internationally, a lot of big companies have embraced the idea of remote working after finding things worked well during the big lockdown.

Twitter, Facebook, US insurance company Nationwide, multinational food group Mondelez and British bank Barclay's have also all flagged plans to decentralise and encourage staff to work from home.

That's prompted plenty of commentary about the imminent demise of the office.

Last month a survey by Frog Recruitment found most people enjoyed working from home.

Most people enjoy The Beatles too. But try listening to them every day and see how much you're loving Yellow Submarine or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da after the first month.

The survey of 1300 employers, conducted in late April, found that around 70 per cent weren't keen to head back to the office.

In April I'd probably have ticked that box too.

I enjoyed skipping the daily commute. I could actually sleep in half an hour later and still be at work half an hour earlier.

I enjoyed eating lunch at home.

I enjoyed the extra time with my family.

And in the early days of the lockdown my work was very, very busy.

Interviewing ashen-faced economists and business leaders as the world collapsed around us wasn't exactly fun but it was reasonably straight forward.

It wasn't just the media that was busy, the rapid change of circumstances caused by the lockdown meant many business people found themselves swamped with urgent logistical challenges.

Working from home is simple when there's a steady flow of work coming at you.

It also makes sense when a project is clearly defined and you've got your head down in the home straight to a deadline.

At the creative end, it's less clear cut. When you have to generate ideas and make your own work happen, being on your own is hard.

The relative merits of working from home have been a hot topic of discussion for many of us in the office this week.

And that's a big point in favour of collective workspaces – the banter, the debate and the sharing of ideas.

We all got very good at Zooming, FaceTiming and Teaming during lockdown but it's still a poor substitute for real-life interaction.

As a senior staffer with well-established work patterns, I have a relative advantage at home too.

One of the biggest difficulties for businesses heading towards a more remote workforce is the ability to build and maintain a culture that motivates and enhances performance.

Company culture isn't easily quantified but in the past 30 years corporates have invested a lot of money in building it, often with stunning results.

It's one thing for companies to leave an experienced workforce at home to get on with things but what about the next generation?

The office environment surrounds new young employees with a ready pool of experience and advice.

Much of the training we get in a job happens organically in the office as we learn and adapt to our surroundings.

While I'm no cloth-cap socialist it's also worth considering whether working from home is better value for workers or for employers.

In April, US research company Gartner surveyed 317 chief financial officers and found that 74 per cent planned to move at least 5 per cent of their on-site workforce to permanently remote positions post-Covid-19.

That suggests that rather than being a groovy way for employers to improve the work/life balance of staff the trend is being driven, at least in part, by a drive to cut costs.

Rent, power, cleaning and even small perks like coffee and tea are all costs that add up for companies.

Letting workers stay at home could be viewed as a subtle way of shifting those burdens to workers.

A vibrant CBD adds value to our lives. Photo / Dean Purcell

It may even be a step on the path to a more casual, contract-based workforce.

That's not inherently a bad thing.

Flexible work suits some people and if time and cost savings are reinvested then it may all add up to greater productivity.

In theory that could drive wealth creation and create more jobs.

But this accelerated shift to decentralisation is being driven by forces that also include a big economic downturn.

In a recession, corporate cost savings are more likely to be part of a wider retrenchment - they probably don't add much economic value.

Then there are the negative economic effects of emptying our central business districts.

Downtown bars, cafes and retailers are already under huge pressure in this crisis.

When the central cities are vibrant they are great fun and add value to our lives.

A rapid social shift away from working in centralised offices risks killing that fun.

Right now, flow-on to sectors like commercial property could add to the kind of downward economic spiral that has prolonged in recessions in the past.

Like many people, I hope to work smarter after my lockdown experiences.

That means days when working from home makes more sense.

Technology is giving us choices about how and where we work. That's a good thing.

But what we've just been through was not a choice.

We should use what we've learned to enhance the way we work. But let's not write off collective working just yet.