Potential workplace conflicts, hazardous environments at home could make employers nervous
A recruitment expert is predicting that more employers in Australia will recall their teams onsite this 2025 amid growing complexities of working from home.
Graham Wynn, founder and director of Superior People Recruitment, said he believes that many workplaces won't be opting for a hybrid work model this year.
"I think it's going to be pushed back to four or five... I don't think it'd be a small drip feed," he told Yahoo Finance.
Wynn noted that the case of the City of Charles Sturt employee who won compensation after tripping at home while working remotely can expedite the office-return movement.
She had installed the fence across the doorway to her home office for a puppy she was dog-sitting.
The Tribunal ruled her injuries arose out of her employment as the fall happened during an “authorised coffee break at her place of employment”, and, as a result, she was deemed eligible for compensation, said the article.
Companies don't have the resources to check on employees' homes to make sure they're safe work environments, Wynn said.
"That's the issue now, because even though you've got an office setup or you work from your kitchen, it's now treated as your entire house," he said.
"So employers are going to say, 'We can't monitor and control this.'"
There is also an issue of potential workplace conflicts if some employees are allowed to work remotely while others aren't.
"That's going to create so much conflict in workplaces," he said. "If half can work from home and half can't, that's just asking for trouble."
But the challenge doesn't stop at getting employees back to workplaces.
Jane Bianchini, Criteria's VP of Global and Strategic Alliances, previously advised employers to anticipate "some bumps in the road" while employees get used to in-office dynamics again.
Bianchini, in a previous interview with HRD, said some employees may face challenges in their social skills after not working in an office or in-person for years.
"Leaders who've chosen to have employees return to office should consider offering professional development in order to resharpen some of those skills that perhaps have not been as needed during the era of remote work," she said.
