Melbourne office workers can return. Image by Adrian Malec from Pixabay
Government decision to allow Victorian office workers to return will create a more ‘normal and efficient’ environment, say employers.
Victorian businesses have welcomed the easing of restrictions in the state and further movement toward a Covid-normal environment.
“Allowing all workers to return to the office will be important to the vibrancy of the CBD and to the many offices in suburban and regional areas that have been wanting their people to return,” Tim Piper, the Victorian Head of the national employer association, Ai Group, said yesterday (Tuesday).
“The Victorian economy has been improving and this decision will help, particularly with the loss of JobKeeper at the end of the month, as we try to ensure a return to a more normal and efficient working environment.”
He added: “We encourage businesses to work with their employees to create a return to work that is positive for all and that enables a return to a business environment that is supportive of an ongoing Covid-safe arrangement.”
According to Piper, office workers should also spare a thought for those working in factories and other blue-collar jobs, as well as front line operators, who have worked throughout the pandemic at work sites and on factory floors to ensure that the economic and social fabric of the country has been maintained.
Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of recruitment group Hays, recfently told the Australian Financial Review that the success of the enforced working-from-home model does not signal the death of the office.
“The office environment provides something that is hard to pinpoint, but which is really important to the health of an organisation,” he said.
“There are many positives in having people working together from a central location. The workplace is a place to foster a feeling of connectedness and collaboration, an environment in which to create and innovate, to coach and be coached, to celebrate success, and to develop a culture that defines the organisation.”
Deligiannis said he believes the future of white-collar work lies in a hybrid working model – a combination of working from home and from a central office location.