A leading recruitment expert has confirmed that Australian businesses are ending working from home as a deliberate tactic to reduce staff without the cost of redundancies.
And Tammie Christofis Ballis has suggested that may be the real reason why New South Wales Premier Chris Minns issued a dramatic directive ordering the state’s public service, Australia’s largest employer, to return to the office in August.
Despite being sacked by officials, Daily Mail Australia can reveal there is a growing belief in government circles that the return to office mandate was motivated by managers wanting to “reduce numbers without laying off staff.” people”.
Ballis, a career coach and recruiter specializing in Realistic Careers, said large corporations have been using the post-Covid tactic to reduce headcount without having to resort to redundancies and the payments that accompany them.
“This is normal in the world of big business,” he said, although he warned that the mandate could backfire by scaring away talented workers seeking more flexible arrangements.
For government workers affected by mandates, Ms. Ballis said: “Is the government so good that they want to stay there and go back to the office five days a week?” I don’t think so.
‘Although the salaries are not as much as those in the private sector, the conditions that people are looking for are.
“And there’s a general consensus that you’re not going to lose your job unless you do something absolutely terrible,” he said.
Recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis (pictured) says Australian businesses have turned to WFH mandates to reduce staff, and has suggested the NSW government mandate mandating the 400,000 public servants of the state returning to their offices could have similar motivations.
If work-from-home mandates lead to resignations, it saves the company the hassle of paying for layoffs and going through the often painful process of getting rid of staff.
“If they’re going to take away good conditions, the best workers will find other options at other companies that offer hybrid work.”
Ballis said the return to office mandates negatively affected one group: women. ‘I think it unfairly targets women. I don’t know if they do it on purpose but that’s what they will lose.
“They would lose more female workers because many of them depend on that flexibility, since they may be home to pick up the children from school or be home on sick leave,” she explained.
“Pushing people back into the office is not a one-size-fits-all situation,” he said.
Prime Minister Minns’ announcement earlier this year sparked an immediate reaction from public sector workers and unions, many of whom argued that the work-from-home culture was now “baked into” the public service.
Agents leasing space for commercial offices, retailers and hospitality establishments in major cities have faced a decline in trade as favorable work-from-home policies continued long after the enforced lockdowns of the Covid period.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns (pictured) ordered his state’s 400,000 workers to return to the office, starting August 6, without warning, causing an uproar.
A NSW government spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the job cuts theory claims were “completely incorrect”.
“The New South Wales Government is committed to the continued delivery of world-class services to communities,” he said.
“This will depend on a strong, capable and connected public service.”
Meanwhile, figures compiled by The Aussie Corporate revealed that Australia’s finance, technology and telecommunications sectors in particular have been hit by layoffs amid high interest rates, with the biggest losses in March and July.
KPMG’s recent CEO Outlook 2024 survey found that eight in ten CEOs believe working from home will be a thing of the past in the next three years.
The survey revealed that bosses are taking a stronger stance on working from home in 2024, after 64 per cent of CEOs predicted workers would return full-time compared to the previous year.
The survey comes after tech giant Amazon and Australian gaming company Tabcorp became the latest corporations to issue mandates forcing staff to return to the office.
In Melbourne, mayoral candidate Arron Wood recently revealed that, if successful in the October election, he would abandon working from home and force 1,700 Melbourne city council workers to return to their offices to try to revitalize the city.
The drastic measure was part of his wider plan to “revitalize Melbourne’s economy by getting more people into the city safely and on time”.
Ms Christofis Ballis said not allowing people to work from WFH “unfairly targets women” as they generally require flexibility (pictured, a mother working from home with her daughter).
A recent survey of 2,000 administrative professionals across Australia by recruitment specialist Robert Walters found that 40 per cent of the workforce would look for a new job if their employer required them to increase their office presence to five days a week. week.
Another 33 percent said they would do so if their work-from-home days were reduced.
Forty-one percent of respondents said commuting is the main impediment to returning to the office, while another 45 percent said work-life balance is the most important factor in returning to the office. consider a new position.
