NAB’s quarterly behavioural and industry economics survey shows that 34% of Australians were working from home in Q2, down from 34% in Q1:
As expected, white collar professionals worked from home more than blue collar workers:
More importantly, just under half (48%) of those surveyed said they want to work from home:
Workers in Victoria, NSW and ACT – the jurisdictions most impacted by lockdowns – most want to work from home:
And this is dominated again by white collar workers:
The above charts suggest that few groups currently enjoy their ideal work from home conditions. That is, working Australians currently spend 34% of their week working from home, but ideally would like to be spending 48% of their week at home:
As expected, the key factors driving demand for working from home include commute time (43%), traffic congestion (30%), and loss of flexibility for exercise and other activities (29%):
The Productivity Commission’s 5-year Productivity Inquiry, released this month, lauded that working from home has ushered a “massive productivity boost” via accelerating the adoption of digital technologies.
This suggests that working from home is a positive structural shift that should be encouraged by policy makers.
