70% of businesses plan to maintain hybrid arrangements over next 2 years

Despite the constant chatter around hybrid working arrangements dissipating throughout the Australian workplace, a recent study has proven the contrary.

A new study by the Australian Human Resources Institute has revealed that the discourse around hybrid working arrangements departing from the workplace status quo may be falsehoods.

According to the data, 70 per cent of organisations reported they plan to maintain their current hybrid model over the next two years, up from 59 per cent in 2023 and 53 per cent in 2022. On top of that, a required workplace presence of three to five days is down from 48 per cent to 44 per cent.

This contradicts recent messaging around the increase of businesses cutting down on their flexible working arrangements – as exemplified by Coles, Woolworths, and Origin Energy recently.

At the same time, flexible working arrangements have slowly morphed into a political firestorm, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton recently announcing his plans to force public servants back into the office five days a week.

Speaking on the media frenzy surrounding return-to-office (RTO) mandates and flexibility in the Australian workplace, AHRI chief executive Sarah McCann-Bartlett emphasised that the individual examples fail to compare to the data.

“Hybrid working arrangements in Australian workplaces have entered a stabilisation phase. Despite widespread reports of an increase in office attendance mandates, the survey data showed that this hasn’t been the case. Instead, Australian organisations are maintaining a balanced approach, with a three-day hybrid work arrangement remaining the dominant model,” McCann-Bartlett said.

“Media stories seem to have highlighted individual instances of organisations requiring their employees to return to the physical workplace more often, which may have given the impression that there was a shift away from hybrid work.”

“However, this research indicates that this is not the case. It tells us that employers understand the benefits of hybrid working and that 70 per cent are anticipating they will maintain their current model of hybrid work over the next two years.”

Although McCann-Bartlett admitted that the decision should be based on each organisation’s working patterns and environment, she underscored some of the business advantages that hybrid work can manifest.

“It is up to each organisation to decide their own working patterns, based on what is best for their organisation. However, the research shows that hybrid working has provided benefits to organisations across all sectors, including better attraction of new employees, higher employee retention, and improved productivity,” McCann-Bartlett said.

“Flexibility remains a key factor in attracting and retaining talent. With nearly half of employers reporting a productivity boost from hybrid work, it’s clear that well-managed hybrid working can help ease recruitment difficulties and skills shortages.”

Touching on why some of these RTO mandates have arisen across the Australian workplace, McCann-Bartlett alluded to the influence that CEOs have in these implementations.

“As well as significant benefits, employers also raised some challenges around hybrid working, including a feeling of disconnection between colleagues and staff collaboration,” she said.

“They also told us that where there was pressure for employees to attend the office more frequently, [which] was most often driven by the CEO.”