This time last year, Australian chief executives were heralding the end of the flexible workplace: 82 per cent of them expected white-collar workers to be back in the office five days a week in three years. How quickly things have changed.
The latest KPMG global chief executive survey, released this week, shows just 22 per cent of Australian respondents expect white-collar workers to return full-time in what represents a massive backflip on workplace flexibility.
Australian chief executives have backflipped on forecasts that workers will be forced back to the office five days a week.Credit: Eddie Jim
“The numbers confirm what we have long suspected: a return to a fully back-in-the-office workforce in Australia is unlikely,” KPMG Australia boss Andrew Yates said. According to Yates, it may reflect, another year on from the pandemic, a better grasp of priorities by both sides.
“Employers understand that the degree of flexibility is what people expect. And I think employees, on the other hand, have also realised the benefits of coming into the office.
“Interestingly, almost 50 per cent of the Australian CEOs think that three days in the office is where this will land. And I think that’s pretty consistent with my view.”
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The KPMG survey also indicated that workers can be more assured that AI is not looking like an office-based threat to their jobs.
While 70 per cent of respondent CEOs in Australia said AI was a top investment priority, 40 per cent said they were still learning on the go.
This might explain why nearly one-third were committing less than 10 per cent of their investment budget on the nascent technology. Despite this, most respondents felt they were ahead of the AI curve, or moving at the right pace, and clearly were not preparing for AI carnage in their workforce.
