A leading recruitment expert has confirmed that Australian companies are ending work from home as a deliberate tactic to cull staff numbers without the cost of making redundancies.
And Tammie Christofis Ballis has suggested that may be the real reason why NSW Premier Chris Minns issued a dramatic directive ordering the state’s public service – Australia’s biggest employer – back to the office in August.
Despite being dismissed by officials, Daily Mail Australia can reveal there is an increasing belief in government circles that the return to office mandate was motivated by managers wanting to ‘reduce numbers without letting people go’.
Ms Ballis, a specialist career coach and recruiter at Realistic Careers, said major corporations have been using the tactic post-Covid to cut staff headcount without having to resort to redundancies – and the payouts that accompany them.
‘This is normal in the big corporate world,’ she said – even as she warned the mandate could backfire by driving away talented workers seeking more flexible arrangements.
For government workers affected by mandates, Ms Ballis said: ‘Is government that good that they want to stay there and come back into the office five days a week? I don’t think so.
‘Even though the wages might not be as much as the private sector, it’s the conditions people go for.
‘And there’s a general consensus that you’re not going to lose your job unless you do something absolutely terrible,’ she said.
Recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis (pictured) says corporate Australia has turned to WFH mandates to cull staff numbers – and has suggested that the NSW government’s mandate ordering the state’s 400,000 public servants back into the office could have similar motivations
If WFH mandates trigger resignations, it saves a company the trouble of both paying out redundancies and going through the often painful process of getting rid of staff
‘If they’re going to take the good conditions away, the best workers will find other options with other companies that are offering hybrid work.’
Ms Ballis said return to office mandates adversely affected one group: women. ‘I think it does unfairly target women. I don’t know if they’re doing that on purpose but that’s what they’ll be losing.
‘They would lose more female workers because a lot of them rely on that flexibility, given they can be home to pick up the kids from school, or be home for sick leave,’ she explained.
‘Pushing people back into the office is not a one size fits all situation,’ she said.
The announcement by Premier Minns earlier this year sparked an instant backlash from workers and public sector unions, many of whom argued a culture of WFH was now ’embedded’ within the public service.
Agents letting commercial office space, retailers and hospitality venues in major cities have grappled with a decline in trade as favourable WFH policies continued long after the enforced lockdowns of the Covid period.
NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) ordered his state’s 400,000-strong workforce back into the office, starting on August 6, with little notice – sparking uproar
A NSW government spokesman told Daily Mail Australia described the job cutting theory claims as ‘completely incorrect’.
‘The NSW Government is committed to the continued delivery of world class services for communities,’ he said.
‘This will rely upon a strong, capable and connected public service.’
Meanwhile, figures compiled by The Aussie Corporate revealed Australia’s finance, tech and telco sectors in particular have been hit by layoffs amid high interest rates – with the biggest losses in March and July.
KPMG’s recent 2024 CEO Outlook survey found a staggering eight in ten CEOs believe WFH will be a thing of the past within the next three years.
The survey revealed bosses are taking a firmer stance on WFH in 2024, after 64 per cent of chief executives predicted workers would return full-time from the previous year.
The survey comes after tech giant Amazon and Aussie gaming outfit Tabcorp became the latest corporations to issue mandates forcing staff back into the office
In Melbourne, mayoral candidate Arron Wood recently revealed that if successful at the October election, he would ditch WFH and force 1,700 City of Melbourne council workers back into the office to try and revitalise the city.
The drastic measure was part of his wider plan to ‘revitalise Melbourne’s economy by getting more people to come into the city safely and on time’.
Ms Christofis Ballis said not allowing people to WFH ‘unfairly targets women’ as they usually require flexibility (pictured stock photo of a mother working from home with her daughter)
A recent survey of 2,000 white-collar professionals across Australia by recruitment specialists Robert Walters discovered that 40 per cent of the workforce would look for a new job if their employer required them to increase their in-office presence to five days a week.
A further 33 per cent said they would do so if their work from home days were reduced.
Forty one per cent of respondents said that the commute to work is the main deterrent for returning to the office, while another 45 per cent said work-life balance is the most important factor when considering a new role.
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