Why this photo in Melbourne has busted a major WFH myth and reignited debate about returning to the office

Footage of workers queuing at a bus stop so they can head into the office has exposed a major flaw in the argument to end work-from-home.

The long queue had formed in Melbourne on Tuesday after a non-fatal self-harm incident at Murrumbeena Station shut down train services.

Workers were instead forced to take the bus between Caulfield and Westall.

A frustrated commuter took a video of the lenghty line before sharing the footage to Reddit along with a sarcastic caption.

‘Work from home kills productivity,’ it read.

‘Absolute chaos today. My company is getting stricter and stricter about working from office.’

The caption was a dig at companies in Australia that have ordered their workers back into the office with some bosses arguing work-from-home kills productivity.

One social media user revealed they had to wait as long as 50 minutes in the queue before they could board a replacement bus.

The long wait time raised the debate whether returning to the office was actually more productive than working from home. 

‘It’s honestly the reason why I WFH mid-week. Roads are quiet, office is quiet. It’s so peaceful,’ one wrote.

‘The office is the least productive environment,’ a second wrote.

‘Most frustrating is that the people making these RTO decisions are never affected by long commutes and the lifestyle impacts they have,’ another wrote.

One sarcastically argued everyday workers were being selfish for not thinking about the needs of their wealthy CEOs.

‘That’s tough but think of our billionaires failing commercial real estate investments in the cbd!’ they wrote.

One social media user noted companies appeared to encourage their workers to come into the office on certain days – and that it had led to them being given an unsavoury nickname.

‘Someone told me a while back that mid-week office workers are TWAT’s,’ they wrote.

‘Made a bit more sense when further advised that it stood for Tuesday Wednesday And Thursday’s.’

Others supported the call to bring workers back into the office.

‘Some people are good at working from home. And I think those people are completely unaware that some people aren’t,’ one wrote.

‘As someone that has managed remote and in office staff, this is absolutely part of the issue around this discussion. It just doesn’t work for everyone,’ another added.

‘It also depends on the tasks, even for people that can work well remotely there can be tasks where face-to-face is still better,’ a third chimed in.

The caption was a dig at companies in Australia that have ordered their workers back into the office with some bosses arguing work-from-home kills productivity

A survey revealed the majority of Australian CEOs want staff to return to the office full-time by 2027 – signalling an end to the popular working arrangement for millions of workers. 

The KPMG 2024 CEO Outlook survey found 83 per cent of 1,300 global CEOs predict the work from home era will end 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 the previous year.

The survey came after tech giant Amazon and Aussie gaming outfit Tabcorp became the latest corporations to issue mandates forcing staff back into the office – as Australia’s largest tech company slams the move. 

Head of Atlassian’s distributed work model Team Anywhere, Annie Dean, said hardline office mandates ‘aren’t the solution’ for Australian workers. 

The right of Aussie workers to work from home is not protected by law.

Depending on personal circumstances, workers have the right to request a flexible working arrangement from their bosses under the Fair Work Act.

Australians can request to work from home or work during non-standard hours if they have caring responsibilities, are pregnant, or in other specific situations.

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