Aussie bosses insist their staff work five days a week in the office – here’s what their employees have to say about it

A growing number of bosses are demanding their staff return to the office five days a week, with some offering extra benefits to soften the blow.

Only seven percent of Australian employers had full-time office attendance rules in place by 2023, but this number is rising rapidly.

That number has almost doubled since 2022, according to the Australian Human Resources Institute, and will increase further in 2024 as the pandemic years and lockdowns fade from memory.

To speed up the process and make the transition smoother, some companies offer perks such as work drinks, meals and bocce games.

One employer insisting on staff working in the office five days a week is ES Concierge & Co – a ‘business and lifestyle’ company with high-end clients.

Mandi Ford, who founded the company in 2010, said that “everyone on the team has different strengths and backgrounds,” which requires them to be in the office to easily share their knowledge.

“We can do anything from finding a restaurant (booking), planning a conference or leadership retreat to currently buying last-minute tickets to see Taylor Swift,” Ms Ford told Daily Mail Australia.

ES Concierge & Co also handles tasks such as finding a cleaner, helping someone move to a new country and organizing someone’s travel arrangements.

‘Every day is very different. “To be effective and find the right product or service to meet the task request… you really have to work together to execute,” Ms. Ford said.

She added that the chain of communication can easily become confused if some people work from home.

“If someone has a question and is working remotely, they might call you, you’re in a meeting, you’re on the phone, you call them back, then they call you back and then they have to contact the suppliers so that the chain of execution slows down,” she said.

Jacqui Walker, private and corporate concierge manager at Ms Ford’s company, prefers to work in the office rather than from home, as has been necessary during Covid lockdowns.

She said that working in an office leads to a better quality of work because she enjoys interacting and collaborating with other people.

‘With the kind of work we do, you often want to consult with someone and say: oh, what do you think about this or is this the right solution? (Because I’m in the office), the people around me are there to talk about it.”

During the pandemic lockdowns, Ms Walker said she “missed being part of things, meeting people, collaborating and discussing”.

“I think that’s part of being human, being able to interact with others… I’m definitely someone who, I think, my employer gets a lot more out of me when I can be in that environment,” she says. said.

Ms Ford agreed, saying ‘the way we deliver is a team approach and is in the best interests of our customers’.

‘Part of that is listening, hearing and learning. And if you’re not interested in listening, hearing and learning, then you’re in the wrong business,” she said.

Excite Technology Services CEO Bryan Saba also wants employees to return to the office.

“It’s important because we are a cybersecurity company,” he said.

“So some of the issues we’re dealing with have a lot of urgency and require very rapid collaboration.

“And when you’re in each other’s presence, you can read body language and tone much better than over the phone, email or video call.”

Mr Saba said that due to the nature of his business, most of the staff were keen to return to the office after the Covid lockdowns.

“The culture in the office was something that a lot of our team enjoyed anyway,” he said.

Mr Saba said part of encouraging people to come back to the office is about “retaining our people and culture and promoting flexibility”.

This flexibility ensures that there are still people who work four days a week in the office and one day at home, or nine days a fortnight in the office and one day at home.

“Encouraging people to come into the office, promoting flexibility and so on actually resulted in a lot of people coming into the office,” Mr Saba said.

A big reason why being in the office works best for Excite Technology Services is that the company promotes from within.

He said this means new hires are often juniors and they need to be in the office to learn from more experienced employees.

There are also some non-work benefits to working in an office.

‘After our quarterly business reviews and any major announcements within the organization, rather than just sending an email We actually do that over a team lunch and some drinks in the office,” Mr Saba said.

“Then we’ll go to the bowls or something.”

Although full-time office working is not yet widely enforced, 90 percent of employers have introduced some mandatory office days, according to a survey of 300 hiring managers commissioned by recruitment agency Robert Half.

However, this move is not universally popular among staff, with almost a third of respondents saying at least one employee has resigned in response.

Legally, the situation in Australia favors the employer over the employee.

Whether someone is working on a permanent, temporary or temporary contract, he or she must follow ‘lawful and reasonable’ instructions from their employer.

Even where this requirement is not clearly stated in a contract, Australian courts have held that it is ‘implied’.