Scott Farquhar, co-founder of Atlassian’s billionaire, has admitted that he only comes to the office once every three months, despite living near the city and investing in an expensive new headquarters.
The Australian software giant’s 43-year-old co-CEO said he barely shows up to its existing headquarters on George Street in central Sydney.
“I work from home all the time and come to the office about once a quarter,” he told 60 Minutes this Sunday.
Asked for clarification by surprised reporter Tom Steinfort, Mr Farquhar said: ‘Every three months.’
Atlassian billionaire co-founder Scott Farquhar (pictured with wife Kim Jackson) has admitted he only comes to the office once every three months, despite living near the city and investing in an expensive new headquarters
The tech entrepreneur shuns the office despite living just 4 miles away in Point Piper, on Sydney Harbour, where he owns a $130 million mansion near a ferry stop that provides direct water transport to Circular Quay.
The Australian Financial Review this year he estimated he was worth $18.2 billion, slightly less than Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes at $19 billion.
Mr Cannon-Brookes, who is separated from his wife Annie, lived next door to Mr Farquhar in the ultra-exclusive area of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, which is also home to former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond , living.
Even more intriguingly, he shuns the office, even though construction began last year on a new $1.4 billion headquarters on Railway Square, near Sydney Central Station, touted as the world’s “tallest.” hybrid wooden building’.
Mr. Farquhar admits he barely makes it to the office because Zoom CEO Eric Yuan in the United States orders staff to return to the office at least two days a week if they live within 50 miles of their place of work.
That’s despite Zoom becoming an essential work tool during the 2020 and 2021 global Covid lockdowns.
Mr. Yuan argued that staff should work in the same office, in San Jose, California, so they could debate ideas instead of being too polite to Zoom.
“Very often you come up with great ideas, but when we’re all on Zoom, it’s very difficult,” he said at the company meeting on Aug. 3.
“We can’t debate well because everyone is very friendly when you join a Zoom call.”
If the Zoom rule were applied to Sydney, staff wishing to independently purchase a house to live in within a reasonable distance of the city would be limited to an apartment.
That’s because houses 50 miles away from the city are out of reach an average income earner with a salary of $95,581.
Woy Woy on the Central Coast, 84 km north of central Sydney, has an average house price of $898,306 so expensive that an average worker, with a mortgage deposit of 20 percent, would have a debt-to-income ratio of 7.5.
That’s well above the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s “six” threshold for mortgage stress.
The Australian software giant’s 43-year-old co-CEO admits he barely shows up to its headquarters on George Street in central Sydney
The tech entrepreneur shuns the office despite living just 4 miles away in Point Piper, on Sydney Harbour, where he owns a $130 million mansion near a ferry stop with direct water transport to Circular Quay
Even more intriguingly, he eschews the office, even though construction began last year on a new $1.4 billion headquarters near Sydney Central Station, touted as the world’s tallest hybrid timber building. (pictured is an artist’s impression)
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn faced backlash from staff this year for demanding they come to the office two or three times a week.
In May, he told the 49,000 employees to be in the office at least 50 percent of the time from July.
Mr. Comyn, who earns $10.4 million a year, followed the lead of NAB chief executive Ross McEwan, who admitted he expected his senior staff to return to the bank’s headquarters five days a week.