The trend of working from home continues to be common in Australia. A case decision by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) will lead to a limit on the number of employees who can work from home permanently. In the case, a man named Charles Gregory was denied the request to work from home fulltime to care for his child. The commission ruled that it was reasonable for the company, Maxxia, to require Gregory to work in the office at least 40 percent of the time. This decision set a precedent that discouraged other employees from seeking similar arrangements. Business leaders and companies have started implementing policies in line with the rule that are signaling a movement back toward in-office work. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), for example, has set new standards that require staff to return to the office for at least half of their working hours. However, there has been resistance to going back into the office since the COVID-19 pandemic started, with employees increasingly preferring hybrid working arrangements.
A trend in the movement toward flexible working conditions led to efforts by employees to maintain more flexible work conditions while doing only minimum work requirements. Some business leaders, such as Hong Kong-based millionaire property developer Tim Gurner, have expressed the belief that there needs to be economic pain to change employee attitudes and to improve slumping productivity. Unemployment has risen as inflation also increases, leading to a greater number of layoffs. The landscape of employee attitudes and working conditions has shown a drastic change, and unions, employers, and government regulators have brought significant tension due to the drastically shifted working conditions. These changes are likely to lead to longer-term repercussions of uncertainty in the job market and the broader Australian economy.