Hamish MacDonald slams working from home phenomenon as ‘nonsense’

Hamish MacDonald has slapped down a business guru who claimed that working from home is here to stay while slamming the phenomenon as ‘nonsense’.

Corporate Advisor Tina Paterson told The Project it was employees who had the power to decide whether they wanted to return to the office post Covid. 

However, Macdonald argued young workers could learn from their superiors in the office and that allowing the choice ‘diminishes’ the notion of a workplace. 

‘If you don’t offer your employees flexibility, others will,’ she warned the panel. 

Ms Paterson said business leaders needed to shift their mindsets to outcomes rather than the number of hours their employees are in the office. 

‘Isn’t work about more than just the outcomes?’ MacDonald hit back.

‘You want a culture, you want a space that people can come to and have friendships, have relationships that build networks and you learn from. 

‘They don’t, they want to be at home,’ his co-host Carrie Bickmore interrupted. 

The Project host Hamish MacDonald has slapped down a business guru who claimed the working from home phenomenon is here to stay post Covid

‘Creating businesses where it is only about the outcome that actually strips away from many people the pleasure, joy and stimulation of being in a job.’

‘It’s about having both,’ Ms Paterson replied.   

MacDonald said he thought ‘the whole working from home thing is nonsense’. 

‘I hate it. I think if your a young worker you want to be in a workplace where you can learn from people,’ the fired-up host continued. 

‘Unless we think really clearly about this, and maybe that’s what Tina does, I think your actually just pulling apart what the purpose of a workplace is.

‘I think it’s diminishing the value that you can get from having a job.’

Corporate Advisor Tina Paterson (pictured) told The Project it was employees who had the power to decide whether they wanted to return to the office

According to the latest census data from the Bureau of Statistics, 1 in 5 Australians were working from home on the Census Date last year, August 10 (stock image)

According to the latest census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five Australians were working from home on the Census Date last year. 

While the majority of workers were given their first opportunity to work from home during the Covid pandemic, experts believe the rising cost of living and the price of fuel is deterring people from ever returning to the office. 

Others don’t want to spend hours waiting in traffic during their commute to work while others would rather save the money spent on fares. 

Organisational psychologist Amantha Imber said workers opted to work in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays so they could ‘ease into work’. 

‘That means it is quite nice on the Friday to ease out of your week if your spending the day working from home,’ she said.

Carrie Bickmore (right) said some workers tired of their jobs without interaction in the office

She said some organisations were flexible while others were more ‘old school’.

‘Given the war for talent going on at the moment, employees can vote with their feet’ she said, adding workers worked best when allowed ‘autonomy and freedom’. 

During the Covid pandemic, Australians who were able to were urged to work from home to minimise the spread of the disease. 

Companies vary when it comes to work from home policies, with some offices requiring their workers to come in full-time and others allowing staff to choose. 

More to come.