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Topics: News
Stewart Perrie
Topics: News
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic forced us all to stay at home, many people have found it a better place to work.
While it might have taken some time to get used to, loads of people now prefer to do their nine to five from the comfort of their own home.
Businesses all over the world have had to adapt to this new attitude to work as it was only a few years ago when it was completely normal and expected for people to rock up to the office Monday to Friday.
However, it seems like this approach to working from home has riled up some people.
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CEO of CR Commercial Property Group, Nicole Duncan, has pointed the finger at younger workers for not wanting to go back to the office.
She told 2GB Radio: “This generation is just selfish...in our younger days we caught trains, buses, ferries to get to work.
"Yes, it did take two or three hours, but you’ve got to be in the office because you don’t know what you don’t know.
“And, until these CEOs make a decision and get bolshie about this, it’s not going to change but the unemployment rate is still too low.”
She said the lack of workers buzzing around the city looks bad for tourists as they might be walking around the CBD wondering where everyone is.
Ms Duncan is worried about the long-term effects this new work from home approach will have on major cities.
“Hotels are suffering … there’s less business travel, they do it all on [Microsoft] Teams … cleaners, people who make your coffee, lunches, all of those sorts of things,” she said.
“We want a vibrant city for visitors to come to, and it needs to look busy, it needs to look vibrant, it doesn’t need to look as slow and rambling.”
However, she's a little off the mark to say Gen Z and millennials are the selfish ones for wanting to work from home.
A recent GOBankingRates survey found Gen Z had the lowest desire to work from home, with less than 29 per cent of people in that age bracket picking that option.
However, they had the highest proportion of people saying working from home was a necessity.
Baby boomers and older Gen Xers had the highest percentage of people saying they don’t want to work remotely.
It looks like a hybrid model will have to be tolerated to keep everyone happy.