As work-from-home windback looms some are ecstatic and others are grieving

As Victoria counts down to the great office return â€" technically November 24 â€" workplace psychologists say there are three main groups into which most of us will fall.

For some, their heads are “buzzing with plans to catch up with work colleagues and friends â€" [they are] relieved that you can finally leave home and have some ‘space’,” says Rhonda Andrews, managing director of the nation’s largest provider of corporate psychological and change management services, Barrington Centre.

David Locco with his son Quentin. Mr Locco is “on the fence” about returning to office-based work.Credit:Simon Schluter

While that lot are happily dusting off their work clothes, her 300-plus psychologists say others have mixed emotions, “from pleased and happy, to sad and grieving” about the loss of their home-based routines.

The third group are “anxious or reticent”. Some report feeling “physically nauseous” about how they may have changed in their attitude “or physically”, or about how they will cope with “tiredness from being around people all day, and trying to still manage your workload”.

They’re worried about a return to the work-life juggle, anxious about how family and even pets will handle the change, and may feel a space with many people in it will be too much. They even feel a little awkward rebooting their social skills, she says.

Maddie Williams, a colleague of David Locco, cannot wait for a full-time return to the office.Credit:Simon Schluter

“You’ve got a concoction of anxiety, fear and excitement,” says Ms Andrews, who surveyed clients in October and found in Victoria and NSW, 60 per cent were eager to return and 40 per cent “reluctant”. Either way, 85 per cent were keen on hybrid work.

“It’s a continuum: those who have worked independently and don’t rely on a lot of direction aren’t keen to come back. At the other end, you’ve got the extroverts and those who need to engage with colleagues who are very eager,” she says.

Paul Guerra, chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says Ms Andrews’ psychologists are “on the money”.

“Over the last 20 months, we’ve learnt new behaviours, and as we come back into the office or approach the opportunity to come back, some of it is about having to relearn behaviours again â€" hence the uncertainty that surrounds that,” he says.

Paul Guerra says his Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry staff will work three days in the office each week.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Mr Guerra wants his 150 city-based staff to come back from November 24, and asked them what they felt would work.

They navigated a new dress code â€" “we said activewear is not appropriate, but jeans and T-shirts, we’re kind of happy with that, but if you’re dealing with a client you need to dress as the client would expect.

“We trialled two, three and four days in the office. Some people nearly killed me when I went to four! ... we settled on three. My view was that we wouldn’t come back five days a week, as people wanted an opportunity to get a bit more work-life balance.”

When asked which one day staff would all be willing to come in, they chose Monday. “They said, ‘We think the traffic is lowest on Monday.’ ”

Kate and Craig Volk, who run the financial planning business RetireInvest in Berwick, have seven staff including themselves, and among them are all three categories outlined by Ms Andrews and Mr Guerra.

Maddie Williams, a RetireInvest paralegal worker in her 20s, was alone most work days in lockdown as her partner was permitted to work on site. She can’t wait to go back. “I’m pretty excited about going back, I’m not gonna lie,” she says.

‘At home it’s much easier to stay back late and do some extra hours: at the office you switch off as you drive home.’

Maddie Williams is keen to get back to her office work pattern.

“Number one is the social connection; just having people around, someone to chat to over that divide or two metres away. You can just have a random chat, it might be meaningless, but it’s that personal connection ... for me that’s important.”

She loves the “divide” between work and home. “At home, it’s much easier to stay back late and do some extra hours; at the office you switch off as you drive home.”

Colleague David Locco, also a paralegal, has been “living my best life” during lockdowns. He loves being able to spend more time with his two-year-old son, Quentin.

Kate and Craig Volk at the office of their small financial firm RetireInvest.Credit:Chris Hopkins

“I’m quite neutral. The work from home has been really good. You save on travel, the element of autonomy is very beneficial.

“I’m refreshed mentally, getting some exercise in and getting a lot of sleep. The lifestyle factors are all quite positive ... but being out of the office, you miss out on some of the culture.”

Co-worker Kerri Davey, a single mother whose parents and former partner do not live nearby, is hesitant due to the risk of bringing the virus home to her young children.

“My concern is I go back to work and I’m exposed to my clients as well as other staff; we’ve got people coming in and out,” she says.

“I’ve got two children in primary school and one in childcare and none of them sit in that vaccination space. My concern is we’ve got our little family of four exposed, I feel uncomfortable about that. Last year it was much simpler as we were coming back to zero cases.”

The Volks believe the pandemic has changed the relationship between employers and employees and have made an effort to care for their people, sending grazing hampers and massage vouchers to their homes and checking in to gauge how they are doing.

The couple have accepted what Ben Bars, chief executive of the Sydney-based workplace culture consultancy We Are Unity, says is the way ahead. “There is no one size fits all. There’s a rising tension between employee and employer because over the last 18 months, Australians have fundamentally changed the way we live. It’s employers’ duty and responsibility to understand how people’s lives have changed,” says Mr Bars. “They must sympathise and empathise.”

Having “the right conversations”, taking people’s feelings and desires into account, will work much better than “focusing on how do I get people back into the office â€" the stereotypical CEO approach of thinking about outputs, versus outcomes”, he says.

As well as attempting to understand how the physical, mental and financial health of people is going, “the question every company needs to ask itself is, do our people trust us?

“We’ve got to focus on mental health first: it’s been tough for everybody.“

To get bums back on seats, “it’s nudges, it’s baby steps â€" it’s going from one extreme to the other.”

Wendy Tuohy is a senior writer focusing on social issues and those impacting women and girls.Connect via Twitter or email.

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