Yesterday’s Opinion Dominion asked:

A Westpac employee moved 80 km away from work and won the right to work ENTIRELY from home. Will greater WFH flexibility WORK AGAINST employees longer term?

Yes – 43%

No – 57%

I landed on yes. But to be honest, I don’t think it’s something we’ve really come to terms with yet.

Let’s play this through.

We’re seeing more cases like the Westpac employee who moved 80km away and won the right to work from home full time.

That’s a great outcome for the individual and it’s a sign of progress in how society is thinking about work.

But here’s the tension.

If more and more work can be done from anywhere, what’s stopping a company from hiring from anywhere?

In this example, the employee moved 80 km away, but there technically wouldn’t be a difference if they moved 8,000 km away and could manage timezones.

So if location no longer gives you an edge, what happens when you’re competing with people in other cities, states and even other countries?

For a long time, geography gave most employees an unspoken advantage.

Putting yourself in a building regularly gave you more opportunities than others that couldn’t.

Take that away, and the hiring pool widens (globally).

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

More reach means more opportunity.

But it also means the power dynamic shifts.

Right now, most people still work within commuting distance of their office.

That proximity is part of how careers have moved forward, especially in the early stages.

You learnt by being around people and those relationships strengthened in person.

If work-from-anywhere becomes the new baseline, the rules of career growth will change too.

I suspect that companies will have more power to determine the makeup of their teams.

They can choose from a wider talent pool.

Which means they can benchmark globally or perhaps hire based on cost control.

And that’s where WFH flexibility could work against employees, even if unintentionally.

I’m not saying flexibility is bad.

I’m a huge fan of people having more control over their lives and their time, and I’ve personally been working remotely since 2019.

But I do think we need to be alert to what shifts IF working-from-home fully becomes the norm for some professions.

I’d really like to hear your take on this because I can see it playing out in different ways.

Today’s question is courtesy of Jayden!

👉 If your company hot desks, is it “okay” to claim the same desk every day if you’re the first in?

Ben

The post Will greater WFH flexibility WORK AGAINST employees longer term? appeared first on Quarter Life Academy.

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