New survey highlights trend against WFH.

 

A survey of more than 1200 people conducted by Australia’s largest professional accounting body has found that a third of workers were technically allowed to work from home, but they were discouraged against doing so by their employers.

 

While the CPA survey revealed that 50 per cent of workers were technically allowed to work from home and encouraged by their employers to operate remotely, 33 per cent who were technically allowed to work from home were discouraged by their employer.

 

The broad-based survey didn’t identify the industries in which the respondents were employed, but 12 per cent of those questioned said they were not permitted to work from home at all.

 

However, five per cent of respondents were unsure of their employer’s policy. 

 

A CPA spokesperson said a lack of digital capability by some small and medium-sized businesses could be a reason for discouraging remote work.

 

“Australian small businesses are digital laggards among the Asia-Pacific,” the spokesperson said.

 

“We need government support to improve small business’ technology training particularly in the areas of cybersecurity and data privacy.”