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The big four bank’s Behavioural Insights report for the second quarter of 2022 has painted a picture of the changing nature of the Australian workplace.
The report found that 19 per cent of Australians working full or part-time said they’re considering leaving their current employer — a reduction on the previous quarter’s 22 per cent.
It’s most prevalent in the younger demographic, with 24 per cent of young Australians claiming they had thought about departing their current job, the most of any age bracket, with this number gradually reducing its way down to just 8 per cent of workers in the 65-plus bracket.
Alternatively, four out of 10 Australians reported they had no intention to leave their current role but were still tracking potential employment opportunities, while 34 per cent detailed they had no plans to change jobs, nor were they keeping up with prospective job prospects.
The property services represented the industry where the least amount of people — 8 per cent — were looking at switching employment.
NAB’s Behavioural Insights report also highlighted how, on average, Australian workers were spending 34 per cent of their working week at home — a figure that has decreased in all states except Western Australia, where it increased 3 per cent to 26 per cent.
Ideally, employees would like to spend almost half their week — 48 per cent — at home, which rises to 50 per cent for full-time workers and drops to 42 per cent for part-time workers.
Breaking this down by age group, 30- to 49-year-olds and 18- to 29-year-olds would preferably spend around half their week at home — at 52 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively. Conversely, 43 per cent of employees in the 65-plus bracket want to spend less time at home, trailing the 36 per cent of those in the 50-to-64-year-old bracket that agreed.
The portion of employees working from home was highest in Victoria (38 per cent) and NSW (37 per cent) and lowest in Tasmania (18 per cent).
As for the key barriers to returning to the office, commute time remains the leading reason — with four in 10 (43 per cent) listing it as a primary cause, with a further 30 per cent identifying traffic congestion as an obstacle to office working.
Additionally, a loss of flexibility for exercise and other activities ranked third — at 29 per cent, followed by changing routines (27 per cent) and spending less time with family and friends (24 per cent), rounding out the top five deterrents to returning to the office.
The report also found that COVID is weighing less heavily on the psyche of Australian workers, with just 29 per cent of respondents listing catching or transmitting COVID to others as a concern to working from the office, which has reduced from 33 per cent last quarter.
For younger Australians, typically aged between 18 and 29, the loss of flexibility for exercise and other activities was the main reason behind working from home — listed as a primary reason for 41 per cent of respondents. Contrary to this, 41 per cent of those 65 and above signalling there were no barriers to returning to the office.
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