Who Works from Home After the Pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a significant and long-lasting increase in the proportion of employees working from home (WFH). However, relatively little is known about the specific groups of workers that are most likely to work from home post-pandemic. This paper investigates the characteristics of employees and their employers who are WFH in post-pandemic Australia. We run logistic regression analyses based on the 2023 round of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, which contains novel information on the number of full workdays worked from home. Sixteen hypotheses are proposed and tested. The results confirm strong and powerful associations between WFH full days and both occupation and industry. However, contrary to expectations, WFH is not positively associated with caring responsibilities or the presence of long-term health conditions or disabilities, and nor is WFH more common among the oldest workers. This latter set of findings is striking given the National Employment Standards identify these employee characteristics as deserving priority when employers consider requests to work from home. Overall, while worker preferences are relevant, the results suggest that it is the nature of jobs that is the main factor determining who has the option to work from home.