Lots of the talking heads think that Wellington needs to return to the office for both productivity reasons, and also the good of the inner city.
I’m currently at the Bank of New Zealand, and I asked my team why they don’t want to come into the office more. The most frequently cited reason was the unreliability of public transport.
Like this:
Public transport “service” is an oxymoron if ever there was one.
A friend of mine who recently moved to Upper Hutt recorded that everyday he worked in the office, it cost him $15 per day to get there on the train.
And then the above happens – lots of people’s dependence on public transport disrupted “after what police are calling an incident on the line”.
Emergency services responded to the incident which police said was reported at about 3.45pm… Police said it could be some hours before services were back to normal.
* sigh *
🫤
Working from home productivity: what does the research say?
On the productivity aspect of working from home, I note the Australian Productivity Commission found:
Evidence is mixed on how working from home affects productivity for individuals in practice.
But, over time, as firms and workers negotiate outcomes, learn and adapt, and become more effective at working from home, there are grounds for optimism at the economy-wide level.
In all likelihood, productivity will remain the same or improve under more widespread working from home.
Executive summary, page 3
So, I’m keeping an open mind on the merits of working from home.