Some of the most powerful employers in Australia fear that their days may be coming to an end as workers embrace the advantages of hybrid work arrangements. 

Despite widespread acceptance of employees working from home, four years after the Covid-19 outbreak, many chief executives are still not convinced, according to the Australian Financial Review's Chanticleer CEO poll.

In 2024, departing ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott summarised how his fellow executives felt about mixed work arrangements. 

'Not everyone will be happy all of the time,' Mr Elliott told the AFR. 

The poll revealed CEOs of some of Australia's biggest companies including NAB's Andrew Irvine, Bendigo Bank's Richard Fennell, Qantas' Vanessa Hudson, and Westpac's Anthony Miller are keen to get workers back behind their desks. 

Lendlease Global CEO Tony Lombardo said he expected his senior executives to work in the office at least four days a week. 

'In the office, our people are in three to five days a week, and I encourage our leaders to be in four to five days,' Mr Lombardo said.

'When people choose not to work from the workplace, they miss out on building their networks and the professional development that comes from interacting with others in person.' 

A Chanticleer CEO poll found that 21 of 56 surveyed executives, including leaders from Nine Entertainment, Seven Group, and BHP, emphasized the need to address the capabilities of staff who cannot work remotely. 

Meanwhile, recruitment expert Tammie Christofis Ballis suggested that the push to end remote work in Australia might be a strategic move to reduce staff numbers without resorting to costly redundancies. She pointed to NSW Premier Chris Minns' directive in August, mandating the state's public service—Australia's largest employer—return to the office as an example of this trend.

Ballis, a career coach and recruiter at Realistic Careers, noted that corporations are increasingly using this approach post-Covid to trim headcounts without triggering redundancy payouts.

She warned CEOs that demand staff come back full-time that they would lose their best workers who would seek more flexible arrangements elsewhere. 

'Pushing people back into the office is not a one size fits all situation,' she said. 

'Is government that good that they want to stay there and come back into the office five days a week? I don't think so.'

'Even though the wages might not be as much as the private sector, it's the conditions people go for.'

A NSW government spokesman told Daily Mail Australia described the job cutting theory claims as 'completely incorrect'. 

'The NSW Government is committed to the continued delivery of world class services for communities,' the spokesman said.