Queenslanders are slowly returning to offices and workplaces across the state after enjoying the freedom and flexibility of working from home for several months amid the COVID pandemic.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has voiced her desire for workers to return to the office now schools have resumed face-to-face learning.
But after two years of rolling restrictions, experts have warned the transition back to the office could pose challenges for some businesses and employees.
Like many Australians, Brisbane father Nigel Webb has spent the past two years of the pandemic working on and off from home.
He works in human services and has found reducing direct contact with vulnerable clients by doing zoom meeting has been effective.
Mr Webb is living with a disability and his home set-up has been beneficial to his personal life and wellbeing.
"There are a number of things that I do to support my independence in my disability, like hydrotherapy and going to the gym on a regular basis," he said.
"If I can fit those activities around working from home, there's obviously a mutual benefit for me and the employer."
The flexibility has also allowed him to spend more quality time with his two daughters, Keesha and Hannah, during their school holidays.
"Spending the last eight weeks, as it's turned out, with them has been really important for me to understand what goes on in their world," he said.
"Whereas I probably worked for the last 12 years, and [they would] barely see me until at night when I get home."
'The new wave of the future'
Queenslanders with Disability Network CEO Paige Armstrong said many people living with a disability were feeling anxious about returning to work due to a lack of access to rapid antigen tests and personal protective equipment.
She described working from home as the "new wave of the future".
"One positive [from the pandemic] has been demonstrating the successes of people being able to work quite flexibly from a home environment as much as in an office environment," she said.
Ms Armstrong said the workforce needed to be inclusive of all people and hoped businesses did not substitute working-from-home arrangements with having people living with a disability onsite.
The Premier's plea for workers to return to offices was also a bid for Queenslanders to support inner city businesses devastated by years of crippling restrictions.
Brisbane city cafe owner Strauss Brad Jewell said the past two years had been a "financial rollercoaster".
In pre-pandemic times, his cafe was a popular spot for office workers to host meetings and escape for lunch.
Mr Jewell said he had noticed his customers had been initially reluctant to return to work in the city.
"I think there have been times where I have probably been depressed because I was worried about what and where this is all going," he said.
"When there is a lockdown, if it's a five-day or two-day lockdown, which we have had a couple [of] here in Brisbane, the trade is gone, it's down to zero.
Mr Jewell said he had missed his daily interaction with customers.
"To see people I haven't seen for 12 months — it's absolutely exciting," he said.
Discounted parking hoped to entice workers back into the city
Property Council of Australia state executive director Jen Williams said transport has been a key barrier stopping people from returning to work.
"We know that the time and cost of the commute is probably the number one thing that is stopping people," she said.
To help combat this, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced free and discounted parking in all metered spots across Brisbane until the end of February.
"Our logic here is if you're spending less on parking, then hopefully you can spend more with the local business and inject that money into the economy to keep it going and support those jobs," Mr Schrinner said.
Ms Williams said while people were enjoying the "flexibility" and "the hybrid world" of working from home, demand for inner city commercial properties is also strong.
"For every one person that might leave [a commercial property in] the CBD, we're seeing more than one new person enter the CBD," she said.
"We found that once people are back in there [in the city], remember how much they enjoy collaborating and being around their colleagues that they really want to come back," Ms Williams said.
