As COVID numbers continue to rise, you may find yourself back working at the kitchen table or home office.
There are benefits — the commute is hard to beat, for one — but research out of La Trobe University has found most people had a negative experience when working from home.
Those surveyed said the boundaries between work and home life became blurred and they felt isolated from their colleagues.
According to the study's lead, Associate Professor Jodi Oakman, many respondents also reported exhaustion and said their fitness suffered.
"When you're going out to work you have lots of incidental movement — you walk to meetings, you walk to public transport, you get extra steps, whereas at home there's very few," she said.
But it's not all bad news. Some people surveyed reported positives from staying away from the office.
"People doing research, academics, people developing policy, those sorts of things — when they're doing work which doesn't require the interaction part — really benefit from being at home.
"But equally when people need input from other people, in the office it's a good environment."
A new approach to work
Despite the survey's findings, the answer may not be to simply rush back to the office.
Associate Professor Oakman said the research offers an insight for employers into how to keep employees happy and productive.
"So we need to really shift beyond just focusing on people's work stations.
"That's important, but really it's only part of the equation. It's all the other factors which influence people's health and wellbeing that really are equally or more important."
Unions and medical experts are calling for flexibility that allows workers to stay home when they want, especially during the Omicron wave.
For the moment, there are no state or federal health orders that give workers protections — it's all down to individual businesses.
And unless you negotiated your contract during the pandemic, it's unlikely working from home was even a consideration.
Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said forcing people back to the office is not prudent in the current health climate.
Thriving away from the office
Phil Sylvester, who works in communications in Sydney, has spent most of the past two and a half years at home and he loves it.
"The balance I've been able to strike is really good," he said.
"I mean, I've still got school-aged kids, so it's made pick up and drop off and after school sport a lot easier as well."
He said it is one thing if you are working on a shared project, but otherwise it is not worth the commute.
"If you're doing deep thinking there's no point dragging your carcass all the way into the centre of the city to sit in a cubicle and not talk to anybody," he said.
"You might as well do that from home and save yourself the pain of that."
