Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has fully backed working from home and said it could save Australians up to $5,000 per year.

Albanese over the weekend positioned support for working from home as a cost-of-living relief measure and said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was “out of touch” for ordering public servants to return to the office.

“We know working from home has a range of advantages,” Albanese told the media.

“One of these is less time travelled. It has also enabled people to overcome the tyranny of distance in this great country.

“I’ve met people who have moved into regional Australia and are working in our capital cities, they’re working effectively because they can work online.

“It has increased workforce participation, particularly for women.”

The Labor figures on the cost of returning to the office are based on the transport affordability index by the Australian Automobile Association.

It suggests that the average Australian worker would pay $3,056 on transport costs to get to work two days per week, and factors in $20 per day on parking too.

And they show it would be more expensive for those working in major cities, with a Sydneysider to pay $5,789 per year and a Melbourne worker set back $5,529.

“It makes an enormous difference…in terms of their hip pocket,” Albanese said.

“The fact is people who are working from home are providing less traffic congestion…less crowding on public transport.”

Working from home became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now a staple of many workplaces.

According to the Centre for Economic Development Australia, more than a third of Australian employees are working from home.

But many large companies have begun to require their workers to return to the office, at least for some days per week.

An election issue

The Coalition recently announced that if it wins the upcoming May election, all Australian Public Service workers will be required to attend a physical office every day.

This would roll back a 2023 union agreement which required work from home requests to be approved by default.

Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume said current work from home arrangements are “creating inefficiency”.

“We know some departments and agencies are telling stakeholders not to schedule meetings on Mondays or Fridays as there will likely be no-one in the office,” Hume said earlier this month.

“This is common sense policy that will instil a culture that focuses on the dignity of serving the public, a service that relies on the public to fund it, and a service that respects that funding by ensuring they are as productive as possible.”

The federal government is now trying to position the Coalition as being against working from home in general.

Hume rejected this and said it was a “Labor lie”.

“No one is banning work from home arrangements,” Hume said.

“It’s shameful the way the Labor Party has tried to twist this policy into something it isn’t.”

Aussies back WFH

An Australian worker recently had a work from home win at the Fair Work Commission, with a ruling that his request to work an extra day at home to care for his young daughter be approved.

This was after his employer had argued that to do so would create “distractions” and lower his productivity.

Numerous studies have found that Australian workers value flexible work conditions highly, and that many would look for a new job if they are taken away.

A study late last year found that just under 80 per cent of surveyed workers said the ability to work remotely is important to their overall job satisfaction, and nearly 40 per cent would resign from their current role if not allowed to work from home.