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There is a perception that most high earning roles aren’t jobs you do from home e.g. surgeons and CEOs. There is also a pervading belief amongst corporate leaders that employees are more productive when working from the office. Can you still be a productive and high earning employee while working remotely? Yes, you can.

Is there a benefit to working in the office?

There is a signifiant push from many businesses to bring staff back into the office. The pandemic shifted many employees into flexible work arrangements but now there is an expectation for many to be at the office a minimum of 3 days a week, with some companies mandating 5 days. Is there justification for wanting employees to be full-time in the office, or is it an outdated way of running a business?

Most research points to flexible work arrangements being effective. As this recent BBC article highlights, “years of post-pandemic data has shown remote and hybrid work works. Researchers have found employees retain productivity and can help companies drive profits. There are also the intangible factors that breed employee loyalty, such as better work-life balance. Throughout the past several years, many CEOs courting the idea of full office returns have pulled back due to this data and the strong pushback of their workers.”

However, most Australian businesses are mandating significant return to office policies, as illustrated here in research from last year, “nearly nine in 10 Australian businesses have implemented mandatory return-to-office policies, with a majority of them requiring staff at least four days a week.

The number of days required, however, vary among employers:

  • Five days a week (19%)
  • Four days a week (28%)
  • Three days a week (26%)
  • Two days a week (12%)
  • One day a week (2%)”


More and more companies are now forcing employees back into the office. According to this piece in SMH from this month, “the number of Australian workers mandated to attend the office five days a week has doubled in the last 12 months.”


Despite the research it’s clear that many businesses aren’t looking forward to new ways of doing business and are instead returning to the past, to the detriment of many employees. 

What options are there for employees who want to remain working remotely?

  •  Investigate which companies in your industry have mandates around flexible work. If you’re fortunate enough to work for one of these companies make sure you let them know you value their policy
  • If your current organisation has mandated return to office policies that don’t work for you, then your options are to try and negotiate or look for work elsewhere that’s more flexible

What great career paths allow for flexible work arrangements?

There are a surprisingly large number of high paying jobs available now that can be done remotely. Indeed recently published this informative list of 15 of the Highest-Paying Work-From-Home Jobs, featuring jobs including: physician, IT specialist, business development manager, marketing director and software engineer. Many jobs are as productive and lucrative when done while working from home but individuals need to find industries and companies that are prepared to offer this flexibility.