For almost a decade, Jenny Searle has had the same job, ABC News reports.
However, in the past two years, everything has changed for the better.
"It's not the same life at all," she says, her 12-week-old puppy Wally running around her feet.
"For me, it's a much better balance. I'm a lot more relaxed."
A merchandising manager for newsagency marketing group NewsXpress, Jenny now permanently works from home in Melbourne's outer suburbs.
Until 2020, she would drive between two and two-and-a-half-hours a day, commuting every weekday to her office in the inner suburb of Hawthorn.
In future, she'll only visit once a year.
Jenny may be a rarer case of #WFHforever. However, working remotely, or only a few days from the office, was until recently a rare perk or the preserve of senior executives, consultants, some in-demand IT workers and the self-employed.
Now, for many white-collar employees, it's simply work.
The staff of telecommunications giant Telstra were already working flexibly before COVID-19 up-ended norms.
"But the hybrid way of working is here to stay," he said. "We're all in on hybrid, and we're going to embrace it going forward."
More than 60 per cent of jobs can't be done from home. For the millions of frontline workers who need to physically be somewhere to complete their work, things won't change much.
However, the Productivity Commission, the government's think tank, found that about 35 per cent of jobs have aspects that allow them to be done at home.
These jobs tend to be better paid, more likely to be full-time, and the workers tend to be female. As our economy continues to evolve, that percentage is likely to expand.
FULL STORY
WFH forever? Two years into a work-from-home revolution, some may never return to the office (ABC News)
PHOTO
Marketing manager Jenny Searle, with puppy Wally, used to commute up to 2.5-hours a day to her office. COVID changed that — now she's working from home permanently. (ABC News: Billy Draper)
