Insights into Working from Home in Australia in 2020: Positives, Negatives and the Potential for Future Benefits to Transport and Society

Abstract

The year 2020 has been marked by the most extraordinary event we have witnessed since World War II. While other health threats and geographical disaster have occurred, none have been on the global scale of COVID-19. While many countries have experienced more than one wave of the pandemic throughout 2020, Australia has been able to contain the virus with numbers less than ten at any one time in a way that makes it a stand out (with New Zealand) in the way that it has been contained, with an exception in Victoria from July to early November, linked to failed quarantine procedures for travellers returning from overseas. This paper builds on earlier papers by the authors on the Australian response, with a focus on the role that working from home (WFH) has played in response to reducing the risk of seeding the virus in local sources. Given the volatility of exposure and transmission, WFH to some extent has growing support from employees, employers and government as a way of not only containing the virus but as a positive unintended consequence in contributing to the future management of the transport network, especially in larger metropolitan areas. We report on the findings from the first three waves of data collected in Australia between March and September 2020, highlighting the potential future benefits of WFH to society more generally what this might mean for the future revision of transport plans and priorities.