When Alex Hattingh from people management platform Employment Hero needed her car repaired by a specialist in Queensland during a busy time at work, location was no obstacle. She booked a farm stay outside Toowoomba and worked from her caravan for the week.

“I was on Zoom calls almost all day every day and working on deliverables between calls … I was able to spend evenings with my family in front of the campfire,” Hattingh, who is chief people officer, says.

Employment Hero’s remote-first approach, commenced at the start of the pandemic, allows the company’s 400 Australian staff to work from anywhere, no questions asked.

“We currently have candidates we interview let us know they started looking for their next career opportunity because their current employer has stipulated they need to work from the office three days a week. Bosses will need to adapt,” says Hattingh.

Many are. Global tech consultancy CI&T also transformed its position on remote work since the pandemic. Working from anywhere is now part of a ‘5 new ways to work’ policy, and 24 per cent of the 96 member Australian team work remotely full-time, including from overseas.

CEO of Fifth Dimension, Lyndall Spooner, has seen firsthand how staff needs on location have changed in the last few years. The research consultancy had tried for a decade to encourage staff to work from home a day a week: nobody did.

“Now post COVID we struggle to get staff back into the office. Systems mean staff are often more efficient when working from home and people are definitely wanting the better work-life balance,” she says.

Spooner views employee choice in location as a vital retention strategy and considers trust as key to an organisation’s success.