Scott Farquhar’s WFH rallying cry backed by independent business

Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, one of Australia’s most prominent remote work supporters, has again made headlines for his out-of-office sensibilities — and drawn support from small business founders a decade into their own WFH strategy.

Speaking at the National Tech Summit in Brisbane on Thursday, Farquhar reportedly touted the economic benefits of remote work for Queensland, where Atlassian employs 170 employees and operates zero office locations.

“Remote work is one of the best things that could happen to Queensland,” Farquhar said, according to The Australian.

“Because for years they’ve been trying to attract people from Melbourne and Sydney but to do that previously they had to attract an entire company to move up to here.”

Atlassian has secured talent across the Sunshine State because “we as a company have said that you can work anywhere,” Farquhar added.

Team Anywhere vs everyone

Farquhar’s insistence on the Atlassian ‘Team Anywhere’ approach, which allows employees across 13 nations to work in an office, at home, or in a combination of the two, comes as other businesses consider the long-term trajectory of their remote work plans.

With COVID-19 lockdowns blurring into the background, a growing number of businesses that afforded their employees flexible working arrangements through the pandemic are now ushering workers back into the office.

Businesses like Commonwealth Bank say in-person connections are integral to their long-term plans, above and beyond the work which can be accomplished by remote teams.

Others are hoping to make good on leased office space, which might lie empty for most of the working week.

More broadly, the commercial property industry and inner-city traders alike say prolonged WFH arrangements will set off a damaging flywheel: lower CBD office attendance equals less ground-level trade, which makes the office less enticing, which entrenches lower attendance and sinks property valuations.

Farquhar support from small business sector

Backdropped by those concerns, some small business leaders have voiced their support for Farquhar and his view of remote working.

Jo Scard is the founder of Fifty Acres, a PR firm specialising in not-for-profit and purpose-driven clients.

The company began in 2010, after Scard recognised her prior role as a ministerial advisor — and the long hours spent in Parliament House — was incompatible with her family life.

The agency acquired clients including Kelloggs’, SBS, and the Black Dog Insitute, leading to Scard making her first hire — who happened to live in another city.

More than a decade later, Fifty Acres employs 15 staff, all remote, and claims to have employed a hundred Australians in its time.

Speaking to SmartCompany on Friday, Scard stood in support of Farquhar, and his specific grievances with traditional office mandates.

Ushering workers back into the office part of the time can be clunky when other team members remain at home, Farquhar told the National Tech Summit audience.

“What’s the point of making someone drive to an office, get parking, spend money on petrol, and then sit in a cubicle on a Zoom call?” Scard said.

Scard, whose agency now has employees across Canberra, Wollongong, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, and Perth, also supported Farquhar’s claim that remote work is good for states like Queensland, which might not enjoy the same concentration of businesses faced by NSW or Victoria.

“I’ve got three people living in beachside towns, three of my best workers,” Scard said.

There are “absolutely” economic benefits for regional centres which host remote workers, she added.

Limitations exist, but “clever” thinking needed

Remote work brings obvious limitations, with Scard recognising some non-office businesses, like doctors, dentists, or mechanics, may not be able to decentralise their workforces.

It is a “given” that lowering the traditional usage of CBDs will have a knock-on effect on small business traders who make a living from servicing the office crowd, she added.

But the prolonged use of remote work could allow the business community to holistically rethink its use of office space, Scard said.

Beyond the flexibility it affords her workforce, Scard pointed to the lack of property overheads as a major benefit to her business.

“I think we should be clever as a society, to see whether we can do some other things with those [office] spaces,” she said.

Atlassian itself is reportedly taking a critical assessment of its own office premises, including its Sydney site, which remains under development.

“I’m not saying that we give up on CBDs,” she continued.

“We can’t do that, but I don’t know that we need to force everyone back to working in an office full-time, or four days a week.”