Future Of Work

Unemployment levels in Australia are high and instability is rife, yet pandemic-weary millennials are deserting traditional workplaces in droves, lured by the promise of flexibility and freedom. But what does this mean for the future of work? Alexandra Carlton reports

- Alexandra Carlton

A round October 2020, the company that social media producer Beth Cunningham worked for began making noises about getting everyone back from their first-wave pandemic, work-from-home arrangements, and into the office. “They brought us all into a meeting and they were doing that whole ‘let’s all come together’ speech,” the 25-year-old Sydneysider remembers. Cunningham was shocked. There were still lingering COVID cases around Sydney, and hotspots popping up without warning. “There were no vaccines at that point,” she says. “I have an elderly father who’s ill. It just felt really uncomfortable.” She asked for a meeting with her manager to see if she could continue working from home but she says the company was “very resistant”.

And so, with little hesitation and no other job lined up, Cunningham quit.

Today, she dabbles in a bit of freelance social media management and is working on a side hustle with a friend making pet products and dog treats. She’s also considering taking a baking course to find out if that might be something she enjoys and could therefore monetize. She doesn’t earn anywhere near the sort of money that she had in her corporate gig but she says she’s infinitely more content. “I’m doing OK,” she says. “I’m just taking time out to do nice things, walks on the beach, exercising, which is all good for my mental health. I just think you can’t treat workers like they’re disposable anymore. We’re real human beings with lives, and exist to do more than just churn out work.”