![\"Emma](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/62969582e9069c5af6ed23fb109f18028441ed407fad0df8414f8b4550210239.jpeg\")
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Emma Ruben: \u201cI looked for roles that were more flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like getting in the car and driving into an office five days a week, so I looked for roles that were more flexible,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Before accepting her current role, she had conversations with a competing firm, but quickly decided the role wasn\u2019t for her. \u201cIt was clear from the conversations I was having with that workplace that there was not going to be a lot of flexibility to work from home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She accepted her current role two years ago because she felt her needs would be met and hasn\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n
She works in the office three days a week and from home two days but can switch the days around. She can even work an extra day from home if that suits her without having to ask permission.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe just communicate within our own team at the end of each week what works best for us the following week based on our own schedules,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Back to work <\/p>\n
Liz and Ruben are part of a growing number of workers opting out of workplaces with rigid rules on where they need to work in favour of roles that openly promote work from home days.<\/p>\n
Ruben says she designed a life that works for her. \u201cWork is a big part of your life and there\u2019s no point being miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n
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However, large Australian companies are continuing to mandate hard and fast work from the office arrangements, creating tensions in the workplace.<\/p>\n
Nearly 39,000 staff members at National Australia Bank were asked<\/a> to increase the number of days they spend in the office each week. The bank is one of a growing number of businesses moving away from the work from home model.<\/p>\n Other companies pushing for staff to get back to the office five days a week include Amazon, Dell, CommBank and the NSW government.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Sydney father Paul Collins took his employer to the Fair Work Commission<\/a> seeking a continuation of the flexible working arrangements he had been enjoying since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Collins, who works for global software company Intersystems Australia, wanted to continue working from home on Wednesdays and Thursdays to care for his children and because he needed \u201cwork-life balance\u201d. His workplace refused his request under a new ruling requiring all staff to return to the office full-time.<\/p>\n But his request was overruled by Fair Work, which said the application he had lodged because of his preference to continue working from home did not relate to his parental responsibilities.<\/p>\n Workers are required to show they have a good enough reason to request to work from home, while Fair Work Deputy President Lyndall Dean found a \u201cpreference\u201d to continue working from home wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n