CEO blames remote workers for ‘slow’ economy: ‘This generation is just selfish’

A high-powered businesswoman has slammed “selfish” young workers for refusing to return to offices following the end of the COVID pandemic.

Nicole Duncan, who serves as CEO and Managing Director of CR Commercial Property Group in Sydney, Australia, called-in to a commercial radio station on Monday saying long commutes were no excuse for staying home and working remotely.

“This generation is just selfish,” Duncan told the 2GB Mornings program, according to news.com.au.

The no-nonsense boss, who describes herself as “passionate about people returning to work,” said she spent years schlepping to the office on public transport and believes millennials and Gen Z workers should do the same.

“In our younger days we caught trains, buses, ferries to get to work,” Duncan, who did not disclose her age, declared. “Yes it did take two or three hours, but you’ve got to be in the office.”

The CEO said the failure of white-collar workers to come back to the office had been disastrous for Sydney’s metro area, although she didn’t provide stats that proved it was just young workers who were reluctant to return.

“Hotels are suffering … there’s less business travel, they do it all on (Microsoft) Teams … cleaners, people who make your coffee, lunches, all of those sorts of things,” she stated.

“We want a vibrant city for visitors to come to, and it needs to look busy, it needs to look vibrant, it doesn’t need to look as slow and rambling.”

Companies in Australia are having a hard time convincing employees of all ages to return to the workplace on a full-time basis, as is the case in the United States.

A report in news.com.au last August revealed that just 4% of Aussie offices required employees to return five days a week. Meanwhile, more than 40% of businesses Down Under haven’t mandated any kind of return to the office policy — even if it’s just for one day a week.

Similarly, companies including JP Morgan and Amazon have been criticized for forcing their American employees to get back into the office.

Last month, some employees at JPMorgan Chase hit back after the bank asked managing directors to return to the office five days a week and warned other employees working on hybrid schedules that they needed to show up three days a week or face consequences.

Meanwhile, in March, approximately 30,000 workers signed a petition begging Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to cancel his directive that most employees work on-site at least three days per week.

And it seems the enraged employees just might be on to something: Researchers from Stockholm University released a paper earlier this month claiming a return to the office could cause employees to gain weight, sleep less and drink more.

“A lengthy commute to work is associated with being less physically active, being overweight, and having sleep problems,” the academics wrote. “And, depending on where your office is located, you may also be more likely to drink in excess.”

And while Duncan may believe remote work is responsible for a “slow” economy, that claim has been debunked by multiple academic studies.

A 2020 Stanford study uncovered that remote workers were 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts. Meanwhile, 77% of remote workers polled by ConnectSolution in 2022 said that they were more productive at home than in the office. Many also got their tasks done quicker, with 30% saying they did more work in less time.

Like Duncan, other CEOs have also claimed that remote work is devastating the downtown areas of cities — but that has also been disputed by experts.

In a 2022 piece for Bloomberg, New York University urban studies professor Richard Florida asserted that a city’s central business district was made up of more than just offices: “Restaurant reservations are at 98% of their pre-Covid levels; attendance at arts, theater, and cultural venues has similarly rebounded; and basketball and hockey arenas are full.”