WA Premier Mark McGowan announced on Tuesday that the state of emergency which has been in place since March 2020 will finally come to an end.

This means no more border closures, however there will be ‘temporary Covid-19 protection measures’ which will allow the enforcement of mask wearing and isolation without the state of emergency.

McGowan also railed against the work-from-home culture that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, warning it breeds poor company culture and hurts CBDs in a post-pandemic world.

Dr Caroline Knight, Curtin’s Future Work Institute told Mark Gibson on Perth Live that her research shows both advantages and disadvantages with working from home situations.

“I think one of the main advantages is having our own autonomy over where we work and being able to manage both our home and work lives. A lot of psychological theory does suggest we need this autonomy,” Dr Knight said.

“There will always be some jobs that are front-line but I think other jobs less so, and we know one of the main disadvantages that you can have when working from home, is managers can actually monitor you more, which can create a lot of anxiety and stress.

“I think it’s about not being so black and white about either 100% at the office or 100% at home – research has shown around 2-2.5 days is optimal.”

Press PLAY to hear more on Dr Knight’s opinion