Deel urges Australian bosses to rethink remote work

Deel has urged Australian businesses to rethink how they lead remote work as working from home returns to public debate. Rising fuel costs and supply concerns have renewed attention on home-based work.

Alice Burks, Deel's Director of People Success, said the discussion should move beyond where staff sit and focus on how organisations set expectations, measure performance and build trust.

Political and business attention has shifted back to whether more employees should work from home as household budgets and commuting costs come under pressure. Burks said the success of remote work depends less on location than on management systems and leadership behaviour.

Deel describes itself as a remote-first business with more than 7,000 employees in more than 100 countries. Burks oversees people strategy across that workforce.

"COVID demonstrated that working from home can give companies and economies vital contingency and strategic flexibility, a lesson that may soon be tested again," Burks said.

Remote work can strengthen an organisation when managed well, she said, but it can also expose weak structures if leaders fail to provide direction.

"When it's done well, it supports productivity, flexibility and even talent attraction resilience at the same time. Yet, working from home, if poorly led, exposes weak systems and unclear expectations," Burks said.

Leadership focus

Burks argued that shortcomings in remote work often reflect broader management problems rather than the absence of an office. In remote settings, those issues can become more visible because leaders cannot rely on proximity alone to supervise staff.

"Remote work doesn't fail because people aren't in the office," Burks said. "It fails when leaders rely on visibility instead of results, assumption over clarity, or control instead of trust. These tensions can also appear in a physical office environment, but they are often amplified in a remote setting. Distance doesn't create problems, but it does reveal them."

The comments add to a wider debate among employers over hybrid and remote work arrangements that have remained unsettled long after pandemic restrictions ended. Some companies have pushed for greater office attendance, while others have kept flexible arrangements to retain staff and widen access to talent.

Successful remote teams tend to share several traits, Burks said, including clear objectives, documented processes and accountability based on results rather than time spent online or visible at a desk.

"High-performing remote teams focus on outcomes, not hours. Clear goals and accountability matter more than presenteeism. Trust replaces surveillance, allowing people to focus on delivering results rather than being monitored," Burks said.

Clear systems

Burks also highlighted the need for regular communication and more deliberate efforts to maintain team cohesion. In remote settings, the informal contact that might happen naturally in an office often needs to be planned.

"Clarity is also critical. Documented processes, clear expectations, and regular check-ins, even through simple messages, matter more in remote settings than physical proximity ever did. Connection must be intentional, with teams creating dedicated touchpoints for informal conversation to avoid isolation.

"Boundaries matter too, as working from home can blur the line between work and life. The structure of a day will be different in a home setting than in an office, so new rituals must be built in response," Burks said.

The issue has become more pressing as Australian households and businesses face cost-of-living pressure. For workers, travel costs can shape decisions about where and how often they work. For employers, any shift in work patterns raises questions about productivity, culture and management design.

Burks said the debate should be seen in that broader economic context rather than reduced to a short-term response to fuel prices. In her view, flexible work can form part of a wider effort to improve organisational resilience.

"This isn't just about saving fuel or avoiding traffic," Burks said. "It's an opportunity to rethink how work gets done and build organisations that are more resilient to economic and cost-of-living pressures."

The central issue for employers is no longer whether remote work is possible, she said, but whether leaders are prepared to manage it effectively. "The question is no longer whether working from home works, but whether organisations are willing to lead differently to make it work well," Burks said.