By Brad Krauskopf, HUB Australia  >>

THE TRADITIONAL FRIDAY work drinks have long been a hallmark of Australian office culture. Yet, according to Hub Australia’s latest Love Where You Work Report, only 3% of employees now attend end-of-week drinks every week, and one in five say they never participate.

Employees are also demanding more flexibility and the ability to choose their own hours, so they can enjoy the benefits of hybrid work models.

Today, workplace culture is far more than just getting along with colleagues – it’s also about having the freedom to maintain a life outside work. Unsurprisingly, 87% of employees report spending more social time with friends outside work than with colleagues.

What does this shift mean for business leaders?

Here are practical ways leaders can lean into the new era of workplace culture:

Rethink traditional social activities
Friday drinks and activities centred around alcohol are no longer the default. Experiment with new ways to build team camaraderie that align with how employees actually want to connect.

Prioritise meaningful experiences over frequency
Instead of weekly social events, focus on less frequent, high-quality experiences such as workshops, team projects, or shared learning opportunities that foster genuine engagement.

Align culture initiatives with organisational values
Use social activities to reinforce your company’s purpose, whether through charitable programs, skill-building sessions, or innovation challenges.

Recognise the impact of flexibility
Hybrid work and diverse schedules mean leaders should design connection opportunities that work for all team members, not just those in the office.

Measure the effectiveness of engagement
Track participation, feedback, and morale. Culture isn’t just feel-good – it also drives retention, productivity, and overall business performance.

Prioritise work–life balance as part of culture
Connection shouldn’t mean sacrificing personal time. Encourage boundaries and avoid scheduling social activities outside hours unless employees specifically request it.

Create meaningful workspaces

At Hub Australia, our clubhouses and workspaces are designed to prioritise wellbeing, connection, and flexibility, helping organisations create the inclusive, purposeful cultures employees are seeking. 

The future of workplace culture is about creating intentional, flexible, and values-driven ways for people to connect. Leaders who listen to their teams and prioritise meaningful experiences will build stronger, more inclusive cultures. 

www.hubaustralia.com.au

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brad Krauskopf is the CEO and founder of Hub Australia, an organisation he created to help business leaders to listen to their teams and engage them to build stronger, more inclusive and purposeful cultures that employees embrace.

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VIEWPOINT  I  By Elise Balsillie >>

FOR A LONG TIME, growth in Australian small business has been sold as a race towards scale. More customers, more staff, more locations, more complexity. Growth has been treated as expansion in every direction at once.

What I am now seeing across Australia is a quiet shift. The small businesses growing with the most confidence are not chasing size for the sake of it. They are designing their businesses around constraint and they are doing it deliberately.

Constraint has become a strategic advantage. 

Small business owners are operating in a market where pressure is constant. Skills shortages are structural. Costs remain unpredictable.

Customers expect fast responses, seamless communication and consistency every time. In that environment, growing without boundaries is not ambitious, it is unsustainable.

The strongest businesses I work with ask a different question early on: what should remain constrained even as the business grows?

Growth breaks when everything expands at once

Most small businesses do not fail because they lack demand. They struggle because too many parts of the business grow at the same time.

Marketing ramps up before operations are ready. Sales increase before cash flow systems can support them. Teams grow before processes are clear. On paper, the business looks bigger, however in reality, it becomes more fragile.

I often say that growth does not break businesses. Uncontrolled growth does.

When businesses design for constraint, they grow with intention. They choose one or two areas to expand and keep everything else tight. That focus creates stability rather than stress.

Constraint forces better decisions

Constraint also has a way of cutting through noise. When time is limited, priorities become obvious. When resources are finite, inefficiencies surface quickly. When teams are small, clarity matters more than hierarchy.

The businesses growing strongest right now are not doing everything. They are doing the right things consistently.

They know exactly which customers are worth pursuing. They understand which services drive repeat revenue rather than one-off wins. They focus on the marketing channels that convert rather than chasing the next trend.

Constraint exposes the truth faster than expansion ever will.

Why systems matter most when you stay lean

There is a common belief that systems are something you invest in later, once you have grown. I see the opposite.

Systems matter most when you are intentionally staying lean. When a business is designed around constraint, every system has to work harder. Bookings, payments, customer communication and marketing cannot sit in silos. They need to connect seamlessly because there is no spare capacity for inefficiency.

This is where many Australian small businesses unlock their next phase of growth. Not by adding more tools, but by connecting what they already use.

When systems are connected, business owners gain visibility. They can see which enquiries convert, which customers return and where time and money deliver the strongest return. Decisions become calmer, faster and more confident.

The strongest growth comes from businesses that can see clearly before they act.

Constraint creates better customer experiences

Customers feel the difference when a business is designed with intention.

Businesses that grow within constraints tend to communicate better, respond faster and deliver more consistent experiences. Not because they are larger, but because they are more focused.

They are not chasing information across platforms or juggling disconnected tools. They know their customers, their history and their next step.

It is that consistency which becomes a powerful growth engine. Customers reward businesses that feel easy to deal with, reliable, are authentic and personal.

Redefining what growth actually means

Constraint-led growth also changes how we define success.

Growth is no longer just about revenue or headcount. It shows up in stronger margins, predictable pipelines and business owners who are no longer stuck in constant firefighting.

It shows up in businesses that can absorb shocks, adapt quickly and make decisions without panic.

Real growth gives you control. If growth takes control away, something has gone wrong.

The opportunity ahead

Australian small businesses do not need louder advice or more hustle culture narratives. They need smarter ways to grow in a constrained environment.

The businesses that thrive over the next decade will not be the ones chasing scale at any cost. They will be the ones designing businesses that grow within clear boundaries, supported by connected systems and confident decision-making.

Constraint is the framework that makes growth sustainable.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elise Balsillie is head of Thryv Australia and New Zealand, a company that has developed ‘everything small business owners need to manage their work’ in a single IT package. The Thryv system offers more than 20 industry customisations available in a fully mobile interface – technology previously reserved for big businesses – that Thryv now places at the fingertips of small business owners nationwide. Thryv’s related brands include Thryv Data, Thryv Agency, Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Print, White Pages Network, Whereis and True Local.

www.corporate.thryv.com.au

By Leon Gettler, Talking Business  >>

FLEXIBILITY has become a huge management issue now across businesses of all sizes.

Companies like Uber and Disney have put in demands for employees to turn up to the office no matter.

There have been so many studies that show half of Australian workers favour flexibility. On the other hand, a study by Forrester found that four out of 10 organisations were now trying to back out of flexibility arrangements.

Dino Beverakis, who was the managing director for Avaya for many years, said companies now cannot go back to the way things were.

“You know, the clock on, clock off syndrome and those L-shaped corner desks with the high partitions, I think now we have to find a blend,” Mr Beverakis told Talking Business. 

“I think the onus is going to be on us as leaders to provide the digital tools that give our workforce that flexibility to collaborate everywhere, and it’s seamless.

“It’s going to be role-based now as opposed to one blanket rule that fits all.”

Consider remote workforce consequences

Mr Beverakis said organisations now seeking to reduce their remote workforces needed to consider the consequences.

He said flexibility is now a huge issue with Gen Z employees.

“One of the questions I get asked in the interview process is do you have a flexible work arrangement,” he said.

“So it is something that’s top of mind.”

Mr Beverakis said a number of companies were taking innovative approaches to this.

One example, he cited, was Microsoft in Japan which had implemented a four-day work week and their productivity had risen by 40%.

“There is no one solution so we’ll have to work diligently as leaders and look at the roles and the impacts that the changes are going to have,” Mr Beverakis said.

“It’s going to be across the board and leaders have to be cognisant and really pay attention to staff well-being around that flexibility as well.”

Most breaches ‘unintentional’

On the question of compliance breaches, Mr Beverakis said most were committed unintentionally by staff inside organisations using a third party app to exchange confidential information.

“You know, when something didn’t work and the multiple applications they had didn’t provide them with what they needed,” he said.

“That overwhelming of staff with multiple apps can slow them down and so they go looking for a secondary option and that opens the opportunity for a compliance breach.”

Mr Beverakis said the important thing for company leaders to do to address these compliance breaches is to educate staff.

“It’s very important to call out something that doesn’t feel right, something you feel isn’t the right thing to do and that’s employee engagement, that’s through education and understanding the compliance policies that your organisation has work within,” he said.

“It starts with the leadership forum, understanding the compliance policies, educating the staff be it visual or otherwise, presentations, sit down sessions, lunch and learns, just really covering what those policies are making sure your team is engaged.”

And boards would have to be involved too.

“It starts at the top, you incorporate the board in that conversation,” Mr Beverakis said.

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness

https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-38-interview-with-dino-beverakis-from-avaya

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By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>

REMOTE WORK is one of the great challenges for businesses everywhere. But more often than not, business owners say entry level and Gen Z workers aren’t being productive when their working productively.   

Why is this?

Tim Currie, the CEO of NOVA and veteran of the high-tech sector, said a lot of this comes down to different expectations of younger employees entering the workforce for the first time.

“Like anyone who works remotely, they enjoy the autonomy and the flexibility – but young workers, entry level workers, young workers that are just beginning their career path, they still want all the things that people experienced when they were in their 20s, or early career days,” Dr Currie told Talking Business. 

“They want mentorship, they want interpersonal relationships, they want to feel belonging and identity with something, and they also want to see a career path for themselves through what they do all day.

“And in some cases, remote work and the work given to them remotely isn’t meeting those needs.

“The difference with workers that are a little bit older and established in their career, both in their personal and social life, as well as their work life, they’re more secure, more established.

“They don’t need as much infrastructure and scaffolding as maybe a younger worker would need.”

Younger workers need more personal interaction

Dr Currie said research showed younger workers needed more personal interaction and ‘face time’ to understand the dynamism of the office, the sharing of ideas, and exposure to social norma and the way things work.

“If we’re focusing on young workers and entry level workers, there are some things that cannot be done remotely, at least to the same level and effectiveness as they had been done in the past,” Dr Currie said.

“You can do tasks remotely, you can achieve collective goals remotely, but for some workers getting mentorship, building a network of interpersonal relationships … all the relationships that were developed because you had proximity.

“Face to face interactions are absolutely paramount. I wouldn’t say it’s almost impossible but it’s incredibly difficult and it’s incredibly uncharted waters to give a younger employee, an entry level employee an enriching experience, an enriching career path, where they can see how people interact, they can see what norms are reinforced,” Dr Currie said.

“What does it mean to have an organisational culture? It’s what you see, hear and experience when you interact with peers, with management, and leadership, when you observe others.

“Observational learning doesn’t happen when you’re on a Zoom with your camera off eight hours a day.”.

Return to office regimes also 'need work'

Dr Currie said this went to the big problem of companies bringing in “return to office” regimes.

He said they were often failing to do their organisational design properly when they bring in those rules.

“There is nothing worse than commuting an hour or an hour and a half to an office where you have to zoom with someone who is working in another office, or working from home,” Dr Currie said.

“It’s the worst of both worlds. You have the commute without any of the satisfaction of any of the fulfilment of the scaffolding that comes when you work in an office.” 

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness

https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-34-interview-with-dr-tim-currie-from-nova

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