Australians working outside the office are increasing, new data shows. Almost half of all working Australians are spending more time doing business outside the workplace than they were five years ago and they're attributing that to better technology and increased flexibility of employers, according to a Telstra survey.

Telstra Executive Director Consumer, Rebekah O'Flaherty said "Technology plays a huge part in allowing Aussies to work outside the office and embrace better work life balance. The trend shows we could well be witnessing a cultural shift in the way we work."

Almost 80 per cent of Australian employees surveyed say they would take up the option of working outside the workplace if their employer offered this along with a fast, reliable mobile broadband network.

However not all Australian bosses are keeping up, with only 60 per cent of employers surveyed saying they allowed staff to work outside the office. Of those who didn't, one in five said this was because they don't trust their employees to work as hard when outside the workplace.

In reality, employers may be missing out on increased productivity, as the research shows more than half of people that work outside the office say they're just as productive, if not more, when working remotely.

Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 working Australians and found:

  • One quarter spend five or more hours a week working outside the workplace.
  • Almost 15 per cent are spending 10 or more hours a week, or the equivalent of 13 full working weeks a year, working outside the office.
  • Men work outside the office more than women - one in five men work 10 or more hours a week from outside the workplace, compared to only one in 10 women.
  • Baby Boomers spend the most time working outside of a traditional workplace. Nearly one in ten working 18-34 year olds work more than 10 hours from outside the office, compared to nearly one in five 45 and over.

"Our research found the increase in mobile working has actually allowed people to spend more time with their family and friends," Rebekah said. "Three quarters of people who work remotely say it's given them the ability to get the work done and still make it to personal occasion like school concerts."

In contrast, more than 60 per cent say they have had to miss out on personal events to be in the workplace, with birthdays and family occasions the most common to be neglected. Overall, men were more likely than women to miss an event in their personal life to be in the workplace.

In particular, men were seven per cent more likely than women to miss an anniversary, a child's concert or school event, but were 10 per cent less likely to miss a sporting match.

Following the research, Telstra today launched the Telstra BigPond Ultimate® USB. The device, previously available only to selected corporate and SME customers, is up to twice as fast as Telstra's current fastest Next GTM modem and offers coverage in Australia's capital city CBDs and associated airports, selected metropolitan hubs and more than 100 regional centres, Telstra said.