The Future of Work is Hybrid

Research report – Sue Williamson, Linda Colley, Public Service Research Group (UNSW), 15 February 2022

Working during the pandemic: the future of work is hybrid

In June-July 2020, when many Australian states and territories were in lockdown, researchers conducted a survey of Australian Public Service (APS) employees, in partnership with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). They wanted to know who was working from home, how work was being conducted remotely, and the impact on employees and managers. The findings were released in the report, Working during the pandemic: from resistance to revolution.

In September-October 2021, at another peak in the contagion, they conducted a further survey. Many of the participants were in lockdown (in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory). Employees were again working away from the office.

There has been a significant shift in approaches to working from home. The conversation has progressed from pre-pandemic resistance to working from home, to 2020 questions about whether working from home would become ‘the new normal’, to 2021 questions about how organisations and employees can implement hybrid arrangements that combine working from home and at the office. The normalising of working from home, however, has come at a cost. Researchers found that employees, supervisors and managers experienced ‘COVID-fatigue’, leading to burnout and stress. While this is not surprising after almost two years of lockdowns and uncertainties, it does highlight employee wellbeing as an important consideration in future arrangements. However, some of the COVID-fatigue is just that – it is attributable to the pandemic. Without overarching factors such as enforced working from home and home schooling, hybrid working can be a very successful working arrangement.

This additional research confirms that many managers continue to actively support working from home and expect to do so in the future, confirming the 2020 findings that managerial resistance is waning. In this report, the authors outline the benefits, but also the risks and negativities associated with this form of working. They set out their findings and provide tips for organisations, managers, and employees as the APS considers future ways of working in a COVID-normal environment.

Read the full report here.

Research report – David Wyld, IBM Center for the Business of Government, 8 February 2022

The age of remote work: how COVID-19 transformed organizations in real time

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a slow but steady growth in the number of workers who performed their jobs remotely. Such work arrangements went by various labels, from remote work to distance work to telecommuting or telework (a term which was used in the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, encouraging federal agencies to engage in such work arrangements). While predictions that much work could be done anywhere arose, the pandemic took remote work to a whole new level as a necessity.

This report chronicles changes in modern office work arrangements across government agencies and private sector companies in response to the pandemic. The report identifies challenges facing both workers and their organisations, and outlines the recognised and surprising benefits from this massive and rapid transition to remote and hybrid work arrangements. After describing the impact of COVID-19 on the nature of work, the report recommends core tools to help government manage a changing workforce and transformed work environment.

Read the full report here.