Research shows that many Public Servants do not want to return to the office full-time after the pandemic. Ben Willis* talks to experts about how Governments plan to implement these new ways of working.
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of workers around the world to shift from office- to home-based working.
As the restrictions on social contact begin to ease, many professionals do not want to return to the pre-2020 normal and seek more flexibility about where they work.
Here are some of the views of international experts on how we might cope with and even flourish in this fast-changing environment.
Deputy Director, Section for Organisational Development, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stian Nordengen Christensen:
Hybrid working is rapidly gaining currency as a model for the future workplace.
Its mixed approach gives greater freedom for staff to work remotely some of the time, while still enjoying the benefits of having a physical workplace to go to on occasion — for meetings, team building and other activities.
There is no one-size-fits-all model for Governments to adopt when it comes to hybrid working.
The future will come down to how managers choose to manage their workforce in response to employees’ individual needs and organisational priorities.
I think that managers will be tempted to try to turn back the clock, but it will prove completely impossible.
Permanent Secretary of Malta’s Ministry for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development, Antho ny Gatt:
Malta’s Government is adopting a blanket remote working model for the whole of its Public Service.
It will soon launch a remote working policy that will enable employees to work “from anywhere at any time”.
The aim of this policy is to promote a healthier work-life balance, set up a formal framework for its administration, and motivate employees to work in a more effective manner.
The policy, which was instigated in 2019 before the pandemic, will enable employees to work as easily from their home, a different country, a park or a café.
Director, Workplace Services, Government Property Agency, United Kingdom, Dominic Brankin:
Over the past year we have been gathering data from some 25,000 Public Servants to better understand individuals’ experiences of home working.
We have found that as Coronavirus restrictions ease, most don’t want to return to a daily commute.
On average, they would like to go back to the office maybe two or three days a week.
However, a significant minority, around 20 per cent, said they were looking forward to returning to the workplace for most of the time.
This underscores the fact that home working has not been a positive experience for everyone and any future arrangements must reflect individuals’ needs.
Hybrid-working models should reflect employees’ circumstances and wishes as far as possible, but personal preference can’t be the be-all-and-end-all.
The consensus was that there have been clear productivity and other gains even from the somewhat chaotic shift to home working necessitated by the pandemic.
Now, a more deliberate and structured framework that maximises the benefits of hybrid working is needed.
We need to see how we can take that and make it be more about a sustained change in the way we think about how we work, where we work and when we work.
UK&I Workforce Advisory leader, EY, Rupert Steptoe:
A further complicating factor is that the activities workers have said they would most like to use offices for in the future — collaboration and meetings — may be one of the hardest things for us to achieve.
Any organised, office-based activities are likely to constrain people’s freedom to choose when and where they work.
If teams work from home two-to-three days a week, which is what we’re hearing people would like, then there’s almost no chance of a team of 10 people having 50 per cent of that team in the office at the same time.
Therefore, you cannot leave this to chance; we have to take an active intervention.
An incremental approach that tests ideas is preferable to a ‘big bang’ shift to hybrid working arrangements.
Our view is that trying to do that top-down — which, if we’re honest, is the traditional way of doing it in Government — is going to alienate our workforce very quickly.
We are recommending that you do it at team levels, and then work upwards and outwards to see how that impacts a broader organisation.
*Ben Willis is a journalist and editor with a varied background, reporting on topics including public policy, the environment, renewable energy and international development.
A longer version of this article appeared on the Global Government Forum’s website.
