A research project into the future of work in the Australian Public Service (APS) has been published by the University of NSW’s Public Service Research Group (PSRG), finding the traditional five-day, in-office work week highly likely to be a practice of the past.
In its Report Future of Work Literature Review: Emerging trends and issues, the PSRG explores the impacts of remote working, including how managers manage in the new environment; productivity; trends in accommodation; digital infrastructure; work health and safety; changes needed to industrial instruments; and workforce planning.
“This Report synthesises the literature of the last decade, with a focus on literature emerging since the onset of the pandemic to identify issues that will affect working in the Australian Public Service,” the PSRG said.
“It focuses on teleworking, but also examines activity-based working, and remote working hubs,” it said.
“Emerging grey literature overwhelmingly argues that the future of work is hybrid, with employers, senior leaders and employees expecting to work part of the week remotely, and part at their employer’s premises.”
The PSRG said the preferred amount of time to work at home was two to three days a week.
However, the Group said recent research had shown that younger workers experienced difficulties working remotely, particularly around networking and career development.
“Teleworking can also disadvantage women due to decreased visibility in the workplace and regional and rural employees have had less access to these newer workspaces,” it said.
“These differential impacts will need to be considered by APS organisations to ensure that equity and inclusion remains a hallmark of the sector.”
It said the APS faced a range of challenges in adopting new ways of working, encompassing organisational culture, human resource and industrial relations issues, managerial capability and infrastructure and technology.
The PSRG said the use of shared workspaces would continue to increase, with implications for how technology could be used and organisations would need to analyse which jobs were suitable for shared workspaces.
It said telework had the potential to be both positive and negative for work/family balance as it could lead to work/family conflict and increased stress levels or enable employees to manage work and caring responsibilities more effectively.
The Group said its research also provided a range of advice for managers on how to effectively manage remote teams.
PSRG’s 74-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
