The NSW Innovation and Productivity Council (IPC) has released a new report revealing the lessons of widespread remote working which came into place with COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Minister for Jobs, Stuart Ayres said IPC’s report, NSW Remote Working Insights: Our experience during COVID-19 and what it means for the future of work, looked at what was learned from the shift to remote work and how it could affect the future of work.
“This Report provides timely data on NSW workers’ experience of and attitudes to remote work and assesses what the future holds,” Mr Ayres said.
“In making us happier and more productive, more flexibility to work remotely could be one of the positives to stem from the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.
“But only if we play our cards right.”
Mr Ayres said the Report brought together a new artificial intelligence-driven analysis which revealed what types of work could be done remotely and a survey of 1,500 workers.
Member of the IPC, Steve Sammartino said the Report found workers were 13 per cent more productive when they worked from home and saved an average of 1 hour and 17 minutes per day by not commuting to the office.
“But COVID-19 pushed remote working to an unhealthy extreme, with a lot of work unable to be done remotely, it can get lonely, and collaboration is difficult,” Mr Sammartino said.
“In the future, NSW workers want the best of both worlds – a hybrid of remote and onsite work,” he said.
The IPC’s 44-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
