Governments lean into flexible work

The State of Utah, for example, had been exploring remote work in a master plan for its administrative offices when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. With most state employees working from home, it became clear telework would play a bigger role than initially thought.

The government modelled scenarios based on up to 60 percent of employees working both remotely and in the office. Utah now has a roadmap toward saving as much as US$13.6 million annually as it shifts to its new hybrid workplace model.

For the most part, COVID-19 has undeniably been the trigger for transformation. For example, Greece, a laggard in providing government services online, shifted many public services to a digital platform in record speed. And in the U.S., the Social Security Administration study found the backlog of pending cases fell 11 per cent between March and May 2020 when the agency mandated full telework.

Flex and productivity

Victoria’s flexible work program allows staff to find the best place to work, be it home, library, or suburban offices. But it’s also not making offices obsolete.

Its development of offices, known as GovHubs, relocating public sector workers from Melbourne to regional areas, shows how alternate workplace strategies are being considered.

Australia’s ACT government has a similar initiative, with public servants able to work from decentralized ‘flexi-hubs’. Its chief minister Andrew Barr recently declared the end of an era of compulsory daily attendance at the office for its white-collar public servants.

After all, the type of productivity that can be achieved by an individual at home differs to what can be achieved in a collaborative office environment, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which guides governments on best practice for public administrations.

Data from global client surveys conducted by JLL’s Global Benchmarking Services highlights the attraction of the office for internal and external collaboration, interaction with colleagues and complex brainstorming.

The challenge for governments now will be making decisions while still dealing with an ongoing pandemic, Devagiri says.

“The work landscape has never been so uncertain,” he says. “More than ever before, we need to understand how the role of offices, homes and everything in between feeds into the future workplace. This is the challenge that governments will need to find a solution for.”