APS hybrid working: From productivity to performance to outcomes

Our latest research on hybrid working suggests that a shift is occurring in the Australian Public Service (APS), from a predominant focus on productivity to performance to outcomes.

Last year we spoke with more than 80 APS managers and supervisors who managed employees working hybridly (where some part of the week is worked at home, and the rest is worked on the employer’s premises). We also asked about productivity and performance in a hybrid setting.

Responses offered invaluable insights. Around 40% of our participants stated that productivity has either increased or stayed the same since the widespread shift to working from home. This continues a trend we have observed through our research going back to 2020.

However, this is not the end of the story. Productivity has always been difficult to quantify in the public sector. Trying to assess the impacts of working from home on productivity is even more difficult — there are so many variables.

We have previously suggested that the focus needs to switch from productivity to performance. Our research reveals that managers are doing just that — in our focus groups, they discussed work performance with an emphasis on outcomes.

For example, managers who previously used timesheets told us that these had been removed or were maintained more as a compliance requirement, rather than as a monitoring tool. They emphasised the focus on outcomes:

[O]ne key thing that I think really did happen for us across COVID, and is continuing now, is a complete removal of looking at the times, looking at timesheets. Not that we don’t look at timesheets, but we’re only interested in the outcomes, we’re interested in ‘is the job being done?’

More specifically, the managers and supervisors focused on outcomes over rigid working hours or location of work in their management approach. As one stated, they aim to foster “a productivity culture versus an attendance culture”. This productivity is dependent on performance, and management which focuses on outcomes.

Practitioner research highlights that autonomy and trust complement an outcomes-focused approach, and lead to increased performance and productivity. Our research shows that working hybridly can increase employees’ autonomy as they are able to manage themselves to achieve work outcomes.

Our findings indicate that employees working autonomously make decisions about when and how their work is completed. As one manager explained:

“…for me, the input and the output, that’s the way I can control, and in the middle they can do whatever they want to”.

Hence, flexibility, autonomy and trust are key to successful hybrid working. Autonomy is essential to increased flexibility, and practitioner research recommends organisations provide hybrid employees with high levels of autonomy and high levels of flexibility. This will also ensure organisations remain competitive because flexibility with autonomy has been proven essential for staff retention.

The APS is flexible and adaptive, which are great facilitators for increased autonomy, flexibility and a focus on outcomes, rather than outputs or time spent in the office. An outcomes focus may not only supersede tired old debates about productivity, but also ensure hybrid working benefits individuals, teams and organisations.

To further explore these findings as well as other aspects of hybrid working we investigated in this research, including wellbeing, career development and visibility, register for the online launch of our report.

The report Hybrid Working: From ‘the new normal’ to ‘business as usual’ will be launched at noon on Thursday, April 4. Register here for this online event, which is sponsored by The Mandarin.