As portfolio bosses expedite work schedules to meet the new March 29 deadline, the APS commissioner's new findings about how the public service has adapted in the last year to surges in demand show there was room for both flexibility and productivity.

Almost half (46 per cent) of Commonwealth employees worked away from the office or at home in 2021, Peter Woolcott's State of the Service report found. Flexible working is now expected, and traditional assumptions are being challenged, he wrote.

There were "clear benefits for the APS" to plug skill gaps if it could continue to offer greater flexibility of working, including location. But questions remained.

The APSC does not expect agencies will be too heavy-handed with demands that public servants return to the office and will face difficulties retaining workers if they are. Individuals, especially those with in-demand skills, will be able to compare their own organisation to agencies offering the flexibilities they want.

Public servants self-reported higher productivity since the emergence of COVID-19 with these working conditions amid demands for surge resources from far and wide to take up government priorities in contact-tracing, assisting royal commissions, responding to floods and cyclones, and processing COVID-19 support payments.

It won't just be an expedited budget and red and blue books for incoming governments that demand high productivity in the next few months.

As 2021 has shown, complex and important work supporting Australians does not pause with every new COVID strain or outbreak reaching these shores.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: