Working from home has become entrenched in the Australian Public Service, according to new research.
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But the way work and outcomes are measured hasn't changed enough to reflect this shift.
Academics from UNSW Canberra, Edith Cowan University and Charles Sturt University interviewed more than 80 APS middle managers and senior executives across 37 agencies for the study, the third in a series that looks at working from home in the Australian Public Service.
It found that managers were moving from an "attendance culture" to a "productivity culture", with focus shifting from the hours worked to outcomes.
But it noted that "measurement of outputs and outcomes changed to a lesser degree".
"One-third of the respondents said there had been no changes to how output was measured and therefore wasn't being captured holistically," said UNSW Canberra academic Sue Williamson.
"It is crucial this is examined and changed across the APS to better reflect the work public servants are doing."
Associate Professor Williamson, who led the team of researchers, also urged "more experimentation" within the APS to determine what worked.
"Experiments involving bringing teams in to do collaborative work, but undertaking deep focused work at home or experimenting with rosters when people come in to the office and when they work at home," she said.
"We just think that ways of working haven't changed and there are opportunities to be a bit more flexible as we go forward".
It comes as more than 100 government agencies are expected to have signed new enterprise agreements that scrap caps on the number of days employees can work from home.
Associate Professor Williamson said that flexible working could also give the APS a competitive edge.
"It's difficult for the public service sector to compete with the private sector on wages, so flexibility is really key, and the APS is aware of this," Associate Professor Williamson said.
"If you can give employees flexibility in location and in hours and give them autonomy as well, and that also came through strongly in our study ... that employees really enjoyed autonomy with flexibility and that leads to increased productivity. This can all benefit individuals and the APS as a whole."
But the move to scrap working-from-home restrictions has also sparked concerns from property and business groups, who fear this will have consequences for enterprises across the capital, including retail and hospitality.
Associate Professor Williamson said "there's no going back".
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"The way we work, the way we live is all changing and public services are experimenting with different ways of working," she said.
"And in 10 or 20 years, the landscape will look very different, and so for calls that people need to go back to the CBD to buy their sandwiches is just really short sighted."
At the same time, she said research has shown that people value connection with their colleagues.
"One of the recommendations in our report is that APS agency and public sector, all organisations really, need to build in to their budgets a bit of travel time, so that teams can meet face to face periodically, because that is really important for teamwork," she said.
That comes in addition to rethinking how performance and outcomes are measured and monitored, she said.
"It really is having the time and space to rethink how work is done ... and it's hard to have those those blue-sky kind of conversations but we would encourage the APS to do so."
