To cap off another big year for the APS HR Professional Stream, we asked five members of the APS HR Working Group to share their thoughts about the future of work, opportunities and challenges on the horizon, and how they plan to spend the holiday season.
Bureau of Meteorology
What do you think of when you imagine the future of work?
- Emerging technologies will be our standard business systems.
- Networks of skills and capabilities will come together over shared digital spaces to solve complex problems.
- Employee experience that is aligned to customer experience will drive attraction and retention.
- Uncertainty will become our normal.
What are the greatest opportunities and challenges?
The greatest opportunity is to embrace new technologies, understand the evolving digital landscape and embed new ways of working. We adapted so quickly in response to the pandemic and the changes have been really exciting.
The challenge is to capitalise on that change. Technology will expand rapidly and the next workforce generation will have never known life without the internet or smart phones. Their way of accessing services, shopping or networking is through platforms such as Uber, YouTube, Xbox, Spotify and Instagram. Their expectations will force us to engage in the world of work in a completely different way.
On a non-work-related front, how are you planning to spend the holiday season this summer?
I will be working through January as I am planning to take February off to walk the Milford Track and travel around the South Island of New Zealand. I have my fingers and toes crossed that the New Zealand border opens up before then.
Services Australia
What do you think of when you imagine the future of work?
Dispersed groups of individuals, with different skillsets, coming together to solve complex problems remotely or at workplace hubs established in centralised locations.
What are the greatest opportunities and challenges?
There is a great opportunity to divest ourselves of transactional administrative tasks, embrace technology and focus on higher order and higher value work. The greatest challenge will be in learning to let go. We do a lot of good work at the moment, but we can do so much more. In order to do so we need to let go.
On a non-work-related front, how are you planning to spend the holiday season this summer?
I’ll be spending some downtime with my family and friends outside the work setting and battling the call of junk food.
Department of Home Affairs
What do you think of when you imagine the future of work?
The future of work makes me think of:
- A focus on the measurement of the impact of something, rather than measurement of the ‘doing’.
- Amazing technology and automated solutions to assist how we work, where we work and what we are working on.
- Challenging previous ways of thinking and doing things, with a ‘let’s give it a go’ approach for new ideas.
What are the greatest opportunities and challenges?
I think there are challenges that bring opportunities:
- Finding time to try new things is always a challenge, but there is an opportunity here in trying new things that aren’t necessarily perfect when we start but develop into something we can’t work without.
- There is so much varied and exciting work in the world, our challenge in the APS is to remain attractive for our future leaders. Our opportunity is in learning from those we have retained and sharing their knowledge and experience.
- It is a challenge to try not to take every opportunity that presents itself. The future of work must be pragmatic and connected, so it grows through learning from what hasn’t or doesn’t work, and from being willing to try and do a few things well, rather than lots of things poorly.
On a non-work-related front, how are you planning to spend the holiday season this summer?
This holiday season will be all about relaxed reconnection with family and friends. Pool parties are planned, as well as a good dose of vitamin sea.
Professor in Public Sector Management Strategy,
University of New South Wales
What do you think of when you imagine the future of work?
I think that there will be so many more choices than we ever thought of before; not just about where to work, but about what is actually being done, when and why. There will be new ways of thinking about the reasons and outcomes of coming together, what are the parts of work that need to be prioritised, and the relationship between work and well-being.
What are the greatest opportunities and challenges?
Research is clear that many do not want to return to the previous BAU. However, many of the challenges to previous flexibility still exist, especially where managers are not feeling ready or supported. The opportunities are to change the way teams are set up and supported to be effective.
On a non-work-related front, how are you planning to spend the holiday season this summer?
Fingers crossed I am going to visit my nonagenarian parents in the UK.
Australian Taxation Office
What do you think of when you imagine the future of work?
The future of work will be shaped by two components: automation, including greater use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and changes in how and where people work. Some of these changes have been pushed forward following the pandemic – working from home, embracing technology, increased mobility and flexibility, and interacting through technology rather than face-to-face meetings and training. Other changes are yet to happen, with people embracing technology even further in the ways they learn and work in the future.
What are the greatest opportunities and challenges?
In terms of industry, there will be huge opportunities in information and communications technology, online collaboration tools, learning platforms, harnessing Artificial Intelligence to work in new ways, and automation and technology to empower people and make work easier and less resource intensive. Striking the right balance between productivity and flexibility to achieve business outcomes and maintaining engagement with staff will be critical.
The challenges will be for people to embrace technology, learn digital and data skills and to adapt to the new ways of working. Senior leaders and managers will need to engage with people in new ways in the new flexible, virtual world. This presents both opportunities and challenges but means leadership behaviours need to change to build a positive culture.
On a non-work-related front, how are you planning to spend the holiday season this summer?
I’ll be spending time with family who will hopefully come to visit us here in Canberra for the first time in a few years for Christmas. Perhaps a bush escape and a beach escape also.