Productivity Commission says hybrid work plus tech could ‘transform’ services
Covid-19 legacy likely to be more cars on the road, says PC report.
The Productivity Commission has given the thumbs-up to remote and hybrid work, despite claims from some employers that working from home affects productivity.
The report takes a largely positive view of the trend to new mixed models of work being adopted by many companies in the knowledge and services sector – which the PC says is a crucial arena for productivity growth.
It says it is uncertain what proportion of people will continue working from home as the pandemic ends and economic recovery progresses, but argues that “uplift in online capacity (among both businesses and households) combined with a broader embrace of the innovative potential of digital technology, can transform the way the economy operates – services in particular – with significant productivity benefits. The challenge will be to ensure that policy settings are sufficiently flexible and incentives are appropriately calibrated to support continued uplift as the Covid-19 recovery continues”.
And while WFH during the Covid lockdowns may have taken cars off the road, the report warns that even as more people work from home, traffic congestion in cities is likely to increase and congestion charges will be needed down the track.
The commission argues that congestion charges for crowded roads in urban centres should be incorporated into a national agreement on road user charging for all vehicle types, based on distance-priced charging including any road damage premiums.
The report says modifying awards to cover WFH will be complicated because many people will continue to work at a physical workplace and the level of discretion remote workers have to structure their worktime will vary.
It says the shock to working patterns due to the pandemic showed the need to adapt enterprise agreements as economic conditions change.
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