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RESEARCH

The WorkFLEX team have decades of combined experience, in conducting high-quality research, for public and private sector clients of all shapes and sizes. 


Here are just a few examples of recent projects the team have been involved in, for partners and clients like Deloitte and the Australian Fair Work Commission.  

Third Places - A healthy alternative to working from home?

This collaborative project with Swinburne University of Technology and Third-Place.org, investigates the rising trend amongst ‘laptop workers’ for using hospitality venues – such as cafes, restaurants and bars – as casual places of work, and was recently featured in Forbes magazine.


Whilst working from cafes and pubs has been commonplace amongst freelancers and digital nomads for many years, it is the newly-hybrid workers who are now driving significant growth in this trend, capitalising on the improved flexible work arrangements they now have access to.


We discovered that users typically visit third places for a mental break, and organic social interactions and spontaneous conversations, which help them to think more creatively and re-focus on work tasks. They are particularly attracted to venues where they are made to feel welcome, that offer easy access to Wi-Fi and a power socket, and where working behaviour like this is normal and accepted.


Our findings revealed that third places are great for deep individual work, creative thinking, reading, admin tasks, emails, and small meetings, but not for larger meetings, tasks which require bulky equipment, or confidential work which might carry security or privacy risks.


🩺 When asked, 'to what extent do you think working from third places contributes positively to your overall wellbeing?' – the average answer was 4.3 out of 5.


For hospitality venues, third place customers present an opportunity to expand upon traditional revenue streams and increase takings during their quieter periods.


A free copy of the full report is available via the link below 👇

https://work.third-place.org/report  


Reset, Restore, Reframe - Enabling wellbeing through flexible work

WorkFLEX Founder John Hopkins, and his colleagues from Deloitte and Swinburne Edge, developed the following report to provide practical guidance to organisations, in their journey towards implementing flexible working practices to support employee wellbeing. 


It does so by:

• Exploring the link between flexible work and wellbeing.

• Highlighting the growing incentives to manage wellbeing through flexible work

• Providing guidance on effective practices to realise the wellbeing benefits of flexible work


Please click on the link below to access your free copy: 

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/research/centres-groups-clinics/centre-for-the-new-workforce/our-research/reset-restore-reframe-enabling-wellbeing-through-flexible-work/

FlexWork is an Opportunity for Government to Embrace the Future of Work

Following the success of the 'Making Fair Work FlexWork' report with Deloitte and Swinburne Edge published in June 2022 (see below), the team are back together again to deliver four Industry Insights Packs, each delving deeper into the role of flexwork in particular sectors.

The first pack in this series, which focuses on the Government sector and provides a valuable overview of our key findings in relation to government workers, is available NOW!


Please click on the link below to access your free copy: 

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/risk/deloitte-risk-swinburne-report-government-insights-120922.pdf?nc=42

First national study of working arrangements in Australia since government WFH advice was removed

Some highlights from our latest hybrid work study,  the first national study of working arrangements in Australia since government work-from-home directions were lifted, were recently featured in The Conversation and other leading national media outlets.  


Our survey of 1,421 Australian knowledge workers, conducted in the week of 21-25 March 2022, found that 54% were now following some sort of hybrid work pattern. 


https://theconversation.com/flexibility-makes-us-happier-with-3-clear-trends-emerging-in-post-pandemic-hybrid-work-180310

Reset, Restore, Reframe - Making Fair Work FlexWork

WorkFLEX Founder John Hopkins, was recently involved in a research collaboration with Deloitte, and Swinburne Edge - the national survey of 2,084 workers across Australia indicated there are four main flexible working challenges facing employers today:

1. Workers expect better work-life balance and well-being outcomes, 

2. Organisations need to heed their employees’ concerns about unsustainable workload, 

3. Our Fair Work System is not equipped to enable this employee-led flexible working (FlexWork) revolution,  

4. Employers must renew their focus on employees’ connection with the organisation: a team and organisational culture based on developing trust and fostering a sense of belonging and meaningful collaboration.


The research underlines how employers now have a valuable opportunity to engage with their workforce around this fundamental reframe and redesign of work – the where, when, and how it’s done – to improve the employee experience whilst simultaneously supporting the organisation’s overall mission, culture, and values.  


To access a FREE copy of the full report, please click on the link below 👇   


https://lnkd.in/dg3i7GZW

Hybrid Working - the story so far

In February 2021, we starting interviewing senior business leaders from around Australia, to ask them what the likely post-pandemic work arrangements would be for their organisations.  


Even at an early stage in our research, it was clear that many organisations were heading in different directions, in terms of how they thought the future of work would look at their organisations.


We plan to continue with this program of interviews until the end of 2021, with the aim of publishing a report and an academic journal article sometime after that, but in the meantime we would like to present you with this preview of some of the trends we have already identified. 


Please click here to download a free copy of our hybrid work research preview report.  

Australian Productivity Commission - Work from home report

Australian Productivity Commission - Working from home research paper

The pandemic has demonstrated that many jobs can be effectively done from home, and it appears likely that the number of people working from home will remain much higher than it was previously. 


This new paper from the Australian Productivity Commission considers how decisions about location of work will be made as firms and workers continue to learn how to organise their work, and what an increase in working from home might mean for workplace regulation, urban centres and wellbeing more generally. 


WorkFLEX's John and Anne had the great privilege of being invited to participate in the PC's roundtable discussion, alongside a range of key individuals, firms, industry bodies, and government agencies, as part this national study.


A copy of the report is available here: https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/working-from-home/working-from-home.pdf

WorkFLEX Report for Australian Fair Work Commission.

Key working from home trends emerging from COVID-19

Our report to the Australian Fair Work Commission discusses findings from a range of different research projects, conducted between April-November 2020, including our own survey, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Roy Morgan, and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).


The objective of the report was to identify important work from home (WFH) trends emerging in Australia as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, investigate the impacts of this move towards WFH in more detail, and discuss the key challenges, benefits, gender effects, and implications for health and wellbeing, in addition to future predictions for this trend. 


Click here to view report


Work from home, hybrid work and sustainability

The Impact of Hybrid Work on UN Sustainable Development Goal

With increased participation in telework expected to continue in the aftermath of the Covid-19, as part of hybrid work arrangements which are rapidly gaining in popularity, it is important to consider the what long-term impacts this practice could have on future sustainability outcomes. 


The team behind WorkFLEX were involved in a scoping review that identifies a range of connections between telework and sustainability from previous research. Those connections were categorized, analyzed and discussed, based on their contributions to the United Nations' 17  Sustainable Development Goals. 


A SWOT matrix technique was used to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses in the current research, as well as threats and opportunities for future sustainability improvements. Overall, our impression is that increased rates of telework present an important opportunity to improve sustainability outcomes, however, it will be important that integrated and holistic policy is developed that mitigates key risks.


Download a FREE copy of this research here

Research into the ideal hybrid work arrangement

LinkedIn Survey - August 2020

In August 2020 we ran a poll on LinkedIn, to try and gain a quick understanding of how workers were currently feeling towards working from home, and how often they think they will continue to work from home in the future.. and the results were fascinating.


We joined a current trend on LinkedIn, for running polls using the LinkedIn reaction emojis, to ask whether workers predicted they would work 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days from home per week in the future, once all COVID-related restrictions had been lifted. After 322 responses the option of working full-time from home (5 days per week) was the clear winner, attracting 35% of the vote, whilst only 5% predicted they would return to working 5 days per week in the office once all restrictions had been lifted.


This was particularly interesting, as the WorkFLEX team asked exactly the same question as part of a survey earlier in the year, and the results were very different (see below). Back in April, only 5% of participants in our survey predicted they would work from home full time in the future, so what has caused such a change of heart in only a matter of months?

COVID-19 Work from home research, infographic, Australia

COVID-19 Work From Home Survey - May 2020

 The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many people having to work from home (WFH), some for the first time, and often at very short notice. 


Together with Swinburne University of Technology, WorkFLEX conducted a survey in April-May 2020, to learn more about this transition, the strategies and tools that are being employed, and what impact this period might have on the long-term future of work in Australia.  This project has been approved by Swinburne University of Technology’s Human Research Ethics Committee. A preview of a small number of early results from this survey are available in the infographic above. 


Results indicated a strong appetite for continued remote work, as part of some sort of hybrid work model, as the preferred future working arrangement for most employees. 


This is part of a larger study, including just under 1,000 participants worldwide, examining global WFH trends during COVID-19. 

Academic Papers

Workflex hybrid workforce

WorkFLEX was born from our passion for academic research into flexible and remote work trends. Listed below is just some of our recent academic publications:

The Future Is Hybrid: How Organisations Are Designing and Supporting Sustainable Hybrid Work Models

Sustainability (2023) 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3086

The WFH Natural Experiment in Sydney, Australia: A Theory of Planned Behaviour Perspective

Sustainability (2022) 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/13997/htm

Telework, Hybrid Work and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals: Towards Policy Coherence

Sustainability (2021) 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9222/htm

Investigating 'anywhere working' as a mechanism for alleviating traffic congestion in smart cities

Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2019) 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162518301549?via%3Dihub 

Anywhere working as a system for accelerating the transition of HCMC into a more liveable city.

Journal of Cleaner Production (2019) 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095965261833289X?via%3Dihub 

A review of work and family research in Australia and New Zealand

The Cambridge Handbook of the Global Work-Family Interface (2018)

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-the-global-workfamily-interface/review-of-workfamily-research-in-australia-and-new-zealand/DAB8D08B4E5B7699C1FC4D7C0B9053F1

The work-family interface in Australia

The Work-Family Interface in Global Context (2017)

https://www.routledge.com/The-Work-Family-Interface-in-Global-Context/Korabik-Aycan-Ayman/p/book/9781138841581

The impact of technology on work in the twenty-first century: Exploring the smart and dark side

The International Journal of Human Resource Management (2016)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2015.1021155.

Does the quality of information technology support affect work-life balance?

The International Journal of Human Resource Management (2016)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2016.1232293?journalCode=rijh20

Worklife balance: the agency and capabilities gap

Community, Work and Family (2016)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13668803.2016.1161742?journalCode=ccwf20

'Fit' for telework'? Cross-cultural variance and task-control explanations in organizations' formal

International Journal of Human Resource Management (2016)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09585192.2016.1232294

Research

Specialising in surveys, focus groups and interview methods, WorkFLEX offer a range of research solutions for all project sizes and budgets. For a free, informal chat about your potential research needs, please enter your details into the form below.

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