There’s no denying the nature of work has changed.

After years of disruption, employees have new needs and new expectations about their working lives. They want to be able to perform at their best, wherever and whenever suits them—all while maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

Many employers are exploring how they can empower their people to work in more flexible ways and get the most out of their working days.

So what does modern working actually look like? And how can organisations within the public sector support it?

The modern way of working survey 2023

In partnership with Censuswide, Nuance surveyed professionals within the public sector—to find out what modern working means to them, and identify the new challenges they’re facing in their working environments.

The survey also explored how technologies such as speech recognition can fit into professionals’ modern working lives and support them in their roles.

A closer look at modern working lives

It wasn’t surprising to see so many respondents reporting they’ve embraced hybrid working—for many professionals, it’s been a chance to improve the balance between their personal and working lives.

The results indicate hybrid working is popular, with just under half of respondents (43%) ranging from entry-level roles right through to senior management, saying that hybrid working best describes their current working situation.

But despite the many benefits of hybrid working, it does bring some additional challenges. Respondents struggle with not being able to speak to their teams in person (48%), more interruptions at home (40%), and limited access to tools they’d have access to in the office (36%).

Achieving a more flexible working life is particularly difficult for professionals in the public sector, 80% of whom say they face some challenges embracing hybrid working. One of the bigger challenges is having limited access to office tools.

The administration burden

Administration tasks are a crucial part of almost every public sector role, helping ensure services run smoothly, teams work efficiently, and public needs are met. The burden of administrative work is still a heavy one however, with the average time a public sector professional spent typing equalling more than half the working day.

How technology can help

The pressure to do more with less, coupled with the high percentages of time spent typing, means public sector organisations need to be looking to technology to help relieve the burden on their employees, whether they are in the office or hybrid or working remotely.

In addition, the demand for technology is being driven by the Australian public. According to an independent review of the APS (Australian Public Service), ‘as the rate of technological change continues to accelerate, and public expectations of the Government increase accordingly, the APS needs to use data and digital technologies to better meet the needs and expectations of the Australian people, businesses and communities’.

31% of respondents to the Censuswide The Public Sector Modern Working Survey, thought that an organisation that uses the latest technology appears to strive for the best experience for their clients and 38% thought they listened to the needs of their employees.

Could the answer be speech recognition?

20% of respondents seem to think so and are already using speech recognition technology in their work today to deliver multiple benefits to their organisations, and 67% are predicting their organisation will use this technology in the future.

In The Public Sector Modern Working Survey, we explore the top benefits and challenges of hybrid working, why public sector professionals would rather talk than type, what speech recognition is delivering for public sector professionals and how organisations can embrace modern working with speech recognition. Download a copy of your report here.

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