Protecting people. Powering productivity.
July 13, 2020
RESEARCH REPORT
In brief
In brief
- Public service organizations evolved ways of working in the early weeks of the COVID-19 crisis with speed and responsiveness.
- Now it is time to build on these successes for the longer term—transforming ways of working while balancing productivity and safety.
- There are four interconnected areas that agencies should focus on to change how they deliver services—and to outmaneuver future uncertainty.
- This fundamental transformation is not a one-time exercise. It is an ongoing process of discovery, blueprinting and transformation.
Striking a delicate balance
In response to COVID-19, public service organizations had to rapidly change ways of working. This was essential to keep the extraordinary work of government going at an extraordinary time. Now agencies can take action to sustain positive change. This change can benefit the workforce and the citizens and businesses that rely on government services.
Successfully transforming ways of working means balancing productivity and safety. The extent of the challenge here depends on the role itself. Remote work will continue for back-office roles. But it could raise data privacy, security and productivity issues, as well as putting a strain on mental health. Public facing roles will contend with another set of concerns. The silver lining is that even though various role-based challenges exist, this is an unprecedented moment to fundamentally change how public services will work in the future.
Public service agencies have an opportunity to use the pandemic as a springboard to meaningful change in how they deliver services.
Start building the future. Now.
There are four interconnected areas that can help drive change. These areas build on and reinforce each other. They are grounded in data, analytics and technology and should be executed with a “truly human” focus. With new capabilities across people, organization, culture and leadership, agencies can create a more resilient workforce and deliver improved citizen services.
Build digital “contact-light” services
Make digital services smarter by using machine learning algorithms to create predictive services, provided through citizens’ channels of choice.
Empower a distributed workforce
Prepare for continued remote work by providing employees with tools they need to be successful and checking in on their well-being.
Unleash human + machine collaboration
Assess how to share tasks between humans and machines while building employee and citizen trust.
Become an ecosystem orchestrator
Strengthen ecosystem collaboration with data-sharing platforms as well as building new partnerships to work together toward common outcomes.
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A foundation for the never normal
By committing to a virtuous circle of discovery, blueprinting and transformation, agencies can elevate both workforce and service experiences. It’s all about being agile and adaptive. That’s how agencies become more resilient for the challenges and opportunities ahead. And how they outmaneuver uncertainty.
Get the essentials
Agencies changed ways of working out of necessity because of COVID-19. Now it’s time to build on these successes to transform the workforce’s day-to-day experience and how services are delivered to citizens.
The big read
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Protecting people. Powering productivity.
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