COVID-19 and employee productivity in the public sector

COVID-19 has affected the public sector significantly. However, since it is a recent event, its impact on employee productivity, especially the individual and organisational outcomes, is not well-studied. Using the 2020 data from the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC, n = 96,690), this study analyzes how the Australian Public Service (APS)’s changed working methods during COVID-19, especially the effect of five practices, has affected employee productivity. Findings suggest that team adaption, team effort, and organisational adaptation are positively associated with employee productivity, whereas managerial support and proactiveness are negatively associated with employee productivity. Interestingly, while the team effort has significantly enhanced the perceived productivity of employees, the proactiveness of the organisation to maintain new working methods led to a negative impact on productivity. This is surprising and indicative of the positive and negative impacts of the pandemic on employee productivity. A crucial implication of these findings is that intra-organisational responses to COVID-19, including at the team level and managerial level, have affected employee productivity in the public sector.