Though the Australian government is pushing residents back to 'normal', the very definition of normal has changed, with work an obvious example.

The rise in hybrid workplaces, working remotely and increased work flexibility due to COVID-19 has advantages and disadvantages, both professionally and personally.

But is this change sustainable? How long will it last? And what do employees and employers need to be aware of as we enter this new era of work?

Charles Sturt University senior lecturer in human resource management Dr Stacey Jenkins researches work-life balance and has this week been participating in a webinar on the changing landscape and ramifications of work.

Dr Jenkins said since COVID-19 the traditional 9am to 5pm office job had been turned upside down and commonly replaced with a hybrid workplace.

"That hybrid workplace, for example, it might look different for different organisations," she said.

"For some it might be working where people are at home for two days a week and working in the office for three days a week, or it might be a compressed working week, as two of the more common examples."

Financial and accounting business RSM is one Albury workplace that has embraced the new work order.

Partner and business advisor Dean Bocquet said workplace cultures and values had been slowly transitioning over the last ten years to better accommodate and reflect employees' lives.

"Then of course COVID hit and it went from that embryonic stage to a completely new world," he said.

Mr Bocquet said the 55 staff at RSM's office each had different working arrangements, depending on what suited them and the business.

He listed some examples.

"Hybrid days when staff are in and out for some part of the day, staff working completely from home for blocks of time, either days or sometimes a week, a whole range of flexibility around in and out of offices," he said.

RSM senior manager Ross Dixon said of his team of a dozen, nearly everyone had a flexible work arrangement of some sort.

"We've got the range from those who are more formalised, so people who work from home certain days of the week, and then we've got those where it's more ad hoc, where it's about trying to get more balance into people's lives," he said.

Mr Dixon said he'd welcomed the increased work flexibility in his own life, which had allowed him to slot his work life in around sporting commitments.

"I can basically tailor my work hours around my life," he said.

"I train twice a week with cricket; I haven't missed a training session yet, it's basically allowed me to do whatever I want in my life.

"I do [my hours] at night, at weekends, whatever that is, so I don't generally work 8.30am to 5pm anymore. Some days I'm in early, some days I stay late, some days I just work from home, so it's pretty good."

Senior accountant Kylie Chudy said as long as she was doing her job, the new work arrangements allowed her to work when and where she wanted.

"It's great, I'm going to be working from home for the rest of the week," she said.

"Pretty much it's if you want to be at home, be at home, if you want to be in the office, be in the office, and I get my hours done."

Ms Chudy said in the last 12 months she'd had a personal issue which had taken up her time during the day.

"But it was OK, because I'd just make my hours up later," she said.

"My normal 9am to 5pm pretty much doesn't exist anymore."

Dr Jenkins said increased workplace flexibility could have positive impacts on people's well-being.

"There are some who have really flourished in this environment, they love the flexibility," she said.

"There's some sense of 'I don't want to go back, this is working for me'.

"At home they can hang out the washing or tasks that otherwise weren't easy to achieve - pick ups, drop offs."

But Dr Jenkins said though there were lots of positives to working from home, there were also negatives, such as employees being less likely to take appropriate sick leave.

"It's much easier to sit in front of a computer with your pyjamas on or in very comfy clothing, even if you're not feeling so well," she said.

"You would not do that if you were in the physical work environment.

"And people also aren't wanting to take annual leave, because over the last two years where do we go if there's restrictions in place? So a lot of annual leave was being accrued, but that also has a well-being impact on people then not taking time out to stop and refresh themselves.

"With all of this is a number of incidents in workplaces around psycho-social hazards and psycho-social claims, like stress claims, anxiety claims, that's what's been noted.

"The incidents are now increasing quite dramatically as opposed to other physical hazards or accidents."

Mr Dixon said working from home blurred the lines between work and personal life.

"People like it, but they don't want to do it too much, because they end up working more hours," he said.

"When you're at home you have dinner then you're back online and it kind of becomes one churn of work."

Mr Dixon said there were also some situations were working from home was not suitable.

"We took six graduates on in January," he said.

"They haven't really got the skill set to work from home, plus [the office is] good for getting them used to what professional work looks like."

Ms Chudy agreed this was a drawback.

"If you have new staff, you need that face-to-face contact to teach them and show them how to use software and things like that," she said.

For Mr Bocquet the biggest challenge of the new work order was achieving collaboration, teamwork and interaction with staff not necessarily working at the same time or place.

"You don't get to talk to them, you don't necessarily get to touch base with them about what's going on in their world," he said.

"You can get away with it, but you need to have some contact, then in a client space it's similar; there are some things you just can't do with a client over the phone.

"We are a relationship business, that's all we are, it's a bit hard to have a relationship over the phone or over video."

Despite the challenges, the RSM staff and Dr Jenkins agreed flexible workplaces were the way of the future and Mr Bocquet said RSM's flexible work arrangements were overall for the better.

"We're still learning, and I don't think we'll know exactly how much better it is for another period of time," he said.

"But you wouldn't see that changing in the near term, it's not going to go back to how it was.

"We're more agile, hopefully a bit more vibrant, and it's brought that whole new bringing peoples' lives into their work, not the other way round, so it's been fantastic."

Dr Jenkins said creating connection and engagement in a hybrid workplace was key to moving forward.

"There's an obligation to really consult with your workforce and to find out what's working for them, what's not working for them and then really identify actions that will help with that ... consultation with staff and communication is key," she said.

"Given the way of this pandemic I don't think there's any turning back.

"Those organisation that are looking to turn back, I think people can vote with their feet, so if they're seeking that flexibility they can go elsewhere and it's a tight labour market so organisations do need to embrace it and think about how it can work for them."

Dr Jenkins said COVID-19 had thrown a spanner in the works, but "in a good way".

"It makes everyone stop and think, was how we were operating effective or were we just doing it because that was the way we did it?" she said.

"It is making people reflect and reconsider every aspect of how the run their business."

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