New Work Models: FREE-LA and Flexible teams

In 2019, we faced a challenge that many public institutions also know well: how can we engage public servants to join a new team? In our case, it was the newly created LA-BORA!gov. Moving people within the public service is bureaucratic, slow, and often frustrating. From that challenge, an idea emerged: what if there were a flexible team that could work on different projects without leaving its home agency? That is how the Floating Team was born.

We began by experimenting on a small scale, testing, learning, and refining the idea until it became solid enough to be adopted by any agency within Public Administration. Today, the model can be applied throughout public management, not only in the laboratory.

What the Floating Team is

The Floating Team is made up of public servants who remain assigned to their home agency but collaborate on specific projects with other teams. This model simplifies and expands collaboration, allowing skills to be allocated according to the needs of the administration and the interest of the individual. The result is greater engagement, continuous learning, and quality deliveries for the population.

People in the Floating Team are not merely labor support. They fully integrate into the teams, participate in all stages of the projects, and, in many cases, may lead initiatives. This engagement contributes to diversity, inclusion, and innovation within the public service.

Legal and institutional basis

The model was formalized by Normative Instruction SEGES-SGPRT/MGI No. 24/2023, which incorporates the Floating Team into the Management and Performance Program, known as PGD. This means that it is possible to formally record deliverables in another unit and align results with the PGD guidelines.

What the Floating Team is not

But attention: the Floating Team is not the formal movement of personnel. Moving, assigning, or requisitioning public servants follows specific rules under the legal framework of the public service. It is also not volunteer work or overtime. Activities take place within the regular working hours, but in another unit.

Voluntary participation

And most importantly: being part of a Floating Team is not mandatory. Engagement depends on the person’s interest, and this is essential to the success of the model.

Impact and recognition

Like Free-LA!, Floating Teams do not generate additional costs for Public Administration. They have already been recognized with international innovation awards and have become a case study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT GOV/LAB, demonstrating that it is possible to experiment, learn, and generate impact at scale.